Couldn't resist bumping that one up...
To answer the question: do as thou wilt.
Your cards, your creativity.
ISSUES TO CONSIDER BEFORE starting to alter cards
PRACTICAL ISSUES
- consider buying a backup copy if you wish, though altering a deck in the first place probably means that you are not fully happy with the original one... then why buy it again ? (my two cents: maybe the money would be better used on some quality tools, see next point)
- get the right tools, think a little bit of what you would like to do: trimming, rounding corners, painting metallic accents, adding stickers/colors, hiding numbers/keywords, adding keywords.
Check/download free fonts, print out if necessary (or have the computer nearby to check online if needed). Calligraphy books are also a valuable source.
OTHER ISSUES
- except if you are a fantastic artist with a hand that never shakes , stick to altering mass-market cards.
- accept the fact that you will probably not want to use that "new" deck for public readings if you are not completely comfy with displaying your masterpiece ;-)
- altering a full deck is time consuming. You will need some nice free time. A long interruption between altering sessions might just put an end to your project, you'll lose the inspiration, get annoyed/ashamed at your lack of artistic talent, regret "ruining" a deck etc.
FINAL ADVICE (the one that really worked for me)
The fun of altering cards lies in the process, the whole "craft" thing.
Try not to give too much thought to the final result and just get inspired card by card,
HAVE FUN. Surrender to the creative flow (can I sound more new age guru????) and have a blast
OH and that DARN
"Matter of GUILT AFTERWARD" issue...
There you sit in front of that deck you altered, tiny pieces of all kind of more or less expensive material scattered around the table, multiple tools, your fingers black, glued and maybe hurting, your eyes sore.
And the result is plain terrible. Horrible. Ugly.
It sucks.
And the cards cannot be "saved" anymore.
You feel guilty for wasting a perfectly fine deck that you could have sold/traded instead (it's not like you are Rockfeller, you could use the money...) and you feel guilty about wasting your time while there is a pile of dirty laundry eyeing ironically on you in the bathroom (is it *waving* at me right now???!!!).
You feel stupid because you thought you would be better, that the cards would look so much better but your artistic skills are definitely not what you thought. You overestimated yourself big time, you silly cow! You should have known better. Hell you always sucked at arts class ANYWAY. What went into you????
You are a bit sad, discouraged and disappointed as well :-(
"Whatever. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." (S. Becket) (it always makes a good impression to quote a Nobel prize, especially as he was so darn right).
- Think of all the crap we buy all year long, a deck of cards is probably NOT what will drag your household to bankruptcy. If you hate it, give your masterpiece to the kids to play with or throw it away (as cardboard???).
Cut the cards, use the bits for greeting cards, decorating a journal etc. (Note to Moms: Kids are naturally practical, efficient and enthusiastic "failed artwork" recycling devices)
- Give yourself a pad on the shoulder, many people do not even DARE to think of altering anything.
- So what, you were immersed in your own creativity, you lost track of time, fully tuned to your inner voice and you brought it out to the world. Yes you did (now stop arguing, this post is getting way too long already). You brought your own voice out, maybe not as skillfully as you would have wanted to but let's face it, we are not all Van Gogh (counting my ears, yep, still 2) and
anyway, the concept of beauty is very objective.
- Maybe altered cards are like your own kids: sometimes you are the only one to see the beauty in them ;-)
Now get out of here and go to play!!!!