Finally Finished

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 12 Sep 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

cirom	12 Sep 2003
1500 hours of work later, I am pleased to say that the Gilded Tarot deck I was producing for Llewellyn is finally finished. A true labor of love that I completely underestimated when I took on the project. As with any creative endevor, its merits are subjective, but with a Tarot deck theres the added intangiable of how people will emotionally relate to the deck. Will the cards speak to them. Its too much to ask that a deck design will be unanimously accepted by the Tarot community, so as I mentioned in a an earlier forum, I set myself three main goals and would then hope for the best. One was that by paying tribute to the Rider Waite as a base, the imagery would be familiar territory and easy to read. Two that I would attempt to make it as visually attractive as possible to enrichen the reading process, and appeal directly to collectors. Three, that I would add enough personal touches to give deck a distinct character, without hindering the first two objectives. Unfortunately now comes the really difficult part....waiting for the deck to be published and distribuited worldwide. A process that will take approximately a year. Meanwhile at least all 78 cards can be viewed on my web site. http://www.ciromarchetti.com I would appreciate you all taking a peep. You will also find some FREE images based on the deck that can be used as decorations for your monitor dektops. At this point I really must thank Solandia. The information provided on the Aeclectic site was an invaluable help, as was regular evesdropping on various forums to gather further insight.

Diana	12 Sep 2003
cirom: Wow, for a Rider-Waite based deck, I must say that I am very impressed indeed. Me whose life mission is to bash Rider-Waite decks and their clones, I feel kind of lost for words! Heartiest congratulations! We're all waiting excitedly for the announcement of the birth of the baby! Some very interesting details on some of those cards.... I looked at them long and hard from a Marseilles point of view, and I nodded appreciatively at least fifty times! (Of course, if Justice was VIII and Strength XI, that would have been fifty-one times. :D ). The Tarot world thanks you.

Dark_angel	12 Sep 2003
I want I want I want! What an absolutely gorgeous deck! If I ever have enough money (it looks really expensive, but well worth it!), I'll definitely get one if I can. I adore your Pages, especially; they seem so innocent, and perfectly encapsulate what I consider to be the meanings of their cards. xxx

Le_Corsair	12 Sep 2003
Since I can't afford the custom edition of your deck as published by yourself, I'll have to await the version by Llewellyn. Hurry up, guys! Gosh, it is a lovely deck! It's going to be a looooong wait! But when it does get here, I think I'll invest in two copies of the deck! Congratulations on a splendid achievement! I'm sure that this will prove to be one of the most popular decks in coming years. Bob :THERM

Tallarico	12 Sep 2003
Yes, It's beautiful...I think I want it too.

Lee	12 Sep 2003
Hi, Ciro -- Your deck is very, very beautiful. I will be eagerly looking forward to its publication. I want to thank you particularly for allowing us to see each card in such detail. It really helps tremendously in determining whether one likes the deck. Even on a dial-up connection, it was worth the wait! I really liked how you created the 3 and 10 of Swords to allow for possible positive interpretations as well as the standard negative ones. I also particularly liked the machinery which appears on some of the Majors. And I absolutely love the platypus on the 8 of Cups! Congratulations on a wonderful achievement. -- Lee

Khatruman	12 Sep 2003
How positively stunning!!!! Indeed it will be a long wait for publication (I am also not one with an extra few hundred in my slush fund). The cards are quite evocative. I just perused the majors, but I will be keeping an eye on the publication of this deck... Keep us posted!!!

LadyMedusa	13 Sep 2003
Whoa...This deck is absolutely breathtaking. I got goosebumps just looking. I too will have to wait for Llewellyn, that is unless I hit the lotto. It will be an exercise in patience, but worth it. LadyMedusa

Macavity	13 Sep 2003
Great! No symbol "overloading" on the Majors, but I think it's particularly nice to see such attention (and doubtless much of 1500 hrs?) go into those wonderful minors... :) Macavity

fairyhedgehog	13 Sep 2003
A truly lovely deck. I don't think I've seen another deck where the art grabs me as much as this one. I'm guessing it will become one of the 'standard' decks that will be recommended widely to people. Thank you for all the sneak previews that you've given to us here at aeclectic :)

truthsayer	13 Sep 2003
ciro, as i've told you before, your work enthralls me. such imagination! this time i noticed your animations which are wonderful, too. the colors you use are so vibrant and clear. i'm really looking forward to your deck coming out.

rota	13 Sep 2003
Congratulations on the impending appearance of this lovely deck! This promises to be very popular; deservedly so! The painted Italianate approach to the imagery makes a wonderful link between the RWS and the Marseilles.

Scorpion	13 Sep 2003
Absolutely stunning - thank you Ciro: both for the deck and the introduction to your artwork generally. Definitely a "must-have" deck, but sadly I think the finances will dictate that I wait for Llewellyn's. However, if I win the Lottery jackpot I will be buying up quite a few personalised copies!

sirona86	13 Sep 2003
normally i'm not a fan of cgi decks, but this one is an exception. What a beautiful deck!

oceanpoetry	14 Sep 2003
Ciro, congratulations on the completion of your deck! The artwork is stunning, looking at the colors, it almost seems to be illuminated with a light from within - the blues, the greens, and the yellows, especially. Really beautiful work with great attention to detail. I look forward to publication of the deck through Llewellyn :)

The Finally Finished thread was originally posted on 12 Sep 2003 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.