Instead of trimming...

Instead of trimming, I was wondering if anyone "removed" irritating edges from their decks by coloring over the decks with something else, or otherwise doing something to them to make the edges less irritating without cutting them off. I ask because I had an urge to go through every card of the Thoth deck with a black permanent marker and color over the borders. My wife just got The Gilded Tarot, and the black edges are pretty cool. I didn't end up attacking my Thoth deck because I knew that it would probably look crappy or may not work at all in covering the borders up...however...if something like that were done artfully....

Anybody ever thought of something like that?

Splungeman,

Great question and I look forward to seeing any answers. I have a deck I love (Navigators Tarot) that has keywords at the top of the cards (and I hate that). A borderectomy would make the cards far too small for me to use, but if I could somehow cover the keywords without making the cards any thicker, I'd be up for it. (In this deck the keywords are in black on a white background.)

Rodney

I'm sure there is probably a way to do it, but I believe it would be a tedious and frustrating process. Right now the borders irritate you but by the time you are finished with such a project you may hate the deck so much you never want to see it again.

There may be an easy way but I can't think of one at the moment.

Um, I know some people have colored parts of their cards--Mi-Shell added colors to her Ironwing deck, and at least one person put pants on the man in the ten of pents in the World Spirit deck, and I recall someone just marking over the keywords on some other deck, too.

Problem I see is that markers (a) have a different "shine" than the cards, and (b) might rub off.

When I was first learning, I tried using a black Sharpie to color over the keywords on a Haindl and it looked great till I shuffled it. Then the Sharpie started wearing off and I was back to square one.

Very honestly, I just ignore the keywords. I do regret, though, that a sitter can see them. Even though I tell them not to mind the words on the cards and to pay attention to my words instead, I still can't help but wonder if the keywords on the cards will stick with them and nag at them when they get home.

It bothers me to cut the borders off of decks, although I've done it to Haindl decks twice. But if a Sharpie or something would cover the borders and not rub off with use, I'd probably try it again on certain decks, maybe.

I've blacked out the numbers of the Majors in my World Spirit Deck with a black permanent marker, I think I used one of those pens meant for writing on cds and dvds.

I don't work with decks where Justice isn't number 8 but I love the World Spirit so it helped me to get over the problem.
The deck has black borders so now it just looks as if the Majors aren't numbered.

Ahh...so the permanent marker thing has been attempted already. What's the point of having a "permanent" marker that rubs off?!

Oh well...guess I'll have to trim it. I just don't have the tools!

I think a permanent marker of the FAT sort, rather than a sharpie, actually soaks in..... I've never EVER been able to get it off ANYTHING.....

Well, that's what I meant by Sharpie. It's Sharpie brand, but it was the fat kind. And I agree---it never comes out of anything. Maybe because of the lamination, though, it does wear off of cards, I've found.

Incidentally, my son is a photographer and he showed me that alcohol will take Sharpie marker and other ink off of photos. I don't know if it would take it off of or out of anything else, though.

maybe going to a art supply shop and asking about permament ink?