Sigil Arcanum Tarot: A Symbolic Journey

Yet another production update! - New Printer
about 4 years ago – Fri, Oct 02, 2020 at 10:32:15 AM

Hello hello, I've got some great news!

Midland Paper has decided to cease their production with Embossing Plus, the print shop who was running the Blackout decks - and who screwed it up not once, not twice, but three times. Midland has found a different print shop with the same capabilities for printing the black stock with UV double sided, and they have agreed to run the remainder of the cards!

What this means for me: The new print shop uses a slightly smaller sheet size, so I'm going to be repositioning the cards so they can run them on their machines. Midland will be giving them the same full black premium paper stock, and they are supplying the same UV ink that was used in the original run. So the sheets will be portable once I have them in my hands (rather than the unwieldy massive sheets that are in my living room) - and the cards will match the existing cards!

What this means for you: We'll actually be moving along faster with this project because the new print shop is eager to make this right - one of the leads at the new shop used to work at Embossing Plus and was originally involved in the project at the beginning, but was laid off due to COVID-19. He's now at the new shop, and he's very excited to help us finish this and get it done right.

Ray, my contact at Midland said that he should have a quote by early next week, and then I'll have the specs I need to resize the sheets, then it'll be off to the races. I reminded Ray that while we do want this done quickly, we want to take our time to cross all the t's and dot all the i's so that we do it right the first time.

I'm feeling very elated at this prospect, and excited to get this rolling. That's all for now, I will hopefully have pictures of the new prints relatively soon to show!

-Taylor

Brief Production Update
about 4 years ago – Thu, Oct 01, 2020 at 12:23:32 AM

Hi folks,

As we are nearing the end of September, I don't have much in the way of news, but I want to keep y'all up to date on what's going on.

The Paper mill did some tests and determined that the paper stock was not the problem.

The UV company who supplied the ink created a variety of different samples that Embossing Plus (The Printer) is running tomorrow.

We think that humidity and heat may have been a factor - When the last runs were printed, they were done in November and December (or January, I can't remember exactly), so it was significantly cooler and less humid.

For those of you who aren't aware, I live in Minnesota, and all of the printing and manufacturing is being done locally here in Minneapolis. Minnesota is known for being cold - in the winter - but people often overlook our extreme summers, often over 100 degrees, and humidity in the 90% range. I don't know what the exact weather conditions were at the time that the cards were printed this summer, but my contact at the paper company said this could be a reason the UV ink bled onto the sheets.

The UV tests will be conducted tomorrow. I have no timeline yet regarding when this is going to be printed.

Again, from the bottom of my heart, I'm sorry this is taking so long.

International folks: I have still only heard from a handful of you that you have received the decks (Canada, UK, Germany, and Australia I believe), though my tracking information says they have all arrived, so I'm going to send out more this weekend and next week, and will try to get out to my mom's at least twice a week for shipping.

This means if you are international (not in the US) and you ordered the Spectrum deck - but not the Blackout deck, as we are still waiting on those - you should receive your deck within October, as long as there aren't any shipping delays.

Okay, I think that's all I've got for now. Please let me know if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer them. As always if you have specific questions relating to your own order, please send me a message instead of commenting, because it's easier for me to manage them in the inbox than it is to try to use Kickstarter's comment system.

Thanks a million,

- Taylor

Hang in there
about 4 years ago – Wed, Aug 26, 2020 at 12:46:13 AM

Hi everybody,

Two weeks ago, on August 11th, I visited Embossing Plus to check on the die cutting process. All of the cards were finished printing, and they were working on getting the cut lined up properly so that this reprint of the second half of the Blackout decks will match the first half that has been in my living room for several months.

I walked in on the 11th and walked up to the guy who was cutting the cards. The cut looks good, it lines up with the existing sheets from the usable copy of Form 1 (The first half that I have). However, as I hope you can see in the photo above, there was a problem. Nobody seemed to notice the problem until I showed up and looked at, but once I pointed it out, everyone acknowledged that it was a huge problem.

The image from the backs of the cards has ghosted onto the fronts somehow. Of every single sheet in the stack. Multiple people who I have shown this to have commented "Oh it actually looks cool." That might be the case to some people's eye, but the fact is this does not match what I already have, and what I need to match.

My heart is broken. I am embarrassed, and I am sad.

I'm so sad, I don't really know what to say about it here. It's why I haven't said much in two weeks.

Here is what I do know:

My contact at Midland Paper (The company I paid to make this project, the company who has contracted out to Embossing Plus and the other companies who have manufactured the various parts of the deck) has assured me that they will need to provide me with a usable product. The printer (EP) is ultimately responsible for making sure that the product they deliver is matching the first product they delivered. We know they are capable of doing it.

So what happened?

The paper stock was tested by the mill who made it, and it was determined that it was exactly the same as the original paper, and that it would not have caused this issue.

As of yesterday, the company who provided the UV ink is testing the UV ink that was used to see if the mix was bad. Right now, we do not know exactly what happened or what went wrong, my guess is it probably wasn't the ink.

If it wasn't the ink, and since it definitely wasn't the paper, then it must be the party who put the two together. Right now, my guess is that something was rushed during the drying process. But right now, we do not know. I do not have an answer. I don't know how long it's going to take, I don't know when I'm going to get these cards or when I can get them to you all.

I want to.

More than anything in the world - and I do not mean that figuratively - I want to deliver these cards to you all. My wish with this project was to create an all black tarot deck. I intend to bring this wish into reality. I will not stop until it's done and done right.

More matte black stock is being manufactured this week. Hopefully soon I'll have good news. I have been very patient with the people involved in producing this deck, and I can tell that they are eager to get this situation fixed and under control. I can tell that they know they need to make this right.

Thank you all for your continued patience, and for believing in me and this project.

Take care, and please, hang in there.

-Taylor

Printing!
over 4 years ago – Wed, Aug 05, 2020 at 10:33:17 PM

Here's some photos and a video of the UV printing process on these sweet, sweet black stock sheets. Printing will be completed soon and then it's off to cutting. Enjoy, and feel free to drop any questions below.

Printing Begins Tomorrow
over 4 years ago – Mon, Aug 03, 2020 at 04:55:21 PM

Hi folks,

Tomorrow (Tuesday, August 4th) at 11am they have invited me to oversee the printing and fabricating process for the cards. Fingers crossed, all will go well, and we will be able to start processing, sorting, cleaning, and stuffing these beautiful cards into decks.

As an update for Spectrum decks, I have shipped several to folks who have asked me to, and I wanted to thank you all for your patience and support through this project. If anybody else in the United States want their Spectrum decks / posters shipped separately, please message me here on Kickstarter and I will coordinate that.

We are very near to the finish line. Once I have the paper in my house it's up to me and my team to get it done. We will get it done quickly, we will get it done carefully (materials are handled with gloves and we are taking extra measures in the face of this pandemic), and we will get your cards to you as soon as possible. Again, I cannot fully express how grateful I am for the continued patience and support, you all have been a shining example of kindness and trust in a very strange and often untrustworthy world. I know that I'll never make everybody happy, but I'll be glad when I can make you lot happy.

Regarding international shipments, none of the ones I have sent out yet have arrived, but they are all marked "In-Transit, Departed", so keep your eyes peeled for those in the mail and do not fret, this is probably just going to take a while due to the COVID-19 international pandemic situation.

Again, when you do receive your package (if you are not in the United States), please message me on Kickstarter or email [email protected] if that's easier, and let me know that you received it and that it arrived in good condition. Until I know that my packages are getting to their destinations I cannot continue to send out additional packages. I have sent out test runs to Europe, Asia, and other parts of the Americas, as well as Oceania (Australia). Please let me know if and when you receive yours!

Here's to a fabulous day of production tomorrow, and a speedy turn around on this final set of cards.

Take care, be well,

-Taylor