3 Simple Ways to
Share What You Make

With Instructables you can share what you make with the world — and tap into an ever-growing community of creative experts.

PhotosPhotos

Share one or more photos of a project, recipe, or whatever you've made, quickly and easily.

Get Started

Learn more & Get Tips

Step by StepStep-By-Step

Share your step-by-step photos with text instructions of what you made so others can do it too!

Get Started

Learn more & Get Tips

VideoVideo

Share your how-to video. You'll need your embed code from a video site such as YouTube.

Get Started

Learn more & Get Tips

Favorite

Make your own custom gaff playing cards

video Make your own custom gaff playing cards

How to make your own custom gaffed playing cards for magic tricks.

37 comments

Apr 29, 2010. 11:10 AMNivekfreeze says:

this is pretty sweet! I'm going to make a deck of cards now! :)

Jan 23, 2010. 12:22 PMlybrary says:

Good instructions and certainly a first step into the DIY card making world. However, if you want do this more than a few times and if you want to create a genuine playing card coating you might want to read this www.lybrary.com/make-your-playing-cards-a-11.html

Mar 14, 2010. 9:36 PM

pyro222 (author) says:

Dude!! Amazing Link and tutorial. Thank you so much. I will post this link to my blog.

Jan 26, 2010. 5:58 AMadmagic says:

Or www.admagic.com might be a good place to go for your cards

Dec 30, 2007. 3:00 PMcry_wolf says:

This looks cool, but what are GAF cards used for? Like in what type of magic trick.. Sorry for the newbie question :D

Jan 10, 2010. 5:06 PMvosebroy2 says:

well bending the laws of nature hypathetically

Jun 19, 2008. 7:00 PMmason0190 says:

they just look cool

Dec 30, 2007. 5:46 PM

pyro222 (author) says:

Gaffed cards can be used for all kinds of card effects. One example would be using a regular 8 of diamonds and changing it into the the smeared (gaffed) 8 of diamonds with my hand to make it look like i instantly smeared the ink.

Dec 30, 2007. 8:46 PMiKill says:

http://www.ellusionist.com/product/accessories/cards/bicycle+gaff+deck.do

even have a video showing you the uses

Oct 18, 2009. 6:49 PMchargreavemawson says:

This is a great idea i have manged to lose one card so im replacing it with the joker and gaffing it to the correct card thnx

Aug 4, 2009. 11:16 PMshort-genuis says:

Where online can I buy 90% high eroding alcohol?

Aug 24, 2009. 6:48 PMwoody558 says:

I bought 99% at a pharmacy.

Jun 5, 2009. 1:12 PMCustom Playing Cards says:

Or this one http://www.customplayingcardss.com

Jun 5, 2009. 1:11 PMCustom Playing Cards says:

Cool video man check these sites out if you get a chance.
[http://www.customboardgames.com]

Apr 4, 2009. 10:42 PMaafilmproductions says:

how do I make it the right size

Apr 25, 2009. 7:26 PMKirby123456789 says:

aafilmproduction a goog web to get gaff cards is and the right size is http://www.phatus.com/geekimages/gaff/image016.jpg

Apr 25, 2009. 7:09 PMKirby123456789 says:

Its cool bbbbbbbbbbbbuuuuuuuuuuttttttttt I cant find the right size please HELP

Mar 20, 2009. 3:32 PMquesoman says:

im gonna go buy a cheap deck and make them all gaff cards

Oct 8, 2008. 6:12 AMadmagic says:

That is the coolest thing!!! BUT if you need affordable custom decks you can go to Admagic.com
http://www.admagic.com/custom_playing_cards_personalized.html
and for custom poker chips
http://www.thepokerconsultants.com/ceramicblend.html

Jul 23, 2008. 3:51 PMlupinesoul says:

I'm assuming you mean "graphic"?

Jul 23, 2008. 5:17 PM

pyro222 (author) says:

Not sure I understand. Graphic for what?

Jul 24, 2008. 12:58 PMlupinesoul says:

"Gaff"? You mean "graphic", right?

Jul 24, 2008. 1:22 PM

pyro222 (author) says:

No, gaff.
Check it out.
http://www.ellusionist.com/product/accessories/cards/bicycle+gaff+deck.do

Aug 4, 2008. 8:37 AMlupinesoul says:

Ah!

Aug 4, 2008. 7:06 PM

pyro222 (author) says:

Dec 30, 2007. 7:38 PMBran says:

Is there a possible hazard that the card would get stuck in the printer? Would it be hard to fix?

Jun 1, 2008. 1:17 PMashanmaril says:

It' happened to me but I just had to take the back of my printer off and get the card out. To prevent it just use more tape. Thats what I did.

Mar 30, 2008. 12:21 AMRishnai says:

It's possible, but look at your printer and see if you can fit you hand in there. If you can open it, get at the spot it would jam at, and fix it without hurting yourself, it's not really an issue. My old Epson 640 jams more often than not, but the top opens and lets me get at all the internals. Other printers don't.

Dec 30, 2007. 7:55 PM

pyro222 (author) says:

It is a possibility but if you tape it real good, it should go through. As far as fixing it if it occurs, I don't imagine it would be too too bad, i have seen much worse paper jams (ie. labels peeling off and such).

Jun 1, 2008. 1:06 PMashanmaril says:

Use an eraser for a blank card. It takes a while but it works.

May 5, 2008. 2:52 PMnotirb says:

i tried the ink removing part of the vid and it removed the whole finish and everything, am i doing something wrong?

May 8, 2008. 11:37 PM

pyro222 (author) says:

Nope the finish is always lost in the process. There are two alternatives to this that I know of.
1) Buy blank cards, print, and use a hair dryer to dry the ink. (or possibly print from a laser printer.)
2) Re-apply a finish to the card. ( I am still experimenting with this process. I currently use a polyurethane clear gloss to finish the card, although I may experiment with a polycrylic material. I have created an extensive gaff card guide in PDF available to users of my blog http://www.phatus.com that covers many aspects of gaff creation. Stop by and if you diggs email the administrator, and I will create you an account so that you may access the document.
hope this helps
-pyro

May 7, 2008. 5:39 PMfldhkygoalie says:

it wont come off. what am i doing rong?

Mar 25, 2008. 6:28 PMthewhiteranger says:

i made these with some pics i did in photoshop and then used the cards to make a wallet

Jan 4, 2008. 1:06 PMMonkeyMagic says:

what editing program did you use? what settings did you have the printer for?

Jan 5, 2008. 8:28 PM

pyro222 (author) says:

I used Jasc, paint shop pro as a photo editor, as for the printer settings, nothing special, other than that i ran draft copies for the test print and I found that if I I play with different paper types, I get different results depending on the type of card.

I forgot to put this in the tutorial, but I also suggest using the line tool to outline the border of the card on the test print for better placement of the card.
I believe you can download a trial copy of Paint Shop Here