Trimming a tarot taught me...

I trimmed both my Bright Idea Deck and my Osho Zen tonight. I took the words off the bottom and rounded all 4 corners to match for both decks.

The Universe toyed around with me a bit in this process, though. Afraid to cut a deck with scissors, I bought a paper trimmer online, and it arrived today, and I excitedly got home with it only to find that it won't cut through my tarot cards. When the trimmer messed up the first couple of cards, I had to hand trim them with the scissors. I worked through the Bright Idea deck that way, then tried the paper trimmer again with the Osho Zen, hoping it would work out. That deck was too thick for the trimmer as well. I managed to whack the Buddha card (ace of swords) so awry that it's now a good couple of millimeters smaller than the rest of the cards...So I hand trimmed the deck. The Osho Zen was much harder to trim than the Bright Idea, because I didn't cut them along the white lines. Instead, I snipped the bottom off straight across at the bottom point of the diamond, then rounded all four corners of the cards. This was a meditative act, really, because of the concentration, and my having to come to terms card by card with the slight imperfections of my work.

Results: The Osho Zen looks beautiful with the key words gone. I'm very verbal, and the words completely clouded my reaction to and interpretation of the images on the card. Now they're gone, I feel quite freed.

Bright Idea was never a beautiful deck, so cropping hasn't done it any harm, but again, the key words being gone is freeing. I left the colour borders on the deck so I would know the suits, and wrote the numbers on them so I could still use tarot correspondences. I had intended to leave a bit of colour at the bottom to match the sides and tops, but a mishap with an early card (trying to use the trimmer) caused me to have cut the entire bottom off each card at the edge of the image. So I have borders on three sides only. It doesn't look as god-awful as it sounds!

I asked my Osho Zen when I was finished with it, 'What was the Universe trying to each me through this experience?' because to be honest I was quite distressed that I'd spent money on a paper trimmer that turned out to be unsuited to purpose...I get a bit overwrought about these little things. But by the end of it, in spite of all the little glitches and the cards not being all exactly the same size, I thought the cards looked really great.

I did a one-card draw, and had a jumper.

Drew: 3 Purple Diamond (corresponds to Empress)

Jumper: 3 Blue Diamond (aka Water, aka Cups)

I think the Universe wanted me to experience more of my own ability to create, not rely on a gadget to make things perfect, to force me to deal with the organic (imperfect) nature of things. In the real world, nothing is perfect. Yet in spite of imperfections, everything is a celebration and worthy of being celebrated. *big grin*

Okay, so I've spent 10 quid on a trimmer that I'll probably only be able to use for cutting down single sheets of paper. So what. I've had a good experience tonight.

And maybe the Universe was also trying to point out that we have those one or two title (extra) cards in a deck for a reason... Experimenting!

I have the Bright Idea, too. Any chance you could post pictures, or a link to pictures to show how they look trimmed?

I throw away those extra cards when a deck is new. I tried the trimmer on bookmarks, but I think the plasticky coating is what defeated the little blade on my trimmer.

I'm going to list it on Ebay and get rid of it.

Carla said:

I left the colour borders on the deck so I would know the suits, and wrote the numbers on them so I could still use tarot correspondences. I had intended to leave a bit of colour at the bottom to match the sides and tops, but a mishap with an early card (trying to use the trimmer) caused me to have cut the entire bottom off each card at the edge of the image. So I have borders on three sides only. It doesn't look as god-awful as it sounds!

Click to expand...

I trimmed a deck for Magpie9 this way, and she said created a doorway to walk through

That's a lovely way to look at it, Debra.

I've emailed the original seller to see if she will accept a return on that trimmer. If not, I will try to flog it on Ebay. I may go back and buy a heavy duty trimmer at the local stationers shop, if my Druidcraft ever arrives! It's still 'in processing' at Bookdespository.

I don't have a scanner, and of course there are no more 'before' cards to show,but I can photograph some of the trimmed ones and see if I can figure out how to post the images for you.

Stick with scissors is my thought.
It's almost impossible to really mess up a deck with scissors, and the slight differences in card size add an air of Mystery. Plus you can do it in an armchair

Debra said:

Stick with scissors is my thought.
It's almost impossible to really mess up a deck with scissors, and the slight differences in card size add an air of Mystery. Plus you can do it in an armchair

Click to expand...

That is so sensible. I think you're right. I never trusted myself with scissors, but the decks don't look that bad at all.

Debra said:

Stick with scissors is my thought.
It's almost impossible to really mess up a deck with scissors, and the slight differences in card size add an air of Mystery. Plus you can do it in an armchair

Click to expand...

I spent about a week trimming my DruidCraft Tarot and Druid Plant Oracle to the inner borders, by hand. I bought a brand new pair of scissors for it and practiced with the corner rounder on some index cards.

While not perfect, they're very shufflable and I feel more of a connection, simply because I made them mine by trimming them.

The fun part was all the little scraps of paper all over the kitchen table!

Thanks for telling me that, BlueDragonfly! It took about an hour to trim one end and round the corners on a full deck. I can see how it would take me at least 4 sessions to get all four sides done.

I emailed BookDepository this morning and they replied to say that my Druidcraft should ship out in the next 24 hours. Yay!!!

Save those extra cards on your Druidcraft this time! Practice makes perfect!