Dust II Onyx

gregory said:

No - I didn't meant that; I was just concerned for a moment that others might look on what you'd said that way. The skin tone is (I assume) what the melanin in the KS description refers to, and itis what makes the colouring darker than some - but i cannot see the IMAGES as such as dark, and you being you (yes, Jylli, we know one another !) I found it hard to accept that you couldn't see past that.

Click to expand...

No, it's not the complexion. You can imagine I've seen many faces drawn, painted, photographed or in person of this skin color (including Australian indigen people). Yah, their skin color is different than mine but I never ever had the impression about those pictures/faces that they are 'dark'. The faces in this deck (only the majors) scares me. I can't really put my fingers on it why; it's like the THOUGHTS behind those faces are 'dark'. I desperately want to be able to use this deck as I love the artwork - so I am struggling myself to find the reason of my reaction - maybe seeing the deck in person will give me a different impression than on the laptop.
I like variety and I like unique decks, but these self-promoted decks are much expensive than those you find on Amazon (I can buy 3 decks shipping included from Amazon for the price of these decks if I add the shipping cost too which is almost always over $20). Some of these self-promoted deck are very good, some of them not so much. Really hard to decide until I have them in my hand. With so, so many decks out there one can't buy everything! So I am trying to choose them wisely (but somehow it doesn't work for me).

ETA I bought the Prague LE and liked it so much I immediately bought a standard version too...but I could not have made this decision until I had the LE in my hands. Maybe for other people is easier but for me is hard to know if I really like a deck or not until I actually hold it.

I love the gloriousness and intensity of these Majors. The flashes of gold and dark backgrounds give the very dark skin tones a look of something sacred. I wish the samples at aeclectic had titles though, is Grace Jones the Magician? Facebook doesn't work too well on my phone but when I can get to a computer I'm looking forward to checking her Facebook page.

Hi everyone:
There are a few more cards up on Kickstarter.
They are in the Updates section:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1948949006/dust-ii-onyx-a-melanated-tarot-deck/posts/1704901

They are Queen of Wands, King of Swords, Page of Cups.
The Court cards are being done with images of two different individuals on each, one for the face and another for the eyes. (That is an interesting concept!).
A couple more cards will be released publicly.

(quoting from the update):
"In the meantime I have continued working and brought forth some of the court cards. For the court cards I've been inspired to use features and eyes of public figures past and present. For example The King of Swords below is astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson with the eyes of George Washington Carver. It feels right to be more intentional with the eyes so it's been enlightening moving into this direction with the court cards. I will be publicly releasing a couple more cards, then from there on any final art will only be released as backer updates just for you."

I really hope this gets funded.

I want to say that I can see a bit where rylla is coming from - the faces in these cards are inscrutable - they aren't friendly and reassuring. There is a mask-like effect, amplified by the way the eyes are applied - they look like a mask has been placed over the faces, so it is hard to know what they are thinking. For me, this really emphasizes the somewhat-more-than-human aspect of the faces in these cards. The images are beautiful, but not very reassuring.

Anyway, I'm really excited about the deck, and can't wait to see how the holographic flecks in the backgrounds look. The kickstarter has 49 hours left is so very close to being fully funded - I really hope it makes it!

I don't look to faces to be reassuring, I have to say. I'd rather they were inscrutable - it's up to the reader/reading to find what's in their minds...

Very close to being funded. 41 hours to go.

It reminds me sometimes of the Haindl (but an all-African version of the Haindl) with some collage elements of the Voyager thrown into the mix. But, in the end, it's very different from both. A stunning, truly majestic deck. It's a pity I'm sort of broke at the moment...

garmonbozia said:

Very close to being funded. 41 hours to go.

Click to expand...

It seems to have made it !!! ($302 to spare, and 30 hours to go.) YES !

Tremendous news!
That was quite a fast rise in the last day or so.
Was there some massive pick-up in the media (social or no), I wonder?

On the deck itself, I like the inscrutability of the faces as well. To me they have a sense of being ancient and timeless. They seem turned inward or trancelike - the overlaid eyes increase the effect, as does the 'sand sprinkling' over the faces on the Cups minors.
All this works to heighten the veiled, numinous nature of the oracle the cards can be. And it makes each image into a kind of icon in which ancestors are actors and mediators of the message.

[Edited to add]:
This is not to say there is no emotion in the faces. It's just that the emotion is subtle and enigmatic and so allows reading in more than one way. You can see that in the Lovers card. Both of the couple might be happy or maybe one or even both might be thinking of something or someone else... The expressions are just on the edge of both ranges of emotions.

KhonsuMes said:

Tremendous news!
That was quite a fast rise in the last day or so.
Was there some massive pick-up in the media (social or no), I wonder?

Click to expand...

Maybe people waited to the last minute just to see how the project develops. I backed it at the beginning. Then I un-backed it. Then I waited to see more cards. I wanted to see more minor arcana cards. She just showed one more minor arcana cards but her answer on facebook to my request was very kind. She being such a nice person made me to take a leap of face and backed the project in the last minute.
She said on kickstarter that she is going to finish all the cards by the beginning of November; I seriously doubt it. I don't think she has half of the cards done. But I prefer to wait; it's better if she take her time with the project than rush it just to finish it on time.