Here’s the second half of the deck making process! For the first half, go back to Part 1.
Might not look like much here, but that’s $200 in paper on this table! So much paper!
Here’s a printing oops: we didn’t get a new sheet of paper in on time, so it printed on the tympan that holds the paper. It was such a bummer at the time, but we eventually got it cleaned up and kept going.
I love seeing all the little carving marks Jenny made! The blocks are very texture-ly interesting to look at and touch.
Once the ink was dry a few days later, we were ready to cut them down into cards. Jenny did lots of careful measuring and cutting with test sheets. We did our best to avoid cutting off toes and suits (on the cards!).
The big pile has been made into several smaller piles, and the slip sheets between each print have been removed.
Measure twice, cut once!
First the sides were removed, and then the papers were cut into 2.25 inch wide strips. We wanted the image on each card to cover it as much as possible, but that meant that we had a lot of cuts just barely missing the side of the image. This was a particularly nerve-wracking part of the process. Once the paper is cut, we can’t uncut it! So we went slowly and carefully here, doing lots of single sheet test cuts to make sure the measurements worked for each sheet.
The extra at the top and bottom of the strips was removed, and the cards cut to a length of 4 inches. They finally look like cards!
So much collating…
It took a long while, but we got the cards collated into decks, 52 cards each. We started with enough paper for 130 decks, but we knew that through misprints, test cutting, or other mishaps, we would be happy if we got a 100 decks in the end.
While I assembled the decks, Jenny set lead type and printed the title cards. The front has all the who, what, where, and whens while the back had a little blurb explaining how the card order worked. It is based on the extremely common German style in the 16th century, where you have a Unter (under), Uber (over), and a King, instead of the common modern Jack, Queen, King.
The info card is small, so we had to condense information as much as possible!
I spent the next two weeks vigorously painting one of the decks. The project was still a secret at this point, so I had to put it away if we had friends over, and couldn’t work on it during our weekly craft nights. I think it might only take 10 days when I color the next one.
Enjoy all the finished product photos!
The Fromage Party Band, and their happy dancers in the background!
This is my husband and I! I have lofty dreams of being a roving peddler/merchant at events, and using a stick to hold my wares. Someday you shall be a thing Stick, someday…
We tried to make couples be the same number, or in this case, the same court card, Overs. That way they would look nice if displayed together.
I really look forward to seeing these cards worn from frequent use.
Gah, this hand has nothing for me! Time to fold!
All of the cards!
All the Bells!
All the Acorns.
All the Swords.
All the Spoons.
My favorite card, the Three of Bells! Fun fact: I could not find any pre-1600s decks with jokers as we know them, but there were several decks that had a jester type figure on one of the pip cards.
Jenny and I!
We did the big unveiling at the weekly craft night yesterday, and there were many squeals of delight! It was very fun to see people recognize themselves and others in the cards! Many new Facebook profile pictures were created that evening.
This picture makes me smile!
We had a couple people ask who did what for the deck, so here is the break down:
- We both brainstormed card ideas
- I did some 16th century card research
- I drew pictures on the computer using those ideas
- Jenny transferred the drawings to lino blocks and carved them
- Jenny printed and cut, I assisted her (and took pictures!)
- I painted the finished cards
- Jenny set the type and printed the info cards
- Jenny made the boxes (not finished yet)
- I made this post :D
Someone asked how much the project cost, and while we didn’t keep exact tally, the approximate cost of paper, lino, ink, and shop time was about $300 for 100 usable decks. Time is even harder to figure, but between the two of us, about 250 hours? Nearly 5 hours per card by my math, for drawing, carving, and printing. That’s not counting the painted deck, which was about 20-24 hours more. We have been busy bees this winter!
We still have a bit of finishing up to do, but within a few weeks, uncolored versions of the deck should be available on Jenny’s Etsy shop, Notta Pixie Press! I really look forward to seeing how people color their own decks!
