Saturday 19 October 2013

What to do, what to do, what to do, what to do!

Spiral Tarot (US Games 1997)
I just bought this deck recently, the Spiral Tarot by Kay Steventon (US Games 1997). I really love the artwork, but I'm not convinced about those purple and white borders, particularly with the red and white inner borders. Odd.  I'm just going to conduct a small experiment here and try cropping the scanned image:





Okay, imagine them with the corners rounded. The left one has the red and white inner borders intact. The right one (imagine corners rounded to remove the tiny bits of red and white) has all borders removed. I would leave the titles on all of them, I think. Well. We might as well just look at it without the title:

Now, imagine that one to the left there with its corners rounded, so there's no red or white or title or anything. The cards would definitely be on the small side, because for a tarot this deck is already fairly compact. But small can be good. I am really quite tempted to get the scissors out and start whacking. Wait a minute, though. What might the card itself be saying here. I've drawn 5 of Cups and haven't even looked at it yet, just got distracted by the borders and starting thinking about mutilating the poor thing without even giving it a chance. I wonder what the deck itself would have to say if I asked if I should crop it. I have never thought of doing that before! First of all, the 5 of Cups is about ignoring good things and being overwhelmed by bad things. I don't think I'm necessarily doing that, because I've decided that I quite like this deck and feel it will become a firm favourite. However, it could be that I am being a little hasty in thinking about cropping it having only used it for one reading previously and having only owned it for about two weeks. 

Okay, three-card draw. 'How do you feel about being cropped of these purple and white borders?'



Oooh, cheeky. Could be hell, could be heaven, just depends on your 'vision'. Smart aleck! Or maybe it's 'Some of us hate it, some of us love it, some of us couldn't give a toss (so we're turning our backs).'  Ha.

The thing about this deck is, when you pull one card and look at it, or when you are fanning through the deck looking at as a whole, the purple and white cloud borders are SO unappealing. But when you lay out a spread, you don't even notice them. The card images pop out, the borders push back. I mean, look at that line of three. Click on it so it enlarges. Do the borders bother you? They don't bother me. And yet, looking at that single image at the top, they do. 

Okay, the borders live to see another day. I wonder if I can make it through the week without trimming them. 




14 comments:

  1. I can relate to your hesitation and in the mean time not being able to let go of deciding. Perhaps you could mark a date on you calender, when you'll think about this again. And every time it crosses your mind in between you say to yourself. Not now, not yet. :D

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    1. I've already been using that technique to get through today! :)

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  2. Anonymous19.10.13

    If you ask me i'll say " Plz crop all its border and its side " =.= I generally disagreed with cutting or trimming the deck but there is a big " Yes , of course " in my head when i saw your post, the border and title of this deck is nothing related to its own.
    However , if you find it reading normally well with that border then you can keep it :) , I always respect my deck as my friend and trimming your friend is not so well way to treat them ( Just my opinion , no offense )

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    1. Yes, it would be rather rude to trim your friends. :)

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  3. Anonymous19.10.13

    As you drew The Three of Wands, I'd say, crop IF you continue to notice them. If you do, then you haven't got used to them, and they are a rocky outcrop, liable to get in your way.

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  4. The borders on my Spiral didn't last long because that was ALL I noticed - they were just too distracting! :D

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    1. I don't like them, but I am trying hard to resist the urge to trim because I suspect I won't like that either! :) Don't get me wrong, I love the cards. I'm resisting the urge, I really am. :)

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  5. Replies
    1. Cropping crisis! Border angst! Gah!

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  6. Hilarious! I'm a few days late to the fray, so I wonder whether they are still uncropped... Anyway, another suggestion, just do three card draws all week ;) That way, the borders are less likely to annoy you. And, other than for the blog, how often do you really just draw a single card?
    Devil's Advocately, Cx

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  7. Hi Carla. I'm late reading this too, but I vote for chopping those borders! Have you seen my pics on AT of my trimmed copy? I started by trying to save the titles, but in the end they were MUCH improved by getting rid of all that purple and red.

    Here's my post with attached pics, just to enable you a little: http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=2654480&postcount=131

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