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Soumyajit Regular user Under Your Bed 130 Posts |
Hello,
While browsing Amazon India I saw this. What is this? Do you guys recommend it? How to use it? And how long will that small quantity last? http://www.amazon.in/Fanning-Bicycle-Ell......n+powder That's probably too many questions but would like to have expert's view on it And yes I have couple decks of clumpy cards that I wish became smooth again. Thanks, Soumyajit
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Doug Trouten Elite user Minnesota 471 Posts |
Fanning powder is usually just zinc stearate. You might be able to just buy zinc stearate at a drug store. It's used to reduce friction between cards. Folks who use it say it extends the lifespan of a deck of cards, and gives the cards a more consistent feel over that lifespan. I don't use it, but I think if I lived in a humid environment and had sticky cards I might give it a try. For me, the cards are plenty slippery on their own! A deck treated with fanning powder might be easier to handle for certain kinds of manipulation, but harder to handle for many sleights.
It's still magic even if you know how it's done.
Terry Pratchett |
Soumyajit Regular user Under Your Bed 130 Posts |
Quote:
On Aug 28, 2016, Doug Trouten wrote: Thank you Doug. Now only I need to know how to apply it. Looking at the quantity, "Apply Generously" is out of question The weather here can be humid resulting in clumpy cards. Let me search a bit for Zinc Stearate. Thanks again
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macc Loyal user 203 Posts |
Put your cards in a paperbag...add fanningpowder powder...shake vigorously for about 20 seconds.
And then just a few riffle shuffles, dribbles and springs. I guess you can't do a spring yet...So riffle shuffles should do the Trick. |
Dick Oslund Inner circle 8357 Posts |
Use a "square bottom" sandwich bag (like McDonald's uses for 'take out").
I "spring" the cards (like a cascade shuffle) into the bag. NOW, put about as much powder as you can "pile up" on your LITTLE FINGERNAIL into the bag, with the cards. DON'T INHALE THE VERY FINE DUST! ZINC STEARATE IS A "DRYING AGENT", NOT GOOD FOR ONE'S LUNGS! Fold over the top of bag to seal the powder inside. Shake bag vigorously for about ten seconds. PUT BAG ASIDE, LET DUST "SETTLE"! Remove cards and "straighten them" (all faces UP!) Rub them a bit. Rub cards together for "15 seconds" (!). They should now "fan" beautifully (if you''ve learned how to fan cards!) FOLD BAG FLAT AND STORE WITH THE CONTAINER OF FANNING POWDER!!! REUSE THE BAG UNTIL IT "FALLS APART"! I'm using a deck for all the fancy shuffles and fans. I prepared the deck MANY YEARS ago, and, it still works fine! Occasionally, I re-powder it. I figure it has seen about 20,000 audiences. I'm NOT a "CARDICIAN", although I've known, and know, most of the top cardicians in the last 50 years. (Men like Ed Marlo, Alex Elmsley, Harry Lorrayne, Ricky Jaye, Jon Racherbaumer, et al! See Doug's note, above, regarding fanning powder will help in SOME flourishes and fancy shuffles, but, not is some sleights I don't "do" card TRICKS. As a teenager, I did split fan productions, etc. (a "white tie, and tails, and white glove act") I was trying to be "suave & debonair". (I wasn't!) An agent told me that if I could "make 'em laugh", he would get me work. I did, and, he did.
SNEAKY, UNDERHANDED, DEVIOUS,& SURREPTITIOUS ITINERANT MOUNTEBANK
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Dick Oslund Inner circle 8357 Posts |
Re: "APPLY GENEROUSLY".....NO! See my note above!
The makers of a well known hair shammpoo were approached by a gentleman who told them that he could tell them how to DOUBLE their sales. They asked, "How?" He said, "First we 'sign a contract'!" After that, he said, "You explain how to use the product: 'Apply a small amount, wet hair, work up lather, rinse.' Just add two words: REPEAT!" The people who sell fanning powder, LIKE to sell fanning powder, so they say, "USE GENEROUSLY"!
SNEAKY, UNDERHANDED, DEVIOUS,& SURREPTITIOUS ITINERANT MOUNTEBANK
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Doug Trouten Elite user Minnesota 471 Posts |
Apply sparingly.
It's still magic even if you know how it's done.
Terry Pratchett |
Soumyajit Regular user Under Your Bed 130 Posts |
Thanks for the great suggestions o' veteran conjurers.
I am currently looking for Zinc Stearate itself. Apparently it costs only about 100 INR per KG while the product is 400 INR for a tiny amount. Once I got to know that, it is hard to get myself to buy it no matter how little I need to use Thanks Dick for the detailed processing. I am only looking to use it on my clumpy cards to just give them a bit of polish. Do not want to make them too slippery. I guess after a bit of trial and error I will get the exact quantity for my purposes. I am pulling a few strings here and there and should have some Zinc Stearate soon Thanks, Soumyajit
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Doug Trouten Elite user Minnesota 471 Posts |
Soumyajit -- There's a great thread in the "Secret Sessions" forum that is filled with do-it-yourself alternatives to pricey magic store supplies. As you discovered with fanning powder, there are products that are available for much less if you don't buy them as "Magical Supplies."
Here's a link: http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......forum=37
It's still magic even if you know how it's done.
Terry Pratchett |
Soumyajit Regular user Under Your Bed 130 Posts |
Quote:
On Aug 29, 2016, Doug Trouten wrote: Thanks Doug, I will check out the threads in Secret Sessions
Visit my site at : www.ulpnet.com
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Anatole Inner circle 1912 Posts |
How you apply fanning powder depends on what you want to do with the cards. For basic card tricks and spring flourishes (pressure fan, springing the cards, etc) the paperbag method that Dick described is great. For exhibition card fans, I find the technique recommended by Lewis Ganson in _Card Magic by Manioulation_ works best for me--applying the powder to each card individually. But as Dick said, that's recommended if you want to be suave and debonair.
----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez
----- Sonny Narvaez
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Stevious New user Poland 80 Posts |
Here is an alternative way to make the cards smoother, it is very cheap and really works but has some drawbacks. I advise testing this on an old, sticky, unwanted deck first.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENPAfyFtMBY After soaping my old, and hopeless deck (not even Bicycle cards) I could fan and spread it easily, but the cards have an X-shape layer of the soap on their surface which is visible if closely looked at, they also feel slightly 'soaped'. On the second deck which is used only for spreading, I didn't make X-shapes, I used flat surface of the soap to cover very gently and thinly the whole surface of the card. With the second method being used, there is no track of soap on the cards, and they don't stick together anymore. I hope Jonathan Kamm doesn't mind me posting his video here. |
Dick Oslund Inner circle 8357 Posts |
Could you make "Z" shapes?
SNEAKY, UNDERHANDED, DEVIOUS,& SURREPTITIOUS ITINERANT MOUNTEBANK
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Stevious New user Poland 80 Posts |
Yes, just test it on not expensive cards first, e.g. advertising cards in bicycle deck, you need to find the right amount of layer. Remember the kind of soap described in the video
I covered my mind powered deck with the same (very thin, almost nothing) amount of layer on the whole surface, and it was sufficient to make it smoother. |
javlin5 New user 42 Posts |
Jeff McBride has a lot of tips on this on his Art of Card Manilpulation DVD. This can be a bible for all questions in manipulation.
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Dave Scribner Assistant Manager Lake Hopatcong, NJ 4849 Posts |
Years ago, there was a product called Soezee. I'm not sure if it was sold by Abbott's or Tannen's but it is available here under a new name. You just put the fanning powder in it and slide one card at a time through it. Puts a perfect coat of powder on the cards.
http://www.madhattermagicshop.com/magics......_id=6413
Where the magic begins
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Dick Oslund Inner circle 8357 Posts |
Hi Dave!
IIRC, the late Ken Allen (New Jersey) sold the little device called SOOZEE, I haven't seen it or even heard the name in almost fifty years! Though Ken was a friend, I never bought one. The paper bag worked just fine. In 1950, I made up two decks with fanning powder, and prepped them by rolling each card around a hexagonal wooden pencil, so that they would be easy to back p*lm. I think that rolling process idea came from another magician, who had shown me how to produce card fans. Then, I used the "paper bag method" to treat them with zinc stearate. One of those decks got wet when I was doing an "al fresco" (outdoor) show, in 1985. It dried out OK, but, I haven't done the card production routine since the '50s. The other deck (the "back up") has been used for the fancy shuffle routine, since I first prepped it in 1950! (The deck "works" just fine, but, my hands, don't, since about ten years ago!!!) I have an 8 x 10 of me in the mid 80s, doing the cascade or spring shuffle with a spread of 18". For the last 10 years, I can only get about a 12" spread! The first deck (long ago retired) was a BICYCLE "Fan Back". The second ("back up") IS an AVIATOR! I think the cards cost less than a dollar per deck in 1950!!! The late TOMMY WINDSOR and, the late GEORGE McATHY, started the D.O.P.E. Club, (I think, in the '40s). --That's the DECEPTIVE ORDER of PRESTIDIGITORIAL ENTERTAINERS! I'm a D.O.P.E.!!! I still have my "membership certificate", signed by TOMMY! For several years, TOMMY published "The DOPE SHEET", to which, members contributed gags and bits of business. I made up a "stapled" Electric Deck, which I've used in a gag shuffle routine, and, taught in my lectures since "forever".
SNEAKY, UNDERHANDED, DEVIOUS,& SURREPTITIOUS ITINERANT MOUNTEBANK
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