Happy to help out.

Don't bother making your own gaff cards. CALL MARTINI HE IS THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS.

Bob,
You're right, Marty is great at making gaffed cards and he also makes the best rising card gimmick in the business. Neil over at Cards By Martin also does an incredible job at splitting and making gaffed cards. I have cards and decks from both of them. But making your own just provides another level of satisfaction and customization. And actually on this thread we're talking more about DMT and printing gaffed cards.

Well, I have continued my experiments in gaff making using Dry Mounting Tissue and I can now say with absolute certainty that the Bienfang ColorMount RC DMT cannot be used for joining split playing cards.

This DMT isn't completely flat, it has a wrinkled texture and it just doesn't bond completely with the card halves and there are bubbles and uneven patches all over the card. Flex the card a little and the card crackles as the DMT comes loose. (It is intended for plastic coated paper)

So does anyone know of any brand of DMT which will work and which is sold in EUROPE? I don't need more DVDs or equipment, just a DMT which will bond completely with the paper surface of a split card.

Are you saying that Film Source (see the link provided in my previous post) does not ship to Europe? Their DMT works well for me, and their price (at least in the USA) is the best I have found.

Best of luck!

Magiguy, they do ship to Europe but you have to call them on the telephone in advance. I cannot very well do things like placing international phone calls in foreign languages just to get some DMT. How are they going to handle a secure online payment if they are that backwards in technology?

There has to be a lot of options right here where I live. I just haven't found them yet.

BTW, what method do you use to apply heat and pressure for your gaffs?

I am using the Lassen Gaffing Genii. It is great for alignment and for applying uniform heat.

I've been wondering how that Gaff Genii works actually. It looks in the photo like the halves are put into a "mold" where they have nowhere to go? But where then does the excess DMT go? And how do you heat it?

http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~roy/magictalk-......ard.html

I found this link elsewhere on the Café (don't remember where) where Lassen explains his Gaffing Genii and Matsuoka explains the process of using DMT briefly.

Re: heating the gaffing genii, Lassen says:
"clamp top piece on using small c-clamps. now set your iron to the highest setting and let it set flat on the top for a few minutes until you can wet your finger and the whole thing is hot. the aluminium distributes the heat fairly evenly"

I emailed Lassen a few weeks ago about getting a gaffing genii, but haven't heard anything back from him as of yet.

So the answer as I understand it is what I thought; that the DMT needs to be trimmed perfectly in advance or it won't fit into the genii pocket without climbing up the sides, if that explanation makes sense.

OK. I'm sure it is a great tool although you could probably have a good deal of cards custom made for the price of such a hand made specialty item.

In any case, I don't have any alignment problems because I have rather spectacular eyesight and a nifty little plastic clamp I use to hold the pieces together while tacking the surface a few places in the middle to fasten it before proper heating/pressing.

So all that is really needed is the proper DMT.

And of course I have now made around 30 failed cards which have used up my entire stash of Jokers and guarantee cards and whatnot with rare and beautiful backs. So now all gaffs would be boring old Bicycle cards anyway which I might as well buy.

This all started because I wanted a double backer to match one of my fancier decks for an effect in Mnemonica. Months later I have to simply write that project off as a failure.

The smaller part of the Gaffing Genii is the exact size of a poker size card. You use it as a guide to cut out the DMT with an exacto-style blade, as well as the release paper (which is also a necessary material in the process). As a result, there is no excess paper to trim after the heating process.

While making some tryouts in gaff-making, (I live in Europe) I just asked to a US guy if he would accept to buy a bottle of rubber cemnt and ship it to me. That was easy, rather quick and very practical. So I could buy a genuine US product without having to make complicated international order for a $5 item.

Regarding the DMT, I went to an art-craft shop and which has a "framing" department (you bring your picture and choose a frame, and the make it up for you). I politely explained my bizarre requirements and they gave me a sample of both DMT they use. So I could make my tryouts. Try to ask in the photographer shops, craft shop, and see what they have.

Thanks Jonathan, I think that a framing place is a good place to start asking, yes. As far as I know there are no craft or photo stores left here in Norway that would carry anything old fashioned like that.

About 5 minutes after digital photography was first introduced, every photography supply shop in my country had stopped selling paper and chemicals and that sort of thing. I actually had a mounting press which I bought maybe 15 years ago and I remember that it had to be ordered from Germany or somewhere as products like that were already extinct here.

Now even the stores where I ordered such things are all gone and it is all online shopping now, except for digital cameras and inkjet printers.

But there are still places that frame things. Although I cannot imagine that they use DMT anymore. I had some photos framed for an exhibit 3 years ago and they were using something self-adhesive then. But we'll see.

I know I'm resurrecting a pretty old thread here, but does anyone know whether Bondaweb would work as an alternative to DMT? It's designed for bonding fabric together, so logically it should result in more flexible cards - should it not?

For those in live in Europe Rubber Cement anti wrinkle is on The Card Collection web site. Hope that helps.

The thread is about "Gaff making: DMT recommendations?"

I believe in Seal/Bienfang. Although I have to import this at a quite horrible price.

Bumping an old thread. Does anyone have DMT recommendations that are readily available?

If you haven't seen this, it might be worth looking into. I have no direct knowledge of it.

https://www.lybrary.com/the-gaff-factory......l#review

Yep thanks. I was actually trying to track down the DMT recommendations from that guide but couldn’t find them available anymore.

I had the same problem; I was recommended in the UK 'https://mountingsubstrates.co.uk/collections/mount-films-heat-activated/products/eco-mount', which has worked for me so far. Hope this helps.

Paul