Card Gear: Sherman Tsao

Card Gear is our monthly feature dedicated to discovering new inventory, setup, and accessories used every day by card designers, cardists, magicians and collectors. The concept originated from the popular social media site, Instagram: #passthepockets. Whenever one of these hashtags come up on the social news feed, there's always something new to discover, no matter who that person is.

This month, we feature the EDC of Sherman Tsao from Shanghai, China. Sherman is the founder of Carat Case Creations (previously known as Carat Card Cases). He started the company a little less than a year after he started collecting playing cards. Originally, he created the cases for himself but realized that other collectors liked them as well,  and decided to try and provide the community with affordable display options for their collectibles.

Sherman grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, PA and graduated from Penn State University in 1990 after which he moved to Chicago to work. In 1993, he moved to Taipei, Taiwan and in 2004, he moved to Shanghai, China where he has been living ever since. In his spare time, other than obsessing over playing cards and coming up with new display ideas/designs, he enjoys spending time with his wife and 8-year-old son. Sherman's gear (Italics are Sherman's comments):

+ iPad Pro 9.7 inch
+ iPhone 5S
+ Plain Titanium Money Clip (for bills) and homemade ID/Credit Card holder (just a plain wide black elastic band sewn in a loop)
+ Titanium Boker Plus Tactical Pen Cid Cal .45
+ Pental Sharp Drafting Pencil (an all-time classic that I have been using for over 25 years...no, not the same pencil)
+ B5 (176 x 270 mm) sized graph paper note pad (for sketching my new product ideas and designs)
+ Gold Monarch Planks by Ben Kolozsi in a Natural Whiskey Magic Wallet made by Alstad Goods and sold by Dan & Dave)
+ Deck of the Week: Draconians Spitfire in a Carbon Fiber Card Clip by EPCC (The Draconian backs are so mesmerizing and has been one of my favorites ever since I started collecting)
+ Rolex Datejust 2 (One of the few higher end watches that can stand up to my abuse…I love the blue of the watch dial)
+ Davey Jones’ Locker Hobo Coin by Chris Odviyenko (This has replaced Chris’ Morgan Dollar Hobo Coin as my favorite fiddle coin)

If you would like your card gears to be featured on Kardify, feel free to contact us.

Watch: LUNATICA Playing Cards on Kardify Spotlight

For the past month, we've partnered up with Omar Chavez (Instagram: @thegentlemanwake) on a series of 'spotlight' videos to give you the rundown on some of the latest and unique decks of playing cards around. We aim to publish the 1-minute spotlight video weekly on social media (Facebook: Kardify) and in addition, a link to @thegentlemanwake's full video if you want to have a more comprehensive look at a particular deck.

This week, we feature Thirdway Industries' eye-catching LUNATICA Playing Cards, a fully custom deck series with bright neon colors and illustrated in the playful style of Giovanni Meroni. Find out more about this cool deck in the video below. If you like the video, don't forget to SUBSCRIBE (YouTube: TheGentlemanWake)!

News: Issue Eleven of Kardify Magazine Now Available!

The April issue (#11) of Kardify magazine is now available to our Patrons who pledge $3 or more on our Patreon page. The monthly magazine compiles selected articles we’ve published from mid-March to mid-April. Our goal is to help you stay on top of playing card news.

Funds received from the magazine will help us keep the site running and growing, and bringing new quality content to you. Our aim is to support designers by backing on crowd-funded projects and supporting magic and playing cards retailers with their new releases. If you want to support us, please head over to our Patreon page.

If you have an idea for an article you would like us to pursue, do get in contact with us. We hope you enjoy the read. In this issue:

+ The E Deck: Find out more about Ellusionist's elusive deck made available to the public for a limited time.

+ Devastation Silver Edition: An elegant deck based on Black Ink's most successfully crowdfunded deck.

+ DIVA Playing Cards: 5 things you didn't know about the vibrant geometric deck designed for cardistry.

+ Jetsetter Premier Edition: A detailed look at the two decks by Jetsetter Playing Cards.

+ House of the Rising Spades: Stockholm17 has done it again! Find out more about this EPIC deck.

+ Mahdi Gilbert's Hidden Leaves: A look at the vintage-inspired deck currently funding on Kickstarter.

+ Outlaw Playing Cards: From the team at Scam School, the deck is themed around the old west and modern tech.

+ Red Checkerboard Playing Cards: This highly anticipated deck by Anyone Worldwide was sold out in 4 hours!

… and more! 39 pages of articles and deck images. Enjoy!

Kickstarter: Masquerade Playing Cards by Brain Vessel Creative

Masquerade is the second deck on Brain Vessel Creative's Artist Series Playing Cards featuring the artwork of Canadian artist Denyse Klette. Currently seeking $13,000 in funding goal, the deck is 66% funded with 15 days to go.

Two editions are available during the campaign, the Masquerade Black Box Edition, and the Masquerade Special Limited Edition.

The Black Box Edition features a black/white colorway and will have a black and silver foil with more additions to be added to upcoming stretch goals. Inside, the cards are similar to those of the Masquerade Special LE.

The special edition of the Masquerade playing cards comes with an exclusively printed tuck and is limited to 200 decks available within the Kickstarter campaign. The full run of this tuck was 1000.  800 Decks have been reserved for the JDRF-Central PA Chapter, a prestigious Gala that benefits individuals with Type-1 Diabetes. The event was held in Hershey, PA on April 14th, 2018. So once they are gone, they ARE GONE.

Both decks will be printed by USPCC. Pledge starts at $15 and there are multiple add-ons and stretched goals waiting to be unlocked during the campaign! Check it out here!