cut ups

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 06 Jun 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Ravenswing	06 Jun 2002
hi all-- one thing that has forever bothered me is the white boarders on the cards. well, i finally gave into my frustration and trimmed the white off my gill deck. a few hours, a hobby knife and a steel ruler. the difference is amazing!! the images are no longer 'trapped', and cards next to one another kind of bleed together. the cards are not quite uniform, but that doesn't cause any problems while shuffling or laying them out. if you try this, be very careful. the gill was successful, but i mis-sliced one of my thoth cards... LVX steve

Jenny-Li	06 Jun 2002
Whoah! I think I'm too much of a coward to attack my cards with a hobby knife and a steel ruler..! I do see your point though. The borders themselves aren't that big a problem for me, I can live with them - but on a couple of cards in my Robin Wood deck, for example, the borders are not centered, I mean the border is 1-1,5 mm broader on the right side than on the left, and that bugs the heck out of me! Jenny :)

Maan	06 Jun 2002
Wauw!!! Youre a really brave person!!!! I would never dare

Faerie Lin	06 Jun 2002
Wow, did your cards scream when you cut them? lol j/k. I also think that the white border really doesn't fit in with the look of the deck, but you are braver than I. Lin

AutumnMoonfire	06 Jun 2002
That's interesting, the white never bothered me at all...I actually had to go look and see if my Goddess Tarot had a border, it does...but I hope you haven't started something :LOL:

Zhritza	07 Jun 2002
after I move and have a proper surface on which to lay out my cards, uh, properly, I think I may do this to several of my decks... thanks for the encouragement, stevep. :) I was afraid to try this but now I feel braver.

mooncat2	07 Jun 2002
I loathe borders but I've never had the courage..........

catlin	07 Jun 2002
The only time I found white borders pretty disturbing are at the B. Walker deck but I did not keep this one but traded it away. Normally I can live with the borders as I hate to mutilate my decks.

kayne	07 Jun 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Jenny-Li but on a couple of cards in my Robin Wood deck, for example, the borders are not centered, I mean the border is 1-1,5 mm broader on the right side than on the left, and that bugs the heck out of me! My Robin Wood is like this too and it really annoys me... Like most others here... I don't know if I could do this to a deck though. Well done Steve! :D

Ravenswing	07 Jun 2002
faerie lin-- no they didn't scream-- :) in fact, they encourged me to do it LOL. and now they are freer to express themselves, and read much better. if you feel this to be an attack on your cards, DON'T DO IT-- your deck probably feels the same... did you ever notice that most boarders have a copyright notice of the publisher? they really are not part of the artist's image at all-- if anyone decides to try this, use a steel ruler-- you'll have a cleaner cut. make sure you place the ruler over the image; that'll hold the card in place. one quick motion, and use a fresh blade every 10 or so cards. remember, this is not mutilation, it is surgery (or perhaps helping the butterfly emerge) LVX steve

Jewel	07 Jun 2002
I applaud your initiative and courage ... thank goddess the borders do not bother me, I am sure if any of my decks saw me approaching with a knife they would quickly grow legs and run like hell *ROFLAMO*.

Pollux	07 Jun 2002
I have a Gill myself... but I love it too much to do this! If I tried I would get all the borders cut differently and would do a poor job... My hands would shriek uncontrollably! (does this adverb exist?) However I do see what you mean when you say that the cards where asking for that! :) I feel that too, maybe because the deck is really "square", quite unusual for a deck. And there's that free spirit in every picture, for example, I thought of cutting the borders (YEAH! I will admit my sin! I DID! :() when I first saw the King of Cups, and The Princess of Cups and Swords... That Siren was asking me to let her swim away from the card, to remove that white dull cage. And also 10, 9 of swords, and 7 Cups, and ALL the ACES...

kayne	08 Jun 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Pollux If I tried I would get all the borders cut differently and would do a poor job... My hands would shriek uncontrollably! This would be good practice for being a surgeon Pollux! ;)

Madonna	08 Jun 2002
Too funny ! I was aware of the borders before but now I am really going to being seeing them, LOL. I then realized what I liked most about the Moragn Greer deck, No borders. Funny how I never realized what made it so special until I read your post. of course I had to get all my decks out to see which were free to express them selves most of all. Good for you to enhance your deck to it's full potential.

MeeWah	10 Jun 2002
I became more aware of the borders on my decks since I acquired Templar Tarot, which is sans borders. Even more since I read the initial posting of this thread. I am not that brave; I think my decks would do as Jewel's!

Maalin	10 Jun 2002
I don't mind the borders. Rather than fencing the cards in, I've always seen the border as a sort of windowframe that I'm looking through -but looking out not looking in, very much on 'my' side, not on theirs. :D (if only I could stick my head through there, I could look left and right and see endless landscapes...)

Major Tom	11 Jun 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Maalin I don't mind the borders. I've always seen the border as a sort of windowframe that I'm looking through... :D (if only I could stick my head through there, I could look left and right and see endless landscapes...) Maalin - You can stick your head through if you want to... }) I also view the borders very much as window frames. In Major Tom's Tarot the borders are very specifically coloured to go along with the images so I can relate to the problem of white borders... Properly coloured though - borders can provide easy access. lol Having said that - my Mountain Dream Tarot has white borders. The cards themselves are so thin I've been thinking of laminating them. The cards are quite large too. Hmmm - I've got a metal straight edge. I've got a craft knife. Maybe I'll buy another copy of the deck to experiment. lol

Ravenswing	11 Jun 2002
i just finished trimming my connally deck. it's easier to get into the images now, but i'm still having a bit of a time with some of them-- especially a good deal of the swords and a few majors. her guidebooks give the standard interpretation for cards, but , IMO, the images don't match. if you're familiar with the deck, i'm certain you know which ones i'm talking about. for those of you who are not, let me give you one example-- the ten of swords... the image is of a woman, rather peaceful and serene,with a white aura. ten swords surround her, five on either side, but all you see of them is the hilt. all are pointing away from her. the image to me is one of ultimate protection-- a far cry from the usual image. if i use this deck much, i'll have to re-think a lot of cards. and figure out a few LOL LVX steve

aeonx	11 Jun 2002
Wow. I've never thought about this. Borders are nice in some decks though, i.e. my brand new Vision Quest. :D I don't think I have the guts to cut out borders. I'm a five-time Virgo, so I would never get it completely right anyway! ~aeonx~

Ravenswing	16 Jun 2002
hi all-- for you who are disturbed by the uneven borders on the RW deck, i finally got to take the boarder off of mine. (NO, I DON'T plan to remove the boarders from all my decks... i think :D ) the strange thing about this one is that it seems so much smaller. guess the boarders were pretty big... Major Tom: I quite agree with your observation-- it's the white that is bothersome. might come from considering white as 'dead space' in a composition. i'm working on a deck where boarders on wands are red, cups are blue, swords are yellow and disks are green. the majors are done to give the impression of a wooden boarder. i just hope that if it ever get finished and published (yeah, sure :rolleyes: ) that they won't boarder my boarders. LVX steve

Sam	17 Jun 2002
cool idea! i don't think i'm that patient though!

The cut ups thread was originally posted on 06 Jun 2002 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.