Trimming the Thoth

Muser257

Thumbs up to Trimming

I had the small sized thoth, the one with the 3 magus cards. The borders really began to irrate me after reading this thread and so i made it my goal last friday nite to trim the entire deck. Armed with scissors and sandpaper after four hours it was done. The cards feel smaller than a normal deck of playing cards but great for doing large spreads. For doing the corners i used a 5 pence to get the circle but found it easier to just cut 3 arks and sand those. Overall im impressed with my deck. Not uniformly identically but it makes me proud. i love having a mini deck to have with me all the time. The 8 of Swords it particullarly beautiful. I do feel that Lady Freida's style is inconsistent, something i noticed with the Knights, but i do feel she captures the energy of the cards magnificently.
 

Formicida

Trimming older editions?

New question here.

I've been planning to wait until sometime next year to buy my large-size Thoth for trimming. But today, I was in Half-Price Books and saw one of the older blue-box editions. The box was, I believe, what Tarotgarden calls "blue box A," although the cards had a rainbow Unicursal Hexagram and only one Magus.

I didn't buy it, partly because I hadn't been planning to buy it just yet, and partly because I'm not sure I'd feel right cutting into an out-of-print deck. The backs had borders on them, so I don't think the back design would be an issue; it's more a psychological thing.

But I'm second-guessing myself now. The price was certainly better than what I was planning on, and the cards were in good shape.

What do other people think about cutting into out-of-print editions? Is it somehow more wrong than cutting a brand new deck? Or is it no different? They're all just cards, after all.
 

rainwolf

I wouldn't cut an OOP edition because if you ever need to sell it later it wont be worth the same price, and it might feel better being completely intact.
 

Formicida

I'm not sure I understand this:

rainwolf said:
it might feel better being completely intact.
Click to expand...

But as regards the resale value, I doubt I'd have reason to sell a trimmed deck. This edition doesn't seem terribly rare--and after all, the ones that are a dime a dozen now will probably eventually go oop. There are now people seeking the "greenies" that everyone hated when they were in print, after all. And by paying less, I may actually reduce my loss, since I imagine any trimmed deck would go for about the same price.

That said, I didn't buy it, and I imagine it's gone by now. I think I'm okay with that.
 

yaraluna

wow

QUOTE--
The only reason I would cut the borders is to try and line up the artwork to test out the projective synthetic geometry -- http://user.cyberlink.ch/~koenig/dp...as/olive_e.html
. That would mean I would leave pointy corners.--QUOTE

This is really really really interesting about the cards!! I'd love to see the combos that are created with this with all the cards and see the STORY behind them.

I am with you in this one...This would be ONE of the reasons for me to cut my thoth.
 

Aure

I did it, I trimmed two Thoths!!

After finally getting my new paper cutter with a sliding blade and some corner scissors I trimmed my large Thoth yesterday evening while watching Matrix on tv... It looks fabulous! This morning I couldn't resist the urge to cut my smaller Thoth too (well, I did buy them specifically for trimming, so...) so I trimmed it! It took me about two hours to trim one deck.

The only thing that did annoy me a bit was that even though I tried to be a real perfectionist (and I know I can be really annoying when trying to achieve perfection) I still managed to slice off microscopically larger slices from some of the cards so they are not perfect. Since the difference is less than 0.5 mm I think I can live with it. I'm thinking of maybe sanding the edges. How fine sandpaper have you ppl used?

I'm still amazed that I did this! The cards look great and feel great. It feels like they are a bit thicker than before. They remind me of the pocket Universal Waite in the flip top box shufflewise (hey, there's a new word!). So, I have to say that reading the threads here helped me to get courage to trim my decks and I'm glad I did it! If only I can now convince myself that the decks are perfect enough... (I hear my inner guide telling me to stop nitpicking and just be satisfied for once) :D
 

Somnilocus

I got my Thoth a week or two ago, and the second I did, I pulled out the scissors. :) I -love- the way Thoth looks without the borders. I personally wouldn't sand the edges, though... it can seperate the layers of the card. Besides, it's more personal when it's imperfect. :)
 

RedKite

Hello everyone :)
Im new here, but was really intrigued by this thread. I'd been working with the Thoth for a few years now and was constantly amazed at the insights it's given me and the way that there is so much to learn about it. The deck I use is (I think, Im no expert!) the grey AG Muller Large placemat kinda size one, however it never really felt like my deck and I couldn't ever work out why.

A year or so after begining to work with it I had the crazy idea that I wanted to cut the borders off ( not realising that others had done the same!) as the borders and key words were driving me crazy.
I got together the sharpest pair of scissors I could find and a card corner punch and by candle light got to it.

WOW, what a difference! I love the results. The corner punch gave me absolutly perfect corners, and a bit of care with the scissors meant that my deck is almost totally uniform, no sanding required!
Suddenly the cards became totally mine, and even more powerful.

I'd recommend trimming the Thoth to anyone who is even slightly annoyed by the borders, just a little care and time gives great results.

I was so pleased to hear that others had also trimmed their Thoth's. I realised Im not the total Heathen I thought I was!!!!

:D
 

Debra

I'm getting ready to do this myself.
 
Book T Minors: Cancer Thoth without the taglines?