Golden Universal Tarot
Nina*
Cause that's not a Lo Scarabeo deck....
They could do it to their centennial though.... That would be amazing.
rwcarter
I do like this effect and how the empty space in the cards is filled and made more interesting.
The gold on the black borders makes the images look bigger somehow.
I agree that the Devil image looks much better with the gold foil background.
I was going to say that they lightened the brown tones in the deck. The cliff that the Fool is about to walk off is a lighter brown, the bottom of the Emperor's robe is more green than brown now, the Charioteer's chariot is a lighter brown but his armor is a darker brown, the Hermit's cloak is more greenish than brown, etc.
The card backs are really nice looking. It would've been wonderful(ly over the top) if they had also gold foiled different parts of different card backs. One could've then divined with the fronts and the backs.
They didn't foil the top of the Venus symbol on the Empress' shield, which I think was intentional. If you look at the rest of the cups cards, most of them have incompletely foiled cups.
I see what you mean about the Pentacles suit. I think the answer lies in the other cards. Even the Majors aren't completely foiled. The Cups aren't uniformly foiled. The Wands aren't foiled at all. And the hilts of the Swords aren't all foiled and those that are aren't uniformly foiled. That might be a printer's mistake, but it's repeated enough that I think it's a design element. (As I say in knitting, "a mistake repeated becomes a design element....")
One negative you didn't list is the Hanged Man. They didn't foil the whole aura (I know that's not the word for it) around his head, leaving a strip of yellow behind his head and to his right (the left of the card). That yellow for me becomes rather jarring against the rest of the background.
I still am not really fond of the art. (why is a Mennonite woman trying to tame a lion? hasn't the angel in Judgement ever heard of conditioner? why does the lion in the World look like the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz? and on and on and on.) But the foil makes the deck visually interesting enough to make me want to use it. All in all, I'm glad I bought it.
Rodney
SixDegrees
I did notice that during my first glance through the deck, and I did initially think it was a mistake, but then I reasoned that the pale section was supposed to represent the gold "light" shining on the wood post. Not the choice I'd make, but I think that it is too jarring to be a mistake.
greatdane
Not quite what I expected
As soon as I started going through the deck, I thought strange that there were three different "treatments", one with shading from missing gold that looked intentional, one that had all gold and one that looked, well, chipped. It just looked mismatched. But as I understand they (LoS) will be putting out another deck without the missing foil (or the intentional "flaws" to make a vintage look as it was explained to me), I will definitely get that when it comes out and keep the one I have. I thought this was a strange deck (touted as a more modern look) to do an intentional vintage look, and then, just on some of the cards. Love the "dotted" gold background though!
As soon as I started going through the deck, I thought strange that there were three different "treatments", one with shading from missing gold that looked intentional, one that had all gold and one that looked, well, chipped. It just looked mismatched. But as I understand they (LoS) will be putting out another deck without the missing foil (or the intentional "flaws" to make a vintage look as it was explained to me), I will definitely get that when it comes out and keep the one I have. I thought this was a strange deck (touted as a more modern look) to do an intentional vintage look, and then, just on some of the cards. Love the "dotted" gold background though!
Melia
Not sure about wallpapering, but you could definitely tile the bathroom with it.
Is this a 2nd/corrected edition of the deck just released, or something new altogether?
greatdane
Hi Melia
I emailed LoS about the gold foil. The reply was that the intentional flaws didn't quite reach their expectation of achieving what they wished to, a kind of vintage look, and that they would be putting out another gold foil Golden Universal without those flaws. They advised I keep this as this will be the only edition like it. They did not give me an ETA on when that other deck might come out though. I would definitely get a deck without those intentional flaws!
I emailed LoS about the gold foil. The reply was that the intentional flaws didn't quite reach their expectation of achieving what they wished to, a kind of vintage look, and that they would be putting out another gold foil Golden Universal without those flaws. They advised I keep this as this will be the only edition like it. They did not give me an ETA on when that other deck might come out though. I would definitely get a deck without those intentional flaws!
SixDegrees
Fascinating! Thanks for the news.
Le Fanu
I bought this deck today.
I really rather like it. The deck is much better for the gold foil effect. Of all the incarnations of this deck (regular, Professional, Transparent, mini...), this is the best one.
What I never really liked about the deck - the sketchiness - is now diminished by the gold leaf. It gives the deck so much more detail and depth. It feels very densely decorative now. And much more finished. Some cards look fabulous - the Devil, King of Swords, 2 of Swords, 9 of Swords and many others.
I think it is a big improvement and would certainly create quite an impact on the reading table. I surprise myself by how much I quite like the deck now. Lovely backs, as mentioned.
I know what others mean about the irregular stamping, unsure whether it is supposed to look like it is flaking off or not. I think that is probably the effect. All the details rodney mentions are also to be found in my deck. But I like it.
I love the sort of shiny, dotty, hallucinatory spiral effect. It really is quite lovely.
I really rather like it. The deck is much better for the gold foil effect. Of all the incarnations of this deck (regular, Professional, Transparent, mini...), this is the best one.
What I never really liked about the deck - the sketchiness - is now diminished by the gold leaf. It gives the deck so much more detail and depth. It feels very densely decorative now. And much more finished. Some cards look fabulous - the Devil, King of Swords, 2 of Swords, 9 of Swords and many others.
I think it is a big improvement and would certainly create quite an impact on the reading table. I surprise myself by how much I quite like the deck now. Lovely backs, as mentioned.
I know what others mean about the irregular stamping, unsure whether it is supposed to look like it is flaking off or not. I think that is probably the effect. All the details rodney mentions are also to be found in my deck. But I like it.
I love the sort of shiny, dotty, hallucinatory spiral effect. It really is quite lovely.
greatdane
I love the dotty background as well, Le Fanu
What was odd for me was that if it was meant to be "vintage" looking, I thought it failed as it wouldn't have been more on just certain suits, it wouldn't look all brand new and sparkly on some and others like they were peeling. When you look through the Majors, it looks really good, then in the cups it's more like it's for shading, but for the pents.... I also didn't think the art work of this deck lent itself to a "vintage" look as the Golden Universal is advertised as being more modern, but if it had been done more throughout the deck, I think it would have worked better. I understand that there will be another minus this vintage look and I wouldn't mind if it was just done with the background in all the little gold dots, I LOVED THAT. I would definitely get that one too. I do really like this deck, but there are some cards I may touch up, especially the pents.
What was odd for me was that if it was meant to be "vintage" looking, I thought it failed as it wouldn't have been more on just certain suits, it wouldn't look all brand new and sparkly on some and others like they were peeling. When you look through the Majors, it looks really good, then in the cups it's more like it's for shading, but for the pents.... I also didn't think the art work of this deck lent itself to a "vintage" look as the Golden Universal is advertised as being more modern, but if it had been done more throughout the deck, I think it would have worked better. I understand that there will be another minus this vintage look and I wouldn't mind if it was just done with the background in all the little gold dots, I LOVED THAT. I would definitely get that one too. I do really like this deck, but there are some cards I may touch up, especially the pents.
