Mermaids and Dolphins by Gillian Kemp

6 Haunted Days

I was wondering if anyone has bought the Mermaids and Dolphins set by Gillian Kemp? I have all her other's (Faerie, Good witch Bad witch, and Tree Magic) and I adore them all. I just love the art and writing. Usually they come in sets, but online I can only find the title listing, no description or photo(s). I see it was published in March '07.

If you have it what do you think of it?
 

Darla

I love everything to do with the sea and so you've got me very interested in the deck. Never heard of it before but I checked Gillian Kemp's website and it is a deck/book set with 52 cards and a book of 64 pages. On the amazon.com and the author's page are tiny pictures.

http://www.amazon.com/Mermaids-Dolphins-Gillian-Kemp/dp/1904991769
http://www.gilliankemp.com/mermaids_dolphins.htm

From what I can detect there seem to be one or two sentences on the bottom of each card. It looks nice and I too would like to hear what others who have the deck think. I don't have any other of her decks, are they good for reading?
 

MysticalMoose

Ive never heard of this one either but would also be very interested to hear how others find it as it looks lovely! :)
 

faerylvr

I have it... I love it... although it has few religion references that I found odd at first, I do believe I have the grasp of it now. It is a mix of picture and graphic art... and it is a great deck to read with.
 

room

As much as I love my Tree Magick deck I'm not sure about this. I sometimes find the treatment of dolphins rather hokey and the pictures of them lurid in aqua--kind of like paintings on velvet--unnatural.

faerylvr, when you say it is a mixture of picture and graphic art, do you mean a mixture of photographs and graphic art? Not quite sure what you meant by that.

The colours look nicer on Gillian Kemp's site. Maybe someone with a scanner could show a couple of cards and cite a write-up from the book?

It's only $13.19 at Amazon.ca, and $12.88 at Chapters--that's pretty cheap. They've got long shipping periods--looks like Canadian distributors may not have them in stock yet.
 

faerylvr

Sorry... yes photographs. I have a great scanner and can do this when I get home tonight or tomorrow. The dolphins are actually done very well and I didn't get the "hokey" feeling at all... and trust me, as a collector of dolphins, I know hokey. I actually found some of the references more "off kilter" for what I was looking for, so I started using just the card...
 

6 Haunted Days

Darla said:
I don't have any other of her decks, are they good for reading?

I adore her Good Witch Bad Witch. It's a wonderful oracle that's very sweet, and the many different witches are fun, but they also give very accurate readings. It is a deeper deck than it first appears, and tons of animals (Hedgehogs!Cats!Bats!Toads!Owls!Squirrels! lol) I know it's a favourite among a few around here : ).

You don't hear much about Faerie Wisdom, but I just LOVE the artwork on the cards. Very whimsical. I believe it's the same illustrator who does all her book/card sets.
 

6 Haunted Days

room said:
As much as I love my Tree Magick deck I'm not sure about this. I sometimes find the treatment of dolphins rather hokey and the pictures of them lurid in aqua--kind of like paintings on velvet--unnatural.

faerylvr, when you say it is a mixture of picture and graphic art, do you mean a mixture of photographs and graphic art? Not quite sure what you meant by that.

The colours look nicer on Gillian Kemp's site. Maybe someone with a scanner could show a couple of cards and cite a write-up from the book?

It's only $13.19 at Amazon.ca, and $12.88 at Chapters--that's pretty cheap. They've got long shipping periods--looks like Canadian distributors may not have them in stock yet.


Yes me too. That's why I was wondering how this deck looked and such. Usually the whole mermaid/Dolphin thing can be "hokey" and very badly done. But I thought since I loved her other sets, I should check it out.
 

room

faerylvr said:
I didn't get the "hokey" feeling at all... and trust me, as a collector of dolphins, I know hokey.

Ah okay, everybody knows what I mean. I'm always a bit wary of saying that, some diehard fans get a bit upset and say "Whaddya mean??" in a defensive manner.

They must be the ones that buy velvet paintings of Elvis too.

Well thanks very much for scanning some in. MUCH appreciated, as I do like Kemp's work generally and I'd be interested to see this odd deck.
 

faerylvr

Not a problem... and we all understood you... no worries there. It may not be today, although I will try!!!! Have to be at work until 10 or so tonight, so it may be tomorrow a.m. that I get them in.