Any bad deck-trimming trips?

Bean Feasa

Wow Imagemaker,
Those cards really do look great. My plan of campaign now is to practise on some other decks first, but I'm definitely getting to the Druidcraft sooner or later; the trimming makes it look - well, liberated! I don't mind about the backs, the reversible or non-reversible thing doesn't bother me.
Thanks a million for posting and thanks LittleBuddha for your helpful tips.

DarkElectric come on girl, we've got to be brave and get snipping!!!

Still haven't found the corner punch though :( Nowhere here seems to stock it. Guess I'll have to go with the big scissors/little scissors idea.
 

Little Baron

Bean Feasa said:
DarkElectric come on girl, we've got to be brave and get snipping!!!
Click to expand...

Once you get snipping, the fear eventually subsides. Especially when you see how much better a deck can look. After you have done about five or six and see how rich they look, there is no turning back and you want to see how the deck looks when complete.

I found the thread I was talking about earlier. Took a bit of rooting about because it didn't have anything about trimming in the title. Anyhow, there are some good tips within it and also (for those of you that have 'the fear') a great deal of chat regarding worries about mucking the cards up.

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=30158&highlight=rohrig

LB
 

inanna_tarot

The worst part of trimming is cutting that first card, snipping one side away from the card. Once you get that far, there is no going back.
I've trimmed my druidcraft, and I was going to get a corner cutter to round the edges, but the cutter would cut a decent chunk of the image away! However after lots of shuffling, the crners are gently rounded and no sharp.
I considered snipping the Thoth, but I love the card titles - its part of the deck and what Crowley intended, so many one day I'll snip it, when I've learnt the titles.

You just have to be careful and take your time. Its a wonderful way of looking really close at each card, and it makes the Druidcraft shine :D

Sezo
x
 

Imagemaker

the cutter would cut a decent chunk of the image away
Click to expand...

They come in different sizes, some make shallower curves, some just round the sharp corner off.

I see them everywhere now, in WalMart, Staples (office supply), Michael's (craft supplies) and even saw one in the paper/pen section of the (huge) grocery store! Can it be high demand from all the tarot users trimming?!
 

Bean Feasa

Inanna, I love the idea of 'making the Druidcraft shine'!
And thanks for the scans, rainwolf - again definite incentives to get out the scissors. Yes definitely going to get to grips with this trimming business... tomorrow.... at Tara ;)
It's twenty minutes past midnight here, yawn. Talk to you all tomorrow.
midnight blessings,
 

Jewel-ry

Hi there Bean Feasa,

Its good to see you back on the boards.

I have trimmed the Rohrig, Secret and the Druidcraft. Best thing I ever did to all three decks! I don't regret it at all. I would say try and get the corner cutter. I got mine from Hobbycraft in the UK so that would be a good start. It only cost a couple of pounds.

My advice is to have a plan before you start. As imagemaker says, the Druidcraft had a thin border around the inner image which was almost impossible to see on some of the cards so there was a lot of judgement went into those cuts. Make sure you decide where you will cut before you start.

When I did the Rohrig, I had no cutter, but I cut off the white border squarely at first and then used its curved corners as a template for perfecting the final corner curve (does that make any sense?)

There is a thread about the druidcraft which has some scans and also another thread which I believe has scans of the Secret (Renaissance) which was truly amazing when borderless. If I can find them later, I'll put them in.

Good luck!

Oh and don't do it anywhere near a glass of wine! I got so carried away cutting, I knocked a glass and it spilt over my cards (just added to the look :D )
 

Bean Feasa

Hi Jewel-ry,
As Gary Glitter once said (before his fall from grace) 'It's good to be back!'

Thanks for all the tips - the Rohrig thing is interesting - something I might have to revert to if I can't locate a corner punch. But there must be one out there somewhere. I have to cross the river to another part of the city today; maybe some of the shops over there will have something - it's generally the more practical quarter anyway.

After a lot of weekends full of duties and obligations I have this coming weekend completely free (yay!) so I think this will be the Trimming Weekend!

If I can figure out how to work the scanner, I'll post the results.
 

Bean Feasa

Well - I said I'd keep you posted! Didn't manage anything at the weekend as I'd planned, but tonight - ta-dah! I only went and trimmed the Haindl. Okay, sorry, that's not entirely true - what I did was, I trimmed 30 cards from the Haindl deck.
It just goes to show the saying is true, life is what happens when you're making other plans. I intended to trim the Triple Goddess tarot last weekend. Instead I trimmed the Haindl on a Thursday night. It so happens I have a day off tomorrow, so hopefully will finish the enterprise then.
And you're right, it is easier than I thought. I didn't manage to get a corner punch - the only one I could find punched a hole (aaaaargh!) as well as rounding the corners. So I went for the big scissors and little scissors experience. Those of you of a certain age may remember how Queen used to put 'no synths' on their albums. Well I could put 'no paper trimmers, no corner-cutters' on my deck! Hand-trimmed by Bean Feasa in her little white-washed cottage in ... er, well, Dublin.
Seriously though, the cards look incredible. What I was thinking when I was cutting was - I'm not just trimming them, I'm liberating them. They glow! They rock!
Okay, that's enough gushing for now, I think. Talk to you all soon ;)
 

cyclamen

Bean Feasa, I loved reading about your trimming experience. I am making my first attempt at rounding corners using only scissors as well. I have been working on my happy new Spiral deck tonight and it's amazing how different the cards look when they've been freed - they *glow.* They aren't all perfectly even, but I decided before that I started out that I was fine with that.

I love the look of pure image - no words, no borders - so much that I don't think I'll get decks that I can't trim anymore.

*

One of these days if I can find a scanner to use I will post my trimmed L&S deck. It's gotten so sweet and scruffy.
 
Rebuilding your collection Commercial that reminds me of the Tarot of Prague!