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I'm looking for a way to fix two playing cards together that open on a hinge kind of thing so a 3rd card can be placed & apparently lost within.
Obviously I could use glue but this would mean the 3rd card would stick out more than I would like as the two cards would be at least a couple of millimeters in with the glue, if you follow.

Whats the best way of having two cards stuck together as narrowly as possible, any pointers or links? Thanks.

Scotch/3m Magic Tape can be used to hinge two cards together, like Sellotape but matt finish and virtually invisible on cards, currency notes etc.. There's a removable vesion as well. Try Staples, Rymans etc and it's available from Amazon.

I was also going to suggest Scotch tape, or something similar.
Don't just tape the 2 cards together though - if you do, then the hinged part of the sandwich will have no gap in it and you run the risk of the sandwiched card sticking out. Place 3 cards on top of each other and then tape the top and bottom cards together. Remove the middle card and there will be a small piece of the tape that hasn't been stuck. You need to remove the stickiness from this small amount of tape, other wise it'll just stick together and you'll be back to square 1. To be honest, I'm not too sure how to achieve this. I'd try and put bits of fluff or maybe dirt/grit on it, to remove the stickiness of the tape, keeping the gap between the cards, so a card can fit comfortable in between them.

moonbeam wrote:Don't just tape the 2 cards together though - if you do, then the hinged part of the sandwich will have no gap in it and you run the risk of the sandwiched card sticking out. Place 3 cards on top of each other and then tape the top and bottom cards together. Remove the middle card and there will be a small piece of the tape that hasn't been stuck. You need to remove the stickiness from this small amount of tape, other wise it'll just stick together and you'll be back to square 1. To be honest, I'm not too sure how to achieve this. I'd try and put bits of fluff or maybe dirt/grit on it, to remove the stickiness of the tape, keeping the gap between the cards, so a card can fit comfortable in between them.

You can "de-tack" tape just by tapping yorur fingers on it, or on clean clothes (it will pick up tiny amounts of lint). Good suggestion for how to ensure there's a sufficient gap; I once had an Ali Bongo magic set that included a trick using a similar sort of gaff.

Making these well is actually far easier if two cards are to vanish within.

For one card the tape brand and method suggestions are spot on. Don't put the tape on the outside though, put it on the INSIDE for maximum invisibility (like the flap in some 3 card montes). As with anything like this 'nearly invisible' doesn't mean totaly invisible - light hits that card the wrong way and you're in trouble. Its more fidgety taping the inside (for a one card vanish), but the end result is far better.

Place the tape along the edge of the face the back card (the card that will become the back of your gimmick).
Place a spare card on top - this is just for spacing. And fold the tape over this card. Try to get a good fold/crease in the tape - the better and more accurate this part is done the better the finished gimmick.
Place the face card of your gimmick, face up, square on top and press onto the tape.
Dip your finger in some talcom puwder and run it over the edge of the tape until the stickiness is away. Remove the centre card and you're done.

For two cards to be vanished/hidden within simply assemble the two cards back to front - ie if you intend to have an ace at the face of the gimmick and a nine at the back, you would assemble these with the nine at the face and the ace at the back instead. Then simply tape the edge together as neatly as possible. Open it out and fold back the other way and do the talk bit. There is no need for the third 'spacer' card as the gap between the cards will be exactly two cards thick.

Depending on conditions and the actual effect you may be able to use the second 2 card gimmick for a single card. It won't be as perfect as the one card gimmick but could be an option (its also easier to make).


Jim

Excellent, thanks for the advice guys.
It did actually occur to me, invisible tape around 10 minutes after I made the intial post, so have some ordered. Also didn't consider the idea of using the 3rd card to allow for spacing.
Love this forum.

Once last thing, I have a lovely little corner rounder thing I got from cards for magic for short cards, what I'd now like is a kind of partial moon cutter for the edge of the cards, I know I can achieve this with scissors but if their is a proper tool for this I'll have that

If you need to just cut a small semi circle out of the edge of a card then use a round hole cutter (Hobbycraft and/or cards4magic) and only push the card far enough into the cutting area to achieve the required result.

moonbeam wrote:I was also going to suggest Scotch tape, or something similar.
Don't just tape the 2 cards together though - if you do, then the hinged part of the sandwich will have no gap in it and you run the risk of the sandwiched card sticking out. Place 3 cards on top of each other and then tape the top and bottom cards together. Remove the middle card and there will be a small piece of the tape that hasn't been stuck. You need to remove the stickiness from this small amount of tape, other wise it'll just stick together and you'll be back to square 1. To be honest, I'm not too sure how to achieve this. I'd try and put bits of fluff or maybe dirt/grit on it, to remove the stickiness of the tape, keeping the gap between the cards, so a card can fit comfortable in between them.

baby powder works well just a fine coating and of course clean it off after.