Etsy Decks

[Alea]

So, I've been hearing and seeing a lot of decks from Esty popping up, and I was wondering if any of you Tarot Enthusiasts on here, bought some decks from Etsy, what was your experience? how were the cards? the art? what made you buy that deck? WHAT deck was it? and so on and so forth.
I saw decks like Legend of Tarot (LoZ based x3 ) and 78 Cards (not to be mistaken for Lana Zellners in production "78 Cards".)
And they looked AMAZING.

 

[Maan]

I love etsy decks. One of my most used decks is from etsy. The Dame Darcy Mermaid tarot. The cardstock is amazing and the art so real and beautiful.
Recently i bought the spirit speak tarot from etsy and its gorgeous. One of my new favourites.
What i like about etsy is thats the decks are real labours of love. No edditing proces, no big sales departments involdved. Just pure artist visions on how tarot is for them.
They are maybe a little less polished then decks from major publishing companies. But i like that..part of the attraction for me

 

[gregory]

I've bought several. The art - you can see it up there, so.... The quality - variable, but I THINK all mine are acceptable and some are stupendous. Like decks you buy anywhere else really - some are great and some are not so great.

What was the deck ?
Aya Rosen's Black Lilly
Live to Become - very easily scratchable, unfortunately.
Charissa Drengssen's Steampunk - OUTSTANDING quality
Cat-Rot - GREAT for cat lovers
Fox
Twilight Rabbit - one of my FAVOURITE decks - I just love it !
All Nakisha's decks
American Obscura
Lazy Afternoon
Efflorescent

all come to mind. There are others. The buying experience is easy.

And yes, I have Legend of Tarot - that one I backed on Kickstarter. And I will have 78 cards shortly - again, I backed it.

 

[Metafizzypop]

I have an Etsy deck. The Frau Grand Duchess.. It's a great deck, very funny, but also very astute. One of my favorites. A beautiful printing job, too. And wonderful card stock.

I also like the Floriography Tarot, but it's a little on the expensive side, so I haven't gotten it yet. But it's on my wish list (along with a hundred other decks, lol).

 

[MagsStardustBlack]

I think i bought Silent Citadel from Etsy. The experience was personal and the deck came with a lovely hand made bag with draw string and toggle with little intimate added extras, i think a few small prints of cards of my choice (4 by 6 photo sized).

It was really pleasant and easy to talk to the artist, she was friendly approachable and very enthusiastic and appreciative of support of her deck. She also put in a very hand made little booklet which had string to bind it. Very hand made and pretty too, something really honest and down to earth about the presentation of her little package. She also drew little symbols or starts and suck on the postage envelope which was very cute and made it feel like a friend had sent the deck to me.

I felt the whole experience was lovely intimate and personal.

 

[nisaba]

The thing is, Etsy isn't a publisher, so no generalisms can be made. It's merely a venue for selling. You might as well ask after eBay decks or local shop decks or Book Depository decks ...

the only thing they have in common is that they're not conventionally published.

 

[MagsStardustBlack]

The thing is, Etsy isn't a publisher, so no generalisms can be made. It's merely a venue for selling. You might as well ask after eBay decks or local shop decks or Book Depository decks ...

the only thing they have in common is that they're not conventionally published.

so are they self published on Etsy?

Would an artist have more or less freedom then to be creative with the process and presentation maybe? Would a publisher impose certain limitations of added aspects such as trademarks of the publisher such as card stock, lwb's, borders and such?

I think what Alea meant by the question was, what do people think of handmade, homemade decks and process of buying. Rather than mas produced. At least that is what i read

 

[gregory]

I assumed that was what she meant as I have bought "published" "ordinary" decks there too - like my Traveller's RWS, for instance. Not all are self-published.

And like so many things - some that ARE self-published are great and some are not so great. Of the self-published ones there, I've only had one physical quality issue - the ones that scratch so easily. I've not had any with - for instance - really thin crad stock like some Llewellyn decks, or unmanageably thick stock like so many put out by Schiffer... But the art work side of things is a whole different kettle of fish. I will love the ones you have and vice versa !

 

[MagsStardustBlack]

I think Etsy has a general reputation for home made. And small businesses use it to sell there stuff. So I think it's a good place to find something unique or whatever if your looking for that specifically. Etsy makes me feel like 'old fashioned market place, stalls, arts and crafts, creations' generates this idea in me.

 

[Alea]

so are they self published on Etsy?

Would an artist have more or less freedom then to be creative with the process and presentation maybe? Would a publisher impose certain limitations of added aspects such as trademarks of the publisher such as card stock, lwb's, borders and such?

I think what Alea meant by the question was, what do people think of handmade, homemade decks and process of buying. Rather than mas produced. At least that is what i read

That's exactly what I mean, Etsy has a fairly large portion of self published decks, and that's what i've been noticing in my groups and over the 'net.