New ebook on making gaffed cards

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Guest

New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 15th, 2007, 2:59 pm

THE GAFF FACTORY:
A comprehensive dry-mounting tutorial
by Craig Matsuoka

He covers
- card splitting
- making double-facers
- corner rounding
- shimmed cards
- long cards
- split faces and backs
- invisible seams
- Acrobatic Cards
- transparent Hofzinser cards
- eight pages on printing cards on a laser printer

http://www.google.com/base/a/1577887/D1 ... 8360441426

My two cents:

What a find! This is very professional. You won't believe the detail. He gives the sources to buy everything and he has picture after picture of how to do everything. VERY impressive. This is clearly an important addition to this skill's knowledge base. It's $20 but it's the real deal, no exaggeration.

If you look on that Google link, you'll see there's a downloadable zip file to preview the style of the book.

From the Acrobat sample: "This is only an eleven page sample of THE GAFF FACTORY in low resolution. The actual book has seventy-eight pages supplemented by 117 color photographs and 23 illustrations. Also included in this package is a file containing vector graphics of card indexes and pips which you can manipulate..."

Compare what you see with the table of contents and you'll get an idea of how complete this booklet is.

- Steve Hook

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 15th, 2007, 7:38 pm

Thanks Steve, this looks very nice!

Todd Lassen
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Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Todd Lassen » July 16th, 2007, 8:19 am

I just bought one. I will refer my customers that buy the card gaffing genii to this source.

BTW, I have a new design for the genii. Same function, but aesthetically much nicer. I'll change the pictures on the website soon.

I really wish Don England would put out more on the subject, he is THE wealth of imformation on card gaffing.

Looking forward to Craig's contribution, it does look nice.

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 16th, 2007, 8:13 pm

Well, there you have it, if Todd recommends it I will have to look into it. I will be interested in the new Genii, I have been considering getting one, so...

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 17th, 2007, 6:22 am

I agree Don England is THE wealth of knowledge in this area. I love his books and have some gaffs handmade by Don. I will have to look at the Gaff Factory since it does have sources listed for DMT.

AT

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 17th, 2007, 8:49 am

Did you order Craigs book by emailing him?
I don't see any order process on the web page.

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 17th, 2007, 9:18 am

There is a "BUY" button that you can press.

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 17th, 2007, 9:26 am

He is using a Google shopping cart to handle the purchases. It goes smoothly.

This is a much needed booklet. On another forum I mentioned using dry mount tissue a couple years ago and was immediately attacked by the self appointed "keeper of all secrets magical" for exposing this "inside info".

If innovation and improvement is to be made in magic, it would be easier for this to happen if the innovators had access to tools/methods of the big boys. I look forward to receiving my copy of this ebook.

I picked up a couple lifetime's supply of DMT at at a local community college auction months ago and need to do more with it than I am currently doing. I've been using it for its intended use - for shame!

Jim

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 17th, 2007, 9:56 am

"There is a "BUY" button that you can press."
Darned if I can find it.

Dave

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 17th, 2007, 10:05 am

Any mention of Charles Kalish in the book?

Jim Maloney_dup1
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Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Jim Maloney_dup1 » July 17th, 2007, 10:06 am

"There is a "BUY" button that you can press."
Darned if I can find it.

Dave
Upper right hand corner, above the sample image. Or, all the way at the bottom of the page. The button is blue and says "Buy".

-Jim

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 17th, 2007, 10:28 am

"Upper right hand corner, above the sample image. Or, all the way at the bottom of the page. The button is blue and says "Buy"."
Thanks Jim. But neither of those buttons appears on my window.

Earlier today, I'd thought that perhaps it was because I had no Google account, so I'd then registered with Google. But that made no difference.

Dave

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 17th, 2007, 10:29 am

Interesting, no 'BUY' button shows up on my Mac in either Safari or on FireFox. (believe me, I've already wasted 15 minutes looking!....I even looked at the source code).

With Microsoft no longer making Explorer available for download, this could be a problem!

Anybody got any ideas?

Jim Maloney_dup1
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Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Jim Maloney_dup1 » July 17th, 2007, 11:03 am

Interesting...

Try this link, which is where the buy button brings you: Buy The Gaff Factory (You will need a Google Account to complete the purchase.)

-Jim

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 17th, 2007, 11:05 am

YES.....Thanks Jim.

That link connects to a page asking for credit card #.

Edit:
It also brings up a note that Craig does not ship to Canada, which is where I live.
I wonder if he has blocked IP addresses up here from seeing the buy button?
I've emailed him already about the 'buy' button, but I'll try him again to see if he's blocked those out of the U.S. from seeing it because he doesn't want us ordering the disc.

Jim Maloney_dup1
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Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Jim Maloney_dup1 » July 17th, 2007, 11:19 am

That's possible (which could also explain why Dave can't see it, if shipping is also not available to the UK), though weird since the main page states that he ships to both Canada and the UK (as well as a number of other places outside the US).

Probably best to wait for his response, I guess.

-Jim

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 17th, 2007, 11:35 am

Interesting ..... and puzzling.

A. That link works.
B. That link says that delivery to the UK is not available.
C. The original link said that delivery to the UK was available (via UPSPS for $3).
D. Just out of curiosity, how did you generate that link from the original link?

Dave

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Pete Biro
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Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Pete Biro » July 17th, 2007, 11:42 am

I've been touting the use of Dry Mounting Tissue for maybe 30 years. Keeps the SNAP in the cards.
Stay tooned.

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 17th, 2007, 11:44 am

I went to my local camera store. They had never heard of the stuff. Kids nowdays :rolleyes: All they had was peel and stick sheets.

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 17th, 2007, 12:30 pm

Further investigation indicates that Google doesn't allow orders originating from outside the USA to be processed, and DOES block the 'BUY' button from appearing on any browser with an IP address from countries other than the States.

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 17th, 2007, 1:09 pm

I can concur what Pete says about Dry Mount being around for a long time. Also, close to 30 years ago I experimented with making double facers and double backers using Dry Mount. It used to be available at any decent photography store, but I haven't looked for it in years.

Jim Maloney_dup1
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Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Jim Maloney_dup1 » July 17th, 2007, 1:18 pm

Just out of curiosity, how did you generate that link from the original link?
I clicked on the "Buy" button. ;)

-Jim

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 17th, 2007, 1:31 pm

Mac OS 10.4, Safari 2.0 - I get the button displayed, but on clicking through to Google checout

<<Note: Craig Matsuoka does not ship to United Kingdom>> appears...

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 17th, 2007, 2:53 pm

"I clicked on the "Buy" button."
That would explain it (wry smile).

Dave

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 17th, 2007, 3:28 pm

Hi folks,

Thank you for all the kind words and wholly unexpected surge of interest in this little how-to manual.

I have processed many domestic orders through Google Checkout, and they all went smoothly. However, I must apologize to everyone outside the USA. You arent imagining things. You guys cant see the buy button because its by design.

The Google Checkout support dept. told me that international transactions are currently not allowed. Theyre strict about address confirmation, and it has something to do with the fact that unlike the USA, foreign banking systems dont have an address verification system in place.

PayPal is more lenient in that they allow international addresses, but youre warned that accepting such payments is riskier because theres no way for PayPal to confirm the address.

Nevertheless, to accommodate everyone (and get back on the good side of you lovely Canadians), Ill also accept PayPal. I dont want to post my PayPal ID here on the Genii forum, so if you want to know where to send the PayPal payment, go back to the ordering page and click on contact the poster. Send me your mailing address, and Ill reply to it with my PayPal ID.

I agree that Don England is a master. But dont forget Gary Plants. His work is just as legendary. These men are clearly the best at what they do, and are great examples of what happens when craftsmanship complements ingenuity. Its the perfect marriage.

The history of DMT as a photographic product stretches back about a hundred years, but theres little information on exactly when it began to be used in card gaffing. I would love to credit Charles Kalish, but there arent enough verifiable facts and testimony to make a hard case for him or anyone else. If Jonathan is correct about Kalish discovering it while working at Kodak, it makes sense for him to be among the first, if not the first, to make DMT gaffs. However, shellac-based DMT was around for at least a decade before Kalish was born in 1912, and it was already a photographers staple by the time he would have been old enough to work at Kodak. So, its possible that other magicians experimented with it. Unfortunately, the published record says nothing, and the discussion could reasonably end there. But then, could this be a silent testimonial? Would I have tipped it if I lived back then? Hard to say, but I can understand why people would want to keep it underground. It works so well that its almost too good to tip.

Heres a link to a history of DMT if you enjoy the musty odor of research:

http://aic.stanford.edu/sg/bpg/annual/v12/bp12-15.html

If anyone has any information on DMT being used before 1970, please contact me.

Mahalo,

Craig

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 17th, 2007, 5:17 pm

Craig;
I set up my first darkroom in our basement when I was in 8th grade. In those days we were stuck with using rubber cement for mounting prints.

While in the army at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (1969-71), I met up with dry mount tissue and laminating film. I know I picked up my first dry mount press sometime around 1974. We were using it for mounting photos on wood for jig saw puzzles at the time (DMT to mount the photo and laminating film to protect it). The DMT was never inexpensive and often not carried by the smaller photo shops. The shops for pros always stocked it in at least one size - in both rolls and cut sheets. Several years later after getting a card splitting lesson, we tried it on cards. I got the feeling that others had used it long before then. It definitely was not new in 1974.

While in high school (1959-63), I ran across an old timer who sprayed shellac on the back of prints and later mounted them with an ordinary iron (before steam irons). This was also my introduction to the airbrush. He was not using shellaced paper or tissue - just shellac directly on the print back. He mixed his own shellac with alcohol from white shellac flakes. He did cover the print face with mimeograph paper when he did the ironing. I have no idea how long he had done this; but apparently for a number of years. I still remember getting instructed by him after he saw some of my problems using rubber cement.

Some of the inside boys may be able to give you more background info on using DMT with cards.
Jim

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 17th, 2007, 6:14 pm

Here's the best I can offer:

In 1980 while visiting his house one Sunday Charlie showed me some cards on the shelf in his living room. They were gaffs he had made. He claimed they were forty years old and they looked almost new with just a hint of that yellowing that comes with age but not exposure to sunlight or humidity. Also very little bleed through discoloring from the adhesive. They almost looked like factory made cards if the factory would have permitted the printing of such things. ;)

That's what I saw and was told.

At the time I had heard from others that he had kept this pretty quiet and only telling a few of the NY/NJ guys. About the same for his work with memory wire or the small metal "gozinta" boxes or even his possession of copies of the two Fred Kaps lecture films.

Would you believe this guy got to make a copy of the Hofzinser card rise box and also made coin caskets?

Anyway that is what I can recall with certainty from back then about the subject. Hope this helps.

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 17th, 2007, 8:04 pm

Craig and Jonathan;
It appears that "dry mount tissue" was available and in use long before Charlie ran across it. Apparently it was developed in the late 1800's.

See this info:
http://aic.stanford.edu/sg/bpg/annual/v12/bp12-15.html

This still does not let us know who first applied it to making gaffed cards; but is an interesting bit of info to consider.
Jim

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 25th, 2007, 4:34 am

For those of you who ordered last week, this is a quick note to inform you that your packages are going out today.

I apologize for the delay, but the sudden influx of orders caught me by surprise as I was editing the third edition. With all this talk lately of unfulfilled magazine subscriptions, the pressure was most definitely on to get the packages out the door before my customers started lighting torches. Well, I'm pleased to say that everything is done and ready to go.

This new third edition features a greatly improved method for making transparent cards and an additional section dealing with shims. The book now weighs in at a hefty 80 pages (no trans-fats!) and contains 126 photographs, which is probably enough to satisfy even the most inveterate DVD worshipper.

Again, thank you for your support and words of encouragement. I hope you'll find that this updated third edition was well worth the wait.

Mahalo,

Craig Matsuoka

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » July 30th, 2007, 7:30 pm

FYI - I just received this new ebook from Craig. He did a steller job with the photography and explanations. My guess is that there will be several guys wanting to buy one of friend Todd Lassen's Card Genii units to help in making the task even smoother. Craig does a very nice job of showing how the task may be done "on the cheap" though.

Even if the buyers of this ebook never gimmick their own playing cards, they will have more respect for those who do and better understand why such gaffs are not real inexpensive. With the work involved, it is amazing that card gaff types sell the cards as cheaply as they do. Craig includes a few extra files on the CD which will be useful to those serious about doing this type of work. As an extra bonus, he even includes some DMT with which to get started.

Nice product, Craig. This should be in the collection of all serious card workers.
Jim

Evan Shuster
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Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Evan Shuster » July 30th, 2007, 8:40 pm

I love the fact that Craig has updated his pdf twice since the original release, and has offered the updates (along with a newsletter) to all purchasers. This, to me, shows a sincere desire by the creator to work with and improve upon the original ideas presented in the original manuscript up to the point of presenting the buyers with as fine and clean of a production as possible. When $$ take a back seat to creativity, ego and perfection then you, as a buyer, can be assured of something particularly special.

Buy this ebook. You will LOVE this ebook.

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » August 1st, 2007, 2:42 am

This ebook is well worth its money, maybe a lot more!

Craig is a very nice and helpful person to deal with. I ordered from/to Germany by using PayPal. Craig was even so nice to send me some sheets of DMT to give this thing a try myself. It is hard to get DMT here in Germany; most possible suppliers do not know it (even under different names) and the ones who sell the brand, that Craig recommends, charge up to 4-5x the price you pay online in USA.

After having done my first attempts with DMT ..... I ordered all the necessary stuff!
But it is a pitty to get these things only from overseas, where the price is fair but shipping, handling and German taxes double the price - at least. But, hey, I have to import the cards too.
... and I am sure my Coverite iron will arrive some day too ...

Per today I have made apprx. 100 cards with DMT: shimmed, doublefacers-/-backs, split cards and the Hofzinser see thru cards. And all the cards came out very, very fine! Although my "old" cards (using rubber cement) are fine as well.

In conclusion I say that there is no difference regarding work time between the 2 methods of gluing cards: working with rubber cement has a lot of finishing work on the cards, while DMT takes a bit more prework in comparison.

For those of you interested in gaffing cards, this book is a must have!

I already have adapted some handlings described in that book to my own needs: less time consuming since I gaff cards in "masses". I also added some extras when making the cards to make them less "see thru" but keep the snap and thickness.

Craigs offer to update for newer versions of his book are very generous too!

Thank you Craig and greetings from Germany to far away where the sun shines :)

George Olson
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Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby George Olson » August 1st, 2007, 2:16 pm

Not to distract about the need for this new book, which I intend to purchase when my welfare check arrives :D , but Mark Allen out here in PDX has a really helpful DVD "Versatile Monte and Beyond" on how to use your computer to produce 'Special Cards' he put it out in 2003.

GO

Todd Lassen
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Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Todd Lassen » August 3rd, 2007, 7:03 am

Mark Allen is one of the well kept secret jewels out there in your territory George.

I received my file from Craig last week. It is very well done and contains alot of useful imformation for future card gaffers.

My only suggestion would be to view the pdf on your computer or iphone. I printed it out. 81 pages. It literally emptied my ink cartridges. :) The cover page is entirely black and it curled itself into a cigar immediately after printing.

Guest

Re: New ebook on making gaffed cards

Postby Guest » December 10th, 2007, 11:25 am

FYI, I want to let everyone know that my ebook "The Gaff Factory" is now available exclusively through Lybrary.com:

http://www.lybrary.com/gaff-factory-com ... p-750.html

The reviews and feedback have been great! Thanks guys! You've made this project a bigger success than I expected.

Aloha,

Craig


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