Hi folks,


Does anyone know where I could purchase stickers of the shape and size of the pips on playing cards? I want to attach them to blank cards to make my own gaffs with little trouble.


Another thought would be to photocopy cards onto transparent sheets that were sticky on one side -- if there is such a thing -- and cut out the pips or whatever other pieces of a card I needed.


Thanks for any help you can offer.


Bob

There used to be rub on transfer sheets, but haven't seen those in a long time.

Not sure where you are, but you can get rub on transfer letters and etc. at hobby stores and also can find the transferable rub on things on Amazon.
Also, contact Tracy Kidd at
https://www.houseofchuckles.com/

They may be able to help you out also.

Hello Bob,

Yes, there really is such a thing as full-sheet, transparent sticky-back material you can print on:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006......TF8&th=1

I've been successfully using this product for a couple decades now, occasionally in magic but more often to make front panels for homemade electronic music synthesizers I've designed. (It's an easy alternative to silk-screening which requires a fair investment in equipment).

I'm not sure such an approach would be good for custom playing cards, though. Here's why. First, this stuff once applied to a card, changes the thickness, of course. That may or may not matter, depending on the routine. For packet effects, it may not make a difference (depending on the sleights required), but certainly such a card would stand out within a complete deck.

Moreover, this material is designed for inkjet printers, and that ink is water soluble. So, it would be necessary to protect it with an acrylic spray to keep sweating hands from eventually smearing what you've printed. That would add even more to the thickness and also change the slipperiness.

In the past, I've used this product to make a custom label for a Die-Cipher brass box (as suggested by the late Bob Cassidy), a label for the clear box the late Max Maven's Mind's Eye Deck is housed in, and quite a few other custom props for magic.

In short, it works great on many things...but for playing cards, I'd vote against.

As an alternative: a couple years ago, I taught myself how to make custom cards on genuine playing card stock, just using a home computer, printer, paper cutter and corner rounder. It's surprisingly easy to master, and now I can easily make anything I need. I learned how to do it from a free blog on Lybrary.com (which link I've since lost), and got the playing card stock for Lybrary.com too.

So that's what I'd recommend instead.

Thomas Henry

Thanks, Tom, Wravyn, and Thomas. Years ago I bought Chris Wasshuber's ebook on making one's own gaff cards. It would certainly be a useful skill to learn, but right now my hands are full finishing a book, taking piano lessons, and learning magic. I'm not naturally handy, but I can see having fun with it in the future when the book is done. I looked on amazon, etc., for rub-ons, but haven't had any luck with pips.


I did have one other idea: stencils. No luck there either for pips, but it occurred to me that, with an exacto knife, I could cut out pips, numbers, etc., from a card from an old deck, thus turning the card into a stencil! Not sure how well that would work with the small bits, and I don't know how I'd match the colors on real cards.

So far it looks like my best bet is to contact Tracy Kidd, as you suggested, Wrayvn.

By the way, Thomas, very cool that you make your own synthesizers. I'm impressed by the breadth of your interests.


Bob

Hi again, Bob,

Regarding stencils, a quick look at Amazon turns up many possibilities for playing card pips:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=playing+card+......b_noss_1

You'd want to look through the reviews/comments to find out more about the sizes, etc.

Thomas Henry

Thanks, Thomas. I did see these but was a bit grrrr-ish that they didn't just come out and divulge the sizes and whatnot.


I appreciate your help.


Bob

Penguin Magic has packs of diamond pips...Card Sharks... https://www.penguinmagic.com/p/19490

I have used them and they are really close to bicycle pips.

Thanks, Medic. I might be able to use these.