treelet
I'd been watching this deck since the artist first started posting paintings for it on her instagram and got one of the last decks from the first printing (a bit sad because the second printing apparently will have borderless cardbacks.) These are just my initial impressions having received the deck today.
The deck itself is beautiful, one of the most beautiful I've seen from beginning to end. She decorated the USPS box, wrapped things with cute stickers, the hand-bound and hand-cut "zine" booklet was cute (fairly generic keywords, the booklet is definitely intended for newbies to tarot), the bag very sweet, and the little doggy doodle on the receipt a nice touch. Being from LA, everything has a lovely "LA vibe". The artist is only a couple miles from my family, so it was really like getting a little piece of home.
I agree with others about the shiny and slightly bendy cardstock. It's obviously nice quality and shuffles well, even though its slippery, and I understand why she went with the UV coating in order to maintain the fidelity of the art.
I love nearly every single card. They're all lovely to look at, the Cups suit is wonderful and by far my favorite, and the deck has a definite playful energy without seeming immature or irreverent. Meesa/Marisa (the artist) has a wonderful sense of color and texture and I love the pattern details on each of the cards and how one could interpret them within each scene, but even the more minimal cards (such as the Five of Pentacles) are thoughtful and well-rendered. Literally the only card I have any large issue with is the Ten of Pentacles as just a series of 100 banknotes with pentacles embedded in them. Kind of limiting as an interpretation, but I can get over it. I also think it was a mistake to have a recognizable actress like Rose McGowan as the Chariot, but it still works as a card.
In any case, I can't stop looking through this deck, it just begs to be admired. I'm excited to see how it will do in a reading since the definitions are RWS, but the imagery is only RWS-ish. I'm usually attracted to black-and-white decks, limited color palettes, and more earthy tones but this deck... it reminds me of all the best and most vibrant parts of Los Angeles and I love it.
The deck itself is beautiful, one of the most beautiful I've seen from beginning to end. She decorated the USPS box, wrapped things with cute stickers, the hand-bound and hand-cut "zine" booklet was cute (fairly generic keywords, the booklet is definitely intended for newbies to tarot), the bag very sweet, and the little doggy doodle on the receipt a nice touch. Being from LA, everything has a lovely "LA vibe". The artist is only a couple miles from my family, so it was really like getting a little piece of home.
I agree with others about the shiny and slightly bendy cardstock. It's obviously nice quality and shuffles well, even though its slippery, and I understand why she went with the UV coating in order to maintain the fidelity of the art.
I love nearly every single card. They're all lovely to look at, the Cups suit is wonderful and by far my favorite, and the deck has a definite playful energy without seeming immature or irreverent. Meesa/Marisa (the artist) has a wonderful sense of color and texture and I love the pattern details on each of the cards and how one could interpret them within each scene, but even the more minimal cards (such as the Five of Pentacles) are thoughtful and well-rendered. Literally the only card I have any large issue with is the Ten of Pentacles as just a series of 100 banknotes with pentacles embedded in them. Kind of limiting as an interpretation, but I can get over it. I also think it was a mistake to have a recognizable actress like Rose McGowan as the Chariot, but it still works as a card.
In any case, I can't stop looking through this deck, it just begs to be admired. I'm excited to see how it will do in a reading since the definitions are RWS, but the imagery is only RWS-ish. I'm usually attracted to black-and-white decks, limited color palettes, and more earthy tones but this deck... it reminds me of all the best and most vibrant parts of Los Angeles and I love it.
Just over a week to get to New Zealand. The deck is smooth to touch and soft to shuffle. I love it 
