Golden Tarot

retrokat

I read that after posting it and thought... it feels like saying a dog ate my homework.

"Publication has been delayed due to an avalanche"

Yeah, yeah...
 

Mimers

Re: Tall Tale or True?

retrokat said:
I just heard from US Games - they were all off at a Trade Show for a few days hence no response earlier. Now I've been told the reason for this last delay.

After all the other reasons that have added up to the deck being 6 months or so late, this has to be the most bizarre. Lucky I'm not the paranoid type....

The shipment was unloaded from (The Slow Boat From) China on the East Coast, then was put on a train to get to US Games on the West Coast. In Vancouver, there was an avalanche and the train got derailed. So all the freight has to be sorted out and sent by road or whatever.

Hopefully that means it should all be sorted pretty soon. Unless they're all covered in mud or something.

So... if you ever DO manage to get hold of your copies from this first edition, you'll know it's already had a more exciting life than most of us ;)

Don't laugh, I work in manufacturing, and I ordered stuff that I needed for a production run. My freight never showed up, so I called the freight comp. Turns out my truck (which was en route to Canada) was caught in an avalanche. Needless to say, my line went down that day. It took them days to get the truck out of there, and my freight was too damaged to use. I hope our decks are ok!
 

Aure

retrokat said:
I read that after posting it and thought... it feels like saying a dog ate my homework.

"Publication has been delayed due to an avalanche"

Yeah, yeah...

I must say that my first thought was 'couldn't they come up with a better excuse than that?!?!'

I hope the decks are okay and they'll dig them out soon!
 

Gardener

Kat, tell us a story

Oh Kat,

While we all sit here waiting for our lovely cards to be dug out of the frozen Vancouver mud, will you tell us a story to pass the time? I noticed on your website that you include a "note to self" on a number of the cards, saying that you rejected the older version in order to make a card closer to the symbolism of the Rider Waite. Now of course it is highly useful for those of us raised on the Rider Waite deck, to have those familiar symbols on your cards. But the version 1.0 images were absolutely lovely, and showed in many cases an original thought process for the card. Why did you decide to change them?

Laura
 

lunakasha

Re: Kat, tell us a story

Gardener said:
Oh Kat,

While we all sit here waiting for our lovely cards to be dug out of the frozen Vancouver mud, will you tell us a story to pass the time? I noticed on your website that you include a "note to self" on a number of the cards, saying that you rejected the older version in order to make a card closer to the symbolism of the Rider Waite. Now of course it is highly useful for those of us raised on the Rider Waite deck, to have those familiar symbols on your cards. But the version 1.0 images were absolutely lovely, and showed in many cases an original thought process for the card. Why did you decide to change them?

Laura

Gardener:

I could not agree more!!!! As I was looking at all of the original cards that were changed, I found myself prefering the originals of some of the cards to the final versions (some, not all...no offense Kat, I love them BOTH!!!).

I was also curious as to why so many cards were changed....and my second question to Kat is: would you consider at some point releasing the original cards as a separate deck???? I would definitely want both versions, if this is possible....

Thanks!
:D Luna
 

Lee

I'd just like to echo these sentiments. I think the new deck is overall preferable, because it seems from the scans that the artwork chosen was much sharper and more detailed than some of the artwork on the first version. Also, the way the pip symbols are incorporated into the Minor Arcana is much more skilfully done in the new version.

However, I too feel that the first version has a lot of interesting stuff in it, and would be interested to know the thought process behind the changes.

-- Lee
 

retrokat

Well first things first.... and I was starting to feel like I'd never get to say this but...

THE DECKS ARE IN! They've been received by US Games and are being despatched to stores as I write :)

Happy happy happy happy Kat!!!!!!

First person to post that they've received their deck can have a free tarot bag - and you don't count, Jeannette ;)

I think I've explained somewhere way back on this board about why I had to abandon most of the images from version 1 - mostly image quality, as well as the piracy meaning that I had to collage more heavily to ensure that they are all legally 'new and original works of art'.

The first deck was made in a couple of weeks at low res, so not a lot of effort went into it (either with the research or the actual construction), hence it was a bit ambiguous and not nearly as "collaged' as the new deck.

Hopefully you can't tell just HOW heavily collaged the new deck is if I've done what I intended well enough - tried to make them look like complete paintings, even though they contain elements from many paintings (eg head from one, hands from another, robe from another, etc etc).

The amount of research I did with the published version was huge, too. I feel I can defend just about every element in every card - or at least explain it, why I've used it, where that fits in the tarot tradition (or my own personal reasons, such as the black swan on the chariot, as it represents my home state of Western Australia).

The first deck was just, well, to be honest, the first picture I came up with for each card that "felt" right to me, with some basic additional elements added but that was about it. It certainly wasn't terribly scholarly, Considering the level of detailed questions I already get about "why did you put this there?" I'm glad that I did a pretty thorough job of researching & constructing the published version :)

Due to the time difference, I've just got up and am off to teach a class - web development for graphic design students. I wonder if they'll believe my avalanche story?
 

jmd

I've received my deck!!!

(not true - but I am the first person to post I did ;))

do I get the bag ???
 

retrokat

lol! You're in AUSTRALIA so I know you're fibbing :p
 

Mimers

oooh, I am only a half hour from Stamford, CT :D Maybe I could drive over there and pick up the first deck myself!