Crossing the Finish Line
over 5 years ago
– Sun, May 12, 2019 at 02:00:42 PM
Hello hello!
Yesterday we crossed one very important finish line, the 30 days allotted by Kickstarter for fundraising. For those of you who are new to Kickstarter, please allow me to explain what will happen next:
Within the next two weeks your credit card will be charged whatever amount you pledged, if Kickstarter is unable to draw payment from your card they will send you an email reminder. If you are looking to purchase add-ons or change your reward tier, do not fret because you will be able to do this in the BackerKit survey.
To reiterate, the survey is going to collect information like your shipping address and preferences for the style of deck or poster that you'd like. It is also the place to add on additional decks or posters, or to adjust your donation however you see fit. I recently posted an update detailing how BackerKit will work, so I'm not going to go too much into it here.
The next step is the survey, and once I receive all the responses I will be ready to begin production. As I'm sure many of you are aware, things change during production as hopes are met with reality; thankfully I have taken the time and effort to make sure that there aren't many surprises along the way, but you never know what might happen. In a perfect world this is how the timeline will work out:
May 11th: Campaign finished
May 16th: BackerKit surveys begin to roll out
June 7th: BackerKit surveys end, all things there are final
June 10th: Begin Production on decks, boxes, stickers, and booklets, as well as begin the poster prints. This process will take some time, and I don't yet know exactly how much time it will take. I am going to be meeting with the printer in the next couple of days to discuss what the most reasonable route forward is, we may end up doing a few smaller batches so I can ship things sooner rather than waiting until ALL of them are done to begin shipping.
June 10th through August 10th: Hopefully production will be done in this two month time frame. Yes it is a lot of time, but keep in mind that the printers only work M-F at normal hours, not 24/7 at my behest. I'm hoping we'll get it done well before August starts.
By September I'm hoping everybody has their decks and everything will be set up for those of you who missed the Kickstarter window, but who would like to buy a deck or two nonetheless. As I stated in my mission, my goal is to print 1,000 decks. Luckily I did not exceed that number in the number of decks you all would like as rewards, so I should have at least a couple hundred left over to sell online and in retail stores.
Please feel free to ask any questions, preferably by sending me a message here on Kickstarter. As I said above, we crossed one very important finish line, but there are still more to go.
-Taylor
Posters + Backerkit Update
over 5 years ago
– Thu, May 09, 2019 at 07:13:33 PM
Hey there folks, I just wanted to share a couple of the "Watercolor" Designs for the posters, and reiterate a little about what that tier and add-on will get you. The posters will be available in any Major Arcana card, and in either black-on-black like the Blackout deck, or what I've dubbed a digital watercolor design. Without further ado:
Now in regards to the BackerKit stuff, I wanted to lay out how that's going to work. I will also post this on the Campaign page near the bottom so everyone can find it easily.
Once the Campaign ends this weekend, I will be able to send out a survey to everyone who backed at any tier. The Survey will finalize payment options and shipping information, so that I will have the info I need to get everyone their rewards. Because of the relative simplicity of this Kickstarter, I've decided to keep the survey fairly simple, but I also want people to have a variety of options for the tiers that we have.
If you chose the $5 tier - A Solitary Card, you will not have to worry too much about this, because I only have 78 of those (since they come from one unique deck), and I don't have duplicates. I will be picking which card to give after a very thorough shuffle so that it remains random and fair. If there are less than 22 people I will just use the Majors - they're more fun anyway.
If you backed the $10 tier - Limited Edition Print, you will have a slew of options! First off is the aforementioned style, you can choose either the Blackout style or this digital watercolor style. Second is the design itself. I have opened this up to all Major Arcana cards, so you may choose what you'd like.
If you backed for 1, 2, or 3 copies of the deck, you will be given the option to choose which style deck you would like for each copy that you're getting, in any combination.
If you backed for a deck and a reading, you will be able to choose what style of deck, and book a time with me via email. If you live in the Twin Cities or close by and you're willing to come to Minneapolis I will meet up with you personally. Otherwise we can just set up a Skype call for your Hour-long reading.
If you backed at the $220+ tier for Retailers Only, the Survey will help you get in touch with me so we can take care of the business end of things, and figure out shipping.
If you backed at the very limited edition $300 tier - The Deck & A Handmade Box, you will also have several options. I am only making 6 of these, one for myself and 5 for you folks. Mine will not be numbered, and as such, each of the other ones will be numbered out of 5. I am still working on blueprints for the box, but I have a wonderful dad who lets me use his wood shop tools. The box will be made of pine wood (because Minnesota) and feature a wood-burned design.
So here's your options:
- Color: Natural Pine, Dark Red Stain, Painted Black, Painted White
- Design: The Eye, Fibonacci Squares, The Magnum Opus / Circled Square
In whatever combination.
Regardless of what tier you selected, or if you only backed without a reward, you will have the option of selecting Add-ons through BackerKit. Some people have messaged me and asked how they'll be able to purchase more than 3 decks, or whether they'll be able to buy a poster if they selected a deck tier. You will be able to add on additional decks for $40 each. You will also be able to add on a Poster for $10.
In these final two days, please remember to share this project with folks you know who are into Tarot or the esoteric. And thank you once again.
-Taylor
We did it!
over 5 years ago
– Mon, May 06, 2019 at 09:43:11 PM
After 25 days we hit our goal of $25,000! I cannot tell you how excited and thrilled I am to begin producing this deck and getting them shipped off to all of you. Damian asked if I could share some samples of the booklet, and so I wanted to give some of those here. Thank you all for the incredible support. Know that you have been a tremendous help to make this project a reality. I couldn't have done it without all of the grassroots support and love that you provide. Now here we are, fully funded and on the road to putting these decks in your hands. Please, enjoy!
To all of you who have pledged
over 5 years ago
– Mon, May 06, 2019 at 09:42:13 PM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
The Final Stretch!
over 5 years ago
– Mon, May 06, 2019 at 12:10:37 AM
Here we go everyone! We're at 98%, only 500 more dollars and we will hit the $25,000 goal, which means I will be able to produce 1,000 decks, for each of you and for stores! Now is the time if you haven't already, and honestly even if you have already, please share this project with folks you know who are interested in Tarot, magic, Hermeticism, alchemy, philosophy, or other esoteric things. Together we have come this far, and together we will cross the finish line. Only 5 days left!
Today I wanted to talk about one of my favorite cards, which goes by a couple of names. Most people know it as Strength, and others may know it as Lust or Passion. This is the 8th card in the Waite-Smith, but it's the 11th card in the Thoth. 11 is one of my favorite numbers, and I happen to be a Leo, so I've always felt a strong connection with this card. The ATU is Leo, the Lion, mighty and fierce, but the card itself is more subtle than that. Strength is not brute force, it is confidence and determination. Strength is the knowledge that is necessary to tame wild beasts, or to conquer opponents.
The card depicts Leo on its side as the winding path on the way to the horizon, the setting sun, or is it rising?
Though the card did not always look like this. In fact, this was the last card that I changed. After all the minors had been finished I went back through the Majors, and this one always stuck out to me. Here's the original design:
The original image was a Lion, more of a typical association with this card, but it always stuck out because it was the only card with a face, and I didn't particularly like the face anyway. I believe that changing my strategy with this card was the last thing that needed to be done before the deck was really ready.
Thanks again for all of your continued support, we are almost to the end of the tunnel! Remember that sharing is the best way to help this project succeed!
-Taylor
