In Praise of Odd-Sized Decks

[Laura Borealis]

This thread slipped my mind (not difficult) so sorry I didn't get back sooner!

OK - so. Here are my TINY Meneghello ones, with a matchbox; my two rather larger Meneghello sets that ARE in bookshelves (The decks are each about the height of that matchbox), my TEEEEEEEEENY Gnomes from Lo Scarabeo, and a few others - I think there's the one mourned by nisaba, a mini University Books and a tiny Spanish TDM.

The Meneghello ones - the presentation is just so stunning - bookshelves - who'd have thought ? they really are special.

And at the other end of the spectrum, there's my Omaggio a Federico II.

MASSIVE cards, but in a lesser size, the impact of the art would be much diminished. Oh and also the original Star majors only set - another big and beautiful. Likewise the original Sacred Isle. One sees, when the full 78 cards of both these came out, how much of the art's impact is lost when the cards are shrunk, lovely though they still are.

Your tiny decks are so cute! I really love the Meneghello editions. The bookshelves are a great touch. Thank you for sharing the pictures

I so agree with you about the impact of the art with large cards. That Omaggio a Federico II must be stunning laid out, likewise the Star and Sacred Isle.

Tarot of the Curious East is large and the illustrations are landscape! So I think that counts as an odd size/shape.

I have ghost-shaped playing cards. And some that are supposed to be cat-shaped, but really they're a curved oblong in a plastic box with ears. (Hard to describe. I'll post pics later.) And round and heart-shaped playing cards. Oh yeah, and transparent playing cards, too!

(All these came from the hazard of having a Borders in the building where I worked. I couldn't resist any novelty cards. Or tarot. Or Buddhism books. I think I kept them in business a few weeks longer than they would have been otherwise . . .)

Don't forget the Infinity Tarot. Definitely the most unusual shape, complete with the little holes. I don't have it, not enamored of the art style. But definitely unique!

I agree, the Curious East counts. I wonder if the landscape format affects how it's read? Seems like there would be at least a subtle difference.

Your novelty playing card collection sounds great - especially the ghost-shaped ones!

I'd forgotten about the Infinity... not my style either, but definitely odd shaped... though I can't help seeing them as 8 shaped instead of lemniscates.

 

[Laura Borealis]

Great thread! I definitely have a few wacky-sized decks that are worth mentioning.

Le Corte dei Tarocchi is uniquely tall and slim with papery card stock; I love feeling this one in my hands. I also love my USG Visconti Sforza; so large and awkward to shuffle, but amazingly gorgeous. Tarot of the Cloisters is the only circular deck I own; shuffling is quite a process, but completely worth it for these lovely cards. And then there is the Divine Will Tarot; it is a dark deck, large and square-ish and somewhat like coasters, but it is one of my faves.

I love tall, slim cards like that (the Corte dei Tarocchi). The proportions are so elegant. I can well imagine that the Visconti Sforza is amazing in person, too. Is that what was used in The Borgias (tv series)? I can't remember.

The art for that Divine Will deck is pretty cool... I bet it looks stunning in a spread!

Oh I forgot - I have the tiniest tarot, too! I bought three copies and made artwork, pendants and magnets from them. So I should say I HAD it. But the whole deck as magnets on a door is really nice to have. I play with it quite often...

Now that is awesome Especially the fridge magnets!

this made me laugh so much.

This is my mischievous panthress (posing in front of one of my paintings) who likes to climb and swing one-armed or two without using her back legs so we named her Monkey (we found her with literally hours left to live at 3 months old weighing less than a pound (vet didn't think she'd make it), and now a year later she's such an energetic and lovable rascal.)

Anyway, I'll see if there's somewhere else in the forum to post pet pics as I know this is only peripherally related to the discussion (I don't have any odd sized decks to pose with her )

What a gorgeous cat! I love black cats Thank you for sharing her pictures! And for saving her life

 

[Glennmaicha]

I've recently acquired an obsession with trimming decks. Removing pesky borders, creating a naturally "deckled" edge and enhancing the shuffling process... It's great.
I loved my trimmed large Thoth so much that I also trimmed my mini Thoth. It's so tiny and adorable now.

Incidentally, my cat happened to pose with the cards, so it'd be a shame not to share:

https://content-na.drive.amazonaws....MCPS5WUTTfY66kJkE0Xnc3/alt/thumb?viewBox=1920

 

[gregory]

CAT ! LOVE cat. More cats please

Nice Thoth too. One of the only two decks I ever trimmed - and only to see the geometry - I have untrimmed too.

 

[Padma]

I have a small Meneghello majors only deck, featuring dogs (i cani) I want to get the cat one, too! It comes in a miniature box that is shaped like a book, with little ribbons to tie it closed. It is so beautiful! I love the pictures...the deck is about 2 inches high, by an inch and a half or less wide.

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/i-cani/

Laura, your cat is beeee-oooo-tiiii-fulll!

Oh, and for Gregory (see attached)

 

[Dee Ell]

Thanks Laura
Padma and Glennmaicha - your cats are beautiful! Please share more pics in the thread linked below...

Start one in chat.

I can only post past pets, as I have none now...

ETA GIVE ME THAT CAT ..... NAOW !

Hahaha she's sleeping against my feet right now. I started a thread in Chat as requested (could the forum BE any more appropriately named? ) with more pics - please share some of your past loves gregory!

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=259490

 

[Laura Borealis]

Hooray! We need a thread like this!

With me, circular decks are the challenging ones to shuffle. The mini-Motherpeace is kinda-okay, though awkward, and I love it for sentimental reasons - I hardly ever use it. The full-sized Cloisters takes a .ot of room on the table and because of its circularity it's hard to shuffle, but I adore it.

Do you overhand shuffle them? I could see circular decks as being perfect for wash-style shuffling (though typically I don't care for that shuffling style).

I have a mini-Tarot Nova like that! The cards are two centimetres tall (less than one inch) by one centimetre wide (less than half an inch). When the deck is lying in a neat pile, the pile is actually taller than the individual cards are! The only way to shuffle it is to put the whole deck in your cupped hands, shake it, and toss it onto a table. Then I read where they fall, reading from the centre outwards, and reading only those who land with their faces up. I read as many cards as I need, and forget the rest. A Celtic Cross can be laid out comfortably on a serving-spoon. Putting the deck back together takes a long, long time because the cards are so small and fiddly. I now wish I'd bought two of them, so I could wide-wrap them and wear them as earrings!

I think I remember reading someone else using the mini Nova by tossing the cards in a bowl (I imagined it being like a salad) and drawing cards out. But I like your idea!

The Osho Zen mini is ADORABLE and your cat is gorgeous!

My cat wouldn't work for scale--he's a big boy, and about twenty pounds.

I don't have any super teensy decks, though I think they're really cute when they're small enough. And I don't have any GIANT decks, but there are several I'd like larger, certainly.

The weird thing I love is...sharp corners. The Robert Place Vampire deck gets a lot of grief over the corners, while I'm sad that due to heavy use they're no longer that sharp and pointy. Actually, I love everything physical thing about that deck. The cards are larger and wider than usual, and glossy, and they come to you new stuck together in a brick and uggghhh cracking the brick apart was WONDERFUL. I enjoyed it so much.

I think most people try to peel those cards apart, and that doesn't work, and can tear the cards and damage them. But if you bend it this way and that, the block makes this amaazing bone crunchy squeaky sound and breaks into smaller chunks. It was perfect for a vampire deck to feel that way (to me--I'm aware this is odd).

Also, I laughed at the thread title. A+.

Wow! The way you described breaking up the brick of cards is so visceral. It made me shudder a little I'm on board with sharp corners though. I did round the corners of my Noblet and I don't regret it (I later traded it but not because of that) but I think some decks are good with square corners. It suits them.

I like my smaller-sized Gorgon's Tarot. The original is huge but Schiffer also made a smaller version that is so much more useable.

I like my mini RWS, not the tiny, the mini. And my mini MP. I like the look of that mini Harmonious that Nemia posted. Laura, your cat is quite photogenic

Aw thank you, I will tell her

I hadn't seen the Gorgon before - interesting! The review here on AT says it's 143 mm and it sounds like that's the Schiffer one. So the original is even bigger? Dang.

 

[Laura Borealis]

I've recently acquired an obsession with trimming decks. Removing pesky borders, creating a naturally "deckled" edge and enhancing the shuffling process... It's great.
I loved my trimmed large Thoth so much that I also trimmed my mini Thoth. It's so tiny and adorable now.

Incidentally, my cat happened to pose with the cards, so it'd be a shame not to share:

https://content-na.drive.amazonaws....MCPS5WUTTfY66kJkE0Xnc3/alt/thumb?viewBox=1920

Your kitty (who is gorgeous!) is charging your deck. Decks charged by cats provide purrfect readings!

I want to get a mini Thoth just to trim it now. And I'm not even a trimmer.

I have a small Meneghello majors only deck, featuring dogs (i cani) I want to get the cat one, too! It comes in a miniature box that is shaped like a book, with little ribbons to tie it closed. It is so beautiful! I love the pictures...the deck is about 2 inches high, by an inch and a half or less wide.

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/i-cani/

Laura, your cat is beeee-oooo-tiiii-fulll!

Oh, and for Gregory (see attached)

KITTY KITTY

Those book-shaped tarot boxes are special. I had the Tarot of Prague in one. Kind of regret selling it, but I wanted something else badly and I don't regret that part. I didn't know the Meneghello kitty deck came in one... hmmm....

Thanks Laura
Padma and Glennmaicha - your cats are beautiful! Please share more pics in the thread linked below...



Hahaha she's sleeping against my feet right now. I started a thread in Chat as requested (could the forum BE any more appropriately named? ) with more pics - please share some of your past loves gregory!

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=259490

I will head over there soon! and share cat pics. It might be after dinner. I am trying to multi-task

 

[nisaba]

I think I remember reading someone else using the mini Nova by tossing the cards in a bowl (I imagined it being like a salad) and drawing cards out. But I like your idea!

Tarot Salad, dressed with yarrow stalks (I Ching) and anointing oils. I like it.

 

[Padma]

KITTY KITTY

Those book-shaped tarot boxes are special. I had the Tarot of Prague in one. Kind of regret selling it, but I wanted something else badly and I don't regret that part. I didn't know the Meneghello kitty deck came in one... hmmm....

I will take a pic of the deck and box, and post tonight hopefully, haha! Multitasking, too. We NEED the Meneghello kitty deck! <enable enable>