Exclusive: First Look at the New Products from Carat Card Cases

The Carat Card Case line-up has been one of my favorites since they first showed up in the market not that long ago. Sherman Tsao, continues to improve and create new and exciting ways to display your collection.

We had the opportunity to get a first look at some of the prototypes of some of the new products coming soon to the Carat line. All the new products continue to shine in the quality and craftsmanship that we've come to expect and the innovation and functionality continue to flourish.

Earlier this year Sherman introduced the first Carat Brick Box, debuting exclusively on the Jetsetter Playing Cards: Premier Edition campaign. Coming soon to the Carat line will be an all new half brick box. The same beautiful crystal clear acrylic with a magnetized lid and included rubber feet. (Pictured above)



Earlier this year also brought the V2 (version two) deck cases featuring the new rounded corners. In the not so distant future, you'll see the addition of a Coin lid single and double deck case. The lid will be able to hold a 2" coin and seal seamlessly, just as the standard cases. The coin compartment is on the inner face of the lid leaving the clean lines of the case undisturbed.

The other deck display coming this year is the custom fitted Legacy display, made to display the Limited Edition Legacy line from Kings Wild Projects and Jackson Robinson. An excellent touch to an already stunning display.

I've always been one to try and display as much of my collection as I can, the Carat product line continues to give collectors the ability to showcase part of their collections in a clean design that can be placed in any setting. 

We have no release dates or price points as of yet, but be assured once we have any information we'll be sure to share it with our readers. Please keep in mind these are prototypes still undergoing tweaks and updates, but I'm sure the final versions will be just as appealing as these early incarnations. There are a few more unique products coming from Carat that we're not at liberty to discuss just yet, but when the time comes, we'll be bringing those to you first hand as well. 

We want to thank Sherman for giving Kardify the opportunity to bring this exciting first look at his new products and as always to our readers.  

Exclusive First Look: Dedalo Playing Cards by Thirdway Industries Part I

Here's an exclusive first look of the Dedalo Playing Cards series from designer Giovanni Meroni of Thirdway Industries. Last month, Giovanni posted a teaser on Thirdway's website and provided a few clues about Dedalo. This has generated quite a lot of interest within the playing card community.

For the next 3 weeks, we will be going through the details of each deck in the Dedalo series. To kick things off, we have Giovanni to tell us about Dedalo Alpha:

Dedalo Alpha is the first deck in the Dedalo Series- the main theme is the Labyrinth. The symbology is very complicated. Just for a challenge, I will not spoil the complete story and prefer that people try to guess who the characters represent. For this reason, I've used "King of Taurus" instead of "King Minos" for the King of Diamonds as an example. 

There are two main stories in this deck. Hint... the gods involved in the story will be represented by the Spades courts. 

The above images are Jack of Hearts and the Queen of Diamonds. If you're wondering why those animals, the Owl was the symbol of Athens, and the bull was the symbol of Crete. Finally, the above are images of pips and an Ace of Clubs. Everything, as always, will be 100% custom :)

Join us next week when we look at the second deck in the Dedalo series, the Dedalo Omega! The provisional launch date for the campaign will be 10 June 2016. Stay tuned! 


To find out more about Dedalo and anything Thirdway Industries, visit them at thirdway.it or follow them on Facebook.

EXCLUSIVE First Look: Chameleons by Asi Wind and Expert Playing Card Company

[Update] Now available on conjuringarts.org. Don't miss out!

Here's an exclusive first look of the latest incredible deck series from EPCC called Chameleons. Designed by world-renowned magician Asi Wind, this deck is engineered to be the ultimate deck for magicians.

The deck handles amazing! Made from Expert's Classic stock, the deck feels familiar yet superior to standard decks. The Classic stock ensures that these decks won't vary from deck to deck and the cut is always perfect for faro shuffles (bottom up and tabled). The registration is perfect so they are beautiful and the borders don’t flutter when riffled.

The cards themselves are just as impressive with a beautiful ambigram of the AW initial on the backs. For the Ultra Luxury version, the initial has been iridescent stamped on each card back. The deck also features a custom Ace of Spades, beautifully rich court cards and two custom Jokers depicting the Chameleon.

One thing you will notice when you first open the deck are the order of the cards. The deck comes in Mnemonica order cut to the Ace of spades (on the bottom). Any Mnemonica user is ready to perform  just by opening a brand new deck in front of a spectator and removing the jokers and cutting once.

Another exciting thing about these deck is that it all come in tuck cases made of Expert's new exclusive synthetic paper. These amazing tucks will last and last and are waterproof. The worn out tuck box problem plaguing working magicians is now a thing of the past.

The Chameleons come in three versions; Metallic Red: $9.95, Metallic Blue: $9.95 and Ultra Luxury Metallic Green with Foil on the cards: $19.95. The Ultra Luxury version comes in a specially designed tuck with a die cut hole so that the beautiful iridescent stamped on each card back can be seen even while the deck is safely boxed.

Special bundle is available as well: 1 of each color (valued at $45), for just $34.95 pstpd US (+$9.99 worldwide) and 5 + 5 + 2 (a $149 value), for $119.00 pstpd US (+ $19.99 worldwide).

[Update] Now available on conjuringarts.org. Don't miss out!

According to EPCC, only a small quantity of each color were produced so act now while you can. The release date given by EPCC is 15th July.

EXCLUSIVE: 52 Plus Joker Gold Edition

[Update] 52 PLUS JOKER GOLD EDITION AVAILABLE NOW FROM CONJURING ARTS RESEARCH CENTER

The wait is over, the beautifully designed companion to the 52 Plus Joker Club deck is finally here....the Gold Edition. Unlike the Club Edition which is only available to Club members, the Gold Edition is available to everyone!

Designed by Jackson Robinson and printed by the Expert Playing Card Company on their Master Finish, this deck features Expert's exclusive sideways tuck made of EPCC's new exclusive synthetic material. Very supple, waterproof and wears like iron! 

Jackson Robinson's back design is produced with metallic gold ink and stunning gold foil on each card. The gold foil design carries over to the back of the tuck box as well making it truly eye-catching. The deck also features Jackson Robinson's beautiful new Custom Court design!

For those who act early, for 1 WEEK ONLY you'll be able to take advantage of a great Introductory Offer!!

  - $14.95 per Deck
  - $39.99 for 3 Decks Postpaid in the US
  - $148.92 for a Brick (12 Decks) Postpaid in the US

You can't beat the savings by getting on board early and while they last!

The 52 Plus Joker Gold Edition is truly unique and inspiring and won't last long.

Once the introductory offer expires on this deck, it will be offered at its regular retail price

  - $19.95 per Deck
  - $54.95 for 3 Decks Postpaid in the US
  - $199.00 for a Brick (12 Decks) Postpaid in the US

So mark your calendars and don't miss out on this amazing deck at an amazing price!

Kickstarter: 7 Questions with Chris Chelko

We had the great pleasure of getting a chance to chat with Chris Chelko of Whispering Imps Productions on the upcoming release of the Gamester Playing Cards, the iconic Whispering Imps and more. First and foremost though, mark your calendars for the release of the Gamesters! Chris' new project is scheduled to launch December 15th, 2014 on Kickstarter, you won't want to miss this!

Hope you enjoy the Q&A

Just over a year ago the Original Whispering Imps® were funded on Kickstarter, how long has the planning for Whispering Imps 2 been in development?
Wow, yeah in just over a year there have been 5 decks of the original Whispering Imps released in some form (Original, Special Edition, Black Edition, Private Reserve Red Foil & Gold Foil). Planning for Whispering Imps® v.2 began shortly after all the rewards from the original decks were shipped, sometime around November 2013. By then I already new I wanted the next deck to be designed for card players, and had made a few mock ups of the back design. In January 2014, I began working out various concepts and designs for the Ace, Joker and Tuck, drawing inspiration from Bee, Talley-Ho, Squeezers and Triplicates.

The inspiration for the original Whispering Imps® was Harry Kellar, has that changed for the Whispering Imps 2?
The Imps in Harry Kellar’s portrait poster from 1894 were certainly the inspiration for the original
Whispering Imps deck which was designed for magicians. The v.2’s are designed for the card player and will still represent the charm of the Whispering Imps, but are not the primary focus of card back design.

Who is providing the illustration work for this new deck?
I’ve teamed up again with the incredibly talented Mark Stutzman. His traditional approach to hand inked illustration is something that we just don’t see much anymore in an age where computers dominate the graphics industry. There is something that just feels right about playing cards and hand drawn illustration.

What are some of the unique aspects of this deck in terms of design, color and back story?
The v.2’s, called “Gamesters” was designed for the card player. Gamester came from an old term used to describe one who plays games, especially a gambler. I originally wanted to call them Gamblers, but I didn’t want to bring any confusion to Richard Turners Gamblers deck and so the Gamesters were born.

As we’ve seen with other popular casino back designs, they are often logo based. The Gamesters are no different. Inspired by Wynn, Jerry’s Nugget, Madison Rounders & Fulton’s, the Whispering Imps branded “WI” logo will be represented on the clean, solid color back. The court cards however, are what makes this deck more unique than others, and (in my opinion) practical for the average card player.

The face and court cards have pips that have been angled and tucked as close to the edge as possible on all four corners so that right and left handed players can peek at the cards with the least amount of exposure. It’s a nice advantage to have when playing in close proximity to other players at the table. They will also look really nice when fanned out.

I plan to release them in “Imp Red” and Black back colors, along with Limited Editions of each. The intentional differences in v.1 and v.2 is that the Gamesters have a simple back design and intricate tuck, where the originals have an intricate back design and simple tuck.

Are there any “Surprises” planned for this project and or campaign?
Oohhh probably, but the Imps are keeping that a secret….shhh.

How did the use of the Whispering Imps® on ABC’s “Revenge” come about?
This was a very exciting time for the Whispering Imps®! I received call from my friend Colie Buck (Dave Buck’s wife of Dan & Dave) who is a graphic designer for “Revenge”. She mentioned to me the theme of the episode and what they were looking for and said that the Whispering Imps® would be perfect. So through a special collaboration through Colie, Art of Play and Whispering Imps Productions we were able to give the cards their 15 minutes of fame on prime time network television.

In just a short year the custom playing card industry has boomed, do you have any thoughts on the direction and future of the industry?
I recently wrote a story for Magic Magazine about the rise in custom playing cards (August 2014). I addressed this only briefly, however we have certainly seen the bubble grow in the past 10 years…but not burst. The reason for this growth is because of a surge in crowd funding. If you have the vision, artwork, interest, passion and determination to follow through with a campaign for a deck of playing cards by all means do it…but it’s no easy task. Jackson Robinson, Paul Carpenter, & Uusi for example have designed some of my favorite decks through Kickstarter. Each time, trying something new…whether it’s a style of art, playing with the tuck or creative new printing techniques. I think we are starting to see attention to detail. I think we’ll see higher quality decks being produced in smaller, limited quantities. There are your standard decks and then there are your luxury decks….my hope is that we’ll start to see more decks produced with better papers, foils, & inks on machines that are capable of perfection.

We can't thank Chris enough for his time, information and insight into his projects. You can keep up to date with Whispering Imp Productions on their website as well as Facebook and Instagram. Remember the Gamesters launch on December 15th and keep an eye out for some updates on the campaign as the launch approaches!

EXCLUSIVE: Classic Twins 48 Hour Brick Sale from EPCC

Coming to the Conjuring Arts Research Center from Expert Playing Card Company, the new "Classic Twins"

Expert Playing Cards mantra has been to innovate, always innovate. And even while innovating they always keep the working sleight of hand performer in mind and proudly introduce some revolutionary new playing card features with a series built for performance, the "Classic Series".

About a year ago Lawrence Sullivan at Legends Playing Card Co. discovered an interesting new playing card stock. After extensive testing he christened it the "Classic Finish". The new Classic Finish has a different embossing pattern and feel than the Master Finish, and many will find it to be more like standard American made cards. The cards are a bit thicker (only a tiny bit) and a little more flexible than the stock used for EPCC's Master Finish. It is of the same equally high quality as the Master Finish but still somewhat different in feel and performance. As important as the handling and feel are, it was critical to EPCC to also be able to cut these cards with the precision and perfection that are now expected from the Expert Playing Card Co. The new "Classic"decks made from the new stock share the excellent edges that the Master Finish has always had.

EPCC introduces the Classic Finish with a 3 deck series fittingly called "The Classic Series". It includes Classic Twins, Classic Black and later Classic Gold.

The Classic Twins are also an introduction to an EPCC exclusive two deck twin box. This convenient tuck box made of fine stock (embossed and printed using UV spot coating for exceptional detail) holds two poker packs and still maintains the proportions of a single deck tuck. These two decks feature a beautiful back design (one red deck and one blue) and the new Expert Classic Faces. EPCC have had these retro-style faces drawn by hand and they resemble the faces used on many standard decks today but have their own Art Nouveau style. Magicians using these cards don't need to fear that their audiences will think them suspicious but they are different enough from standard to be extremely appealing.

The Classic Black deck is a limited edition featuring the same back design as the Classic Twins but printed in black ink. The faces are also the same as the Classic Twins. The tuck is another EPCC innovation. After years of development and experimentation they are introducing a new synthetic tuck material! This is a paper that is made synthetically and is waterproof and extremely durable. It will hold up much longer than a paper stock and allow the working professional true protection for his pack. For the Classic Black deck they have taken the stock which is a naturally a milky white and printed it completely black inside and out. All the text and image on the box is also done in black but raised from the surface of the box by using spot UV coating. This is an amazing tuck for an amazing deck.

So know that you've gotten to know the "Classic" line up, what will be available and when?

The release will be Wednesday October 29th at 1PM EDT and for 48 hours ONLY, you will be able to purchase the Classic Twins along with 1 (One) Classic Black deck in one great package, at an amazing price. The official price for the Classic Twins is $9.99.... but for the first 48 hours you can get a brick of them (in a newly designed brick box containing 6 Twin Pack), along with a FREE Classic Black deck for $54.99 which includes FREE shipping anywhere in the U.S. (There will also be discounted shipping for International buyers).

So mark your calenders and take advantage of the huge savings!