Howdy folks!

I am looking for some tips on applying fanning powder to a deck. I am familiar with the methods shown on Jeff McBride's Card Manipulation videos... shaking the cards in a bag with the powder (Shake N Bake!) and putting some powder on the top edge and faro shuffling a ton... but I'm wondering if any of you had a favorite method you use.

I do the Shake N Bake myself, but there IS a device you can use called a Soo Zee. I'm curious as to whether its worth the trouble (you end up powdering each card separately). But maybe this thread will turn some one up who's tried it.

Jeff

And there you have it, folks! 76 views and but one reply. Shake and Bake is the way to do it.

Nobody's tried it any other way? How about card presses... does anybody use those? Are they nice? Shiny?

Froste, don't be too disappointed. This forum is not particularly active. I don't know why, but my guess is that the XCM people spend most of their time elsewhere, like at godzhandzlordz and 23Aces and Deckniki. Too many magicians around here at the Café.

As for myself, I stopped experimenting with methods of applying powder because I haven't used powder in six months. I have VERY mixed feelings about it. It is super for fanning, and it is probably super for a few things I don't do (like armspread catches. I don't throw anything into the air, because I am too lazy to pick up cards that fall). But if you take the same deck and start doing faros, you find it hard to square the packets after shuffling. What I do is keep one specific kind of deck (Tally fanbacks) powdered, and nothing else. And lately I've been working on sleights rather than flourishes, so there has been very little powder in my life.

I think that "The Workers" forum would have gotten more responses, but THIS is the forum where the participants should be powder experts. Where are the powder experts?

Jeff

I have an old video where Bill Tarr himself applies fanning powder with a Q-Tip one at a time to each card. I wouldn't take the time to do it that way, but it is a different way. I have also seen a guy do a ribbon spread sprinkle the powder right on them and then shuffle for about 5 minutes straight. It seemed to work fine.

As for card presses, I don't use them unless I've "Broken" a deck, when you scrape them individually under a ruler to make them bendy. I don't know if that's the industry term, but that's what I was told it was called. I made my card press from two pieces of wood and some nut and bolts.

Hopefully, some of this helps.

I have applied powder to cards individually....the very first time I ever powdered cards was about 12 years ago, I didn't know any other way..so I just sprinkled some on each card...also, I used foot powder back then.
Nowadays, I do powder all my cards, right out of the box..whether they are going to be used for magic or card manipulations. I do use the bag method. It does take awhile to get used to, and squaring can be an issue. but I would rather have to put in a little effort to square the cards than have them slipping and sliding all over the place.

Scan down 2 or 3 posts in the thread mentioned below.
There are several detailed comments about
applying fanning powder.

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......forum=10

Hope this helps.

I will be trying the "cotton pad/cotton ball" method
instead of "shake and bake". We'll see what happens.

Very Carefully.

I use the method described on the XB DVD

In the past, I used the method of putting the cards loosely into a paper bag, apply powder and give the low a big shake. After that, I started a modified version, adding cards one by one into the bag. That worked like a charm.

Does the powder really work? All I ever had was a mess after I put them in a bag and shook everything up.

Fanning powder works very well. You can use a paper bag or a cotton ball/pad. The bag is quicker; the cotton ball probably more effective. In either case, use only a small amount of powder. Using too much causes the cards to clump up. Also, when using the bag method, try putting in a few cards (5-10) at a time, rather than the whole deck at once. Use a small amount of powder, and shake gently.

Is the powder for regular decks? I bought some Nielsen Manipulation Cards and they seemed to fan fine on their own.

They may have already been treated.

The Nielsen cards came from Nielsen and were in plastic.

I've powdered 2 or 3 decks with Nielsen's fanning powder the shake and bake method and it seems to me to make the cards sticky and they don't fan as well as they do right out of the new case these are Hoyle cards any help on this sticky problem or is that how they are suppose to be? Owln_1

Greetings Froste:
I have found that what works best for me is using a make up brush. It is very soft, I dip it into my container of zinc Sterate and just twirl it covering the entire card.
This gives a nice even coat without too much powder which could cause clumping.

I use the same type of brush to coat the insides of my rising units on my rising cards, although there I use a mixture for a specific reason.

Just about every magic dealer carries fanning powder and a container will probably last you a lifetime. Do not use baby powder as it is talc with sharp microscopic points that will do the opposite of what you wish to achieve.

I know some may say that doing one card at a time is very time consuming, but anything worth doing, is worth doing right the first time. I personally have never been a fan of the shake and bake method of coating cards, you end up using too much powder, bend corners of cards, and get clumping.

Just my two cents
All the Best
Marty

@martini,
I like your idea with the make up brush, until now I have either used the shake & bake method or a cotton pad.

I only put one card in a zip log baggy and use very little fanning powder. Yes, it is time consuming, but I love my tarot cards.

Having tried many different ways with varied success I have to say that for me the "shake and bake" as many people call it is the best method.

Here is how I have done it for the past 5 years .

You use a very large plastic bag ( I use a strong bin liner ),do not fall into the trap of using a small bag as it won't work as well. Place the whole pack / deck inside , yep all 52 of them . Now comes the very important bit. Into the bag place some fanning powder not too much and not too little. The way to do it is hold the fanning powder container over the bag and give it three gentle taps with the index finger which will release enough powder into the bag. It may not look like enough but it is. DO NOT over powder the cards.

Gather up the top of the bag so that it now looks like a large balloon and shake it for about 20 seconds. Now that's your exercises over for today. Take the pack / deck out of the bag, sort them out so they all face the same way and do a couple of faro shuffles ( they don't have to be perfect) and that's it your ready to go.

The large bag can be saved for next time you need it.

Hope this helps you as much as it has me.

Stuart Brown
British Magical Champion
Of Stage Manipulation 2007

As you are the champion of Stage Manipulation, I am sure you are an expert, but this is the "flourishing" forum and for many flourishes, the more fanning powder the better, so I respectfully disagree with your warning to NOT over-powder the cards. In fact I don't know if it's possible to over-powder them!

Jerry "The Flourishman" uses tons of fanning powder and so I have been using this method as well, it takes a lot more Faro shuffles to tune the deck after that but it's really nice for armspread aerials, giant fan twirls, and other difficult moves.