Pippa Tarot

These last months I have been busy creating a Majors Only deck, called the Pippa Tarot.

A little background: Pippa was a small doll (6,5") that was made by Palitoy in the UK and sold in the 1970's. Pippa is the main character/doll, but she had a bunch of friends with different names. But the dolls are usually referred to as Pippa dolls. In the US there was an equivalent of Pippa, called Dawn, produced by Topper.

But this tarot is featuring only Pippa dolls. I started collecting these next to tarot (still my main passion) about two years ago. And somewhere along the way the idea of making a tarot featuring the pippa dolls was born.

I am using my own dolls, have made the outfits, backgrounds etc etc and will be photographing these to make the cards. It will be a majors only deck, with a few extra cards.

Anyway, I hope you all like them. I do plan on having them printed, probably by the Gamecrafter. This is the first card that is ready: The Magician:

More cards that are ready (apart from the titles):

I'm impressed with your creative abilities -- costume creation, set creation, staging and photography -- you are clearly putting a lot of time and care into this!

And I like the cards so far . I think Judgement is my favorite of the lot.

I really love your deck, and I agree with Annabelle. So much creativity! I know how tiny the dolls are (I used to collect Dawn dolls) and I can only imagine the skill and patience needed to make those beautiful outfits and all the tiny props, too.

Best of luck with your deck!

Hello Annabelle and Littlethings,

Thank you for your reply. I am glad you like them. I have indeed put a lot of time and care into everything. But it is a labor of love, so I am happy to do it. And I am so happy with how everything is turning out. I have thought all of the cards out in my head, but then it is always a gamble if it turns out the way you envision it.

I have to admit, for the little props, I am using a lot of doll house materials. They seem to be just the right size. So I bought all kinds of doll house accessoiries. But some others, I do have to make myself (like the pentacle and the wands the Magician is holding for instance). The costums and set creation I have made myself. And I really enjoyed the process. I am using all sorts of materials, whatever fits and gets the result I want

I have now finished most of the cards, apart from the titles. There are still 5 more cards to do. Possibly 4 more, if I do Aces as well. I am still thinking about that. And I will need to make a title card and back.

Anyway, so far I only posted cards that were more or less based on the RWS. So here are some that are not based on the RWS. The first one is the Moon:

The Moon features a Goddess from the Greek Mythology: Artemis, with her bow. Since she is connected to the Moon. And well, lobsters and towers just are not Pippa . She is accompanied by a wolf, that is howling to the Moon. To represent the uncertain path the Moon often shows.

The second also uses the Greek Mythology: here is The Wheel.

The Wheel features the Morai or Fates from Greek History. Clotho, she who spins the thread, is behind the spinning wheel of course. Lachesis, she who measures the thread, is holding a clock to represent the passing of time. And Atropos, she who cuts the thread, is holding scissors.

Traditionally the tree fates are represented by a young girl, a mature woman and a crone. This is a bit difficult to do with Pippa dolls. So I have used their clothes to represent this: baby blue for Clotho, darker blue for Lachesis and black for Atropos.

The third one is The Devil:

For the Devil I am using the concept of desires and addiction. The Devil is often connected to our more sinfull desires and pleasures, those of the flesh. So the card is featuring the following desires: sex (lingerie), sweets (cakes), alcohol and cigares. The handcuffs represent how one can be bound by these, for instance by addiction.

And lastly I have The Sun. For this card I used the Marseille imagery of two children, well, in this case, girls, dancing in the sun. I have adopted some elements of the RWS (sunflowers, wall behind them).

I love this whole idea and your costumes are adorable. The sets maybe need a little something? I think you ought to go 78 cards and loads of folks will love it.

Since visiting your photobucket my security checker has been going crazy blocking random web addresses that all omenously include the words cloudfront.net. Which could be deterring replies.