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The place to go for custom
deck concepts for magicians
ABOUT
WHO I AM
Magician. Consultant to playing card designers, manufacturers & magicians. Vice President of 52 Plus Joker (52+J), the premier North American playing card collectors' society. Administrator of the 52+J forum, PlayingCardForum.com, and Chair of the 52+J Diamond Awards Committee.
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In short, I know a few things about playing cards...
WHAT I'VE DONE
I've acquired a unique set of tools for the modification and alterations of playing cards, allowing me to create unique gaffed decks for the professional magician and card sharp. I've practiced with these tools and learned to create professional-grade "weapons of mass distraction," including old favorites done better than what you'll find at retail and magic card concepts that are hard to find elsewhere.
WHAT I DO
Using either a deck you provide or one that I acquire for you, I can provide custom alterations that will allow you to use those cards to perform minor miracles of your choosing. The work I perform can be customized to your preferences and experience level, from the commonly-available "commercial grade" to a professional grade that even some magicians won't detect...
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Also available: pre-made gaffed decks, ready to ship at donboyermagic.com.
OFFERINGS
These are a few of the things I can create for you with a deck of cards; click through for more details. If you have something in mind that you don't see here, contact me below and perhaps I can create what you're thinking of. Use the form at the bottom of the page to ask a question or request a quote for your deck(s).
An old standby in the arsenal of magicians, experienced and novice alike, most are cut to a depth of nearly a full millimeter, making them terribly obvious to a sharp observer. I can cut them to much, much more shallow depths, allowing for greater subtlety in your deceptions.
Why use the peculiar-looking Hindu shuffle when you want to control cards when an end stripper deck, cut on the short edge, will do the same thing with the more-common and natural-looking overhand shuffle instead? Also great for making Trilby deck sets!
Add a new tool to your card control arsenal - I can re-round a corner to a different size, giving you the ability to find and control a card or several cards in a way that's less easy to spot than a stripper deck. Now available in different grades/depths of cut.
I can cut selected cards to be shorter than the rest of the pack for unique card manipulations. This can be combined with forcing decks to create Svengali decks and, when roughing spray is added, Mirage decks. Alternately, all but some select cards can be shortened, allowing you to cut to them regardless of orientation - great for specific card-finding routines.
Using principles of wide and narrow, you can achieve the same effects as with tall and short but with a different handling of the deck itself. This also allows for standard riffle shuffling, even by a spectator, with less risk of damage to the edges of the wide cards.
The principles of rough and smooth come into play in several different kinds of decks, the most common of which being the Invisible deck and the Mirage deck. When employed more selectively, cards can be made to appear to vanish in the deck, unseen when spread, among other possible effects.
A very tiny, subtle pinprick, almost naked to the eye, can be made to the back or the face, allowing you to identify a card by touch, sight unseen. Done in a pattern, they can be used for tactile marking, as with the Blind marking system (click the link below for more info).
Another method for spotting a specific card or group of cards is crimping; to force a bend into a card so it creates a gap in the deck, allowing you to cut straight to it.
A single crimp lets you cut to a single card - a "breather" deck, with an off-center crimp in every card, allows you to cut to ANY card. It works like a stripper deck in some ways, but is more subtle and hard to spot.
A group of negative-stripped cards in a regular deck (or regular cards in a negative-stripped deck, as seen above) allows for some amazing feats of card control, with practice and a deft touch.
For artists and magicians thinking of creating a custom-designed deck of cards, either gaffed or standard, I offer design and development consultation. I help refine your concept, assist with finding service vendors and crowd-sourced funding, and help turn your dream into reality.
Do you have a deck concept you'd like to create but don't see it here? Something new and original or an old standby done differently or with a new deck design? Contact me and let's see what we can make together!