blackairplane
I am new here and this is probably a stupid question, but I have often read here about people who trim their decks. Why would you trim a deck?
Trimming decks
shadowdancer
I have one of two reasons:
the cards are too big to shuffle and so by trimming anything which is not a key part of the design, allows for easier shuffling.
Sometimes the art work is subdued if there is a plain white border. By getting rid of this, the artwork comes to life and appears more vibrant
Davina
the cards are too big to shuffle and so by trimming anything which is not a key part of the design, allows for easier shuffling.
Sometimes the art work is subdued if there is a plain white border. By getting rid of this, the artwork comes to life and appears more vibrant
Davina
Imagemaker
Check out this great index of threads on this topic. Much discussed!
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=64277&highlight=trim+borders
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=64277&highlight=trim+borders
fadestoblackk
Yes you don't trim any ol deck. Not every deck needs to be trimmed. (yes and no deck *needs* to be trimmed. Some just look better in some people's opinions)
I like trimming decks (I have trimmed my Druidcraft and my Mythic) It is peaceful and a sort of bonding with the cards. It makes them "yours".
But again, some decks look perfectly fine with the borders they came with and do not need to be trimmed.
I like trimming decks (I have trimmed my Druidcraft and my Mythic) It is peaceful and a sort of bonding with the cards. It makes them "yours".
But again, some decks look perfectly fine with the borders they came with and do not need to be trimmed.
thinbuddha
My deck became haunted. For some reason, the spirit(s) stayed near the edge of the cards, so trimming the deck, I was able to trap the malignant spirit within the trimmings, thus removing them from my deck.
HearthCricket
thinbuddha said:
Ah, but now the question is, what did you do with the trimmings to keep them captured and not roaming the universe??
archer1
I have recently trimmed my large deck of Thoth. I WON'T DO THAT AGAIN. It did make the deck easier to get a hold of and is less distracting without the borders but if you are new to the deck I say don't do it until you can recognize the cards with out the border....
Imagemaker
It's best to use a deck for awhile until (and if) you decide that you totally love it except for the big borders. THEN consider trimming.
shadowdancer
I did trim my large Thoth also, but kept the key word at the bottom as the only part of the border retained.
It looks okay and is a workable size now. I take on board how difficult it might be to use without any indication of the card, as this deck is not one that is going to be obvious from just the imagery.
Davina
It looks okay and is a workable size now. I take on board how difficult it might be to use without any indication of the card, as this deck is not one that is going to be obvious from just the imagery.
Davina
Grizabella
I've trimmed a Haindl----more than one, in fact---and as I look back on it, I wouldn't trim a deck again. For one thing, they're too hard to shuffle because, no matter how careful I was, I couldn't get the nice, even cut that new decks have.
I've recently learned how to shuffle bigger decks, for one thing, which is partly why I trimmed the Haindl. It was too big to shuffle the way I shuffle. I didn't like the key words, either.
For another, I just don't see any need to anymore. I know some people dont' like key words or the extra languages, like in LS decks, but you can learn to get past that if you just concentrate on the images in the deck more than on anything else.
As I look back on it, (for myself only, mind you) I think it was partly just an attempt to take a shortcut to being a "real" reader. That may sound funny, but that was it at the very bottom line, I think. Kind of like a little kid who doesn't get the hang of learning to play a game so he does other stuff with the game pieces and loses them instead?
I guess down deep I thought if I could just make them easy to shuffle or if I could just get rid of the words, THEN I could get on with reading the cards better. I'm basically lazy.
Now I've put in the work and time it took to really learn the cards and what they mean, so I don't have to do that stuff anymore. And if there's a deck I want to use that's too big, I finally gave in and decided to shuffle it in whatever way I can shuffle it instead of being stubborn and trying to just stick to the way I've always preferred to shuffle because it's easier that way.
I've recently learned how to shuffle bigger decks, for one thing, which is partly why I trimmed the Haindl. It was too big to shuffle the way I shuffle. I didn't like the key words, either.
For another, I just don't see any need to anymore. I know some people dont' like key words or the extra languages, like in LS decks, but you can learn to get past that if you just concentrate on the images in the deck more than on anything else.
As I look back on it, (for myself only, mind you) I think it was partly just an attempt to take a shortcut to being a "real" reader. That may sound funny, but that was it at the very bottom line, I think. Kind of like a little kid who doesn't get the hang of learning to play a game so he does other stuff with the game pieces and loses them instead?
I guess down deep I thought if I could just make them easy to shuffle or if I could just get rid of the words, THEN I could get on with reading the cards better. I'm basically lazy.Now I've put in the work and time it took to really learn the cards and what they mean, so I don't have to do that stuff anymore. And if there's a deck I want to use that's too big, I finally gave in and decided to shuffle it in whatever way I can shuffle it instead of being stubborn and trying to just stick to the way I've always preferred to shuffle because it's easier that way.
