Trimmed Borders/Altered Decks Index

Work slowly under good light from the left (if you're righthanded). Use good tools, heavy scissors, good corner rounder. Keep your elbows on the table to get maximum control over your hands. Move the card not the tool - let the scissor cut straight and adjust the card to the scissors, not the other way around. And if it doesn't turn out perfectly done - it doesn't matter. Only you will notice, and it's a sign that it was done by hand and not machine. You're not a machine. Give it your best effort and don't be a perfectionist. You're personalizing this deck so it will carry the traces of YOU. No need to be perfect, just do you best.

Concerning the decks I trimmed recently I did it simply with a cutter and a ruler.
However about the corners I bought a corner rounder (not expensive) because it is impossible to have nice corners without a machine.

I add with my post some pictures of Druid Animal Oracle and Druid Plant Oracle, both trimmed.

Nemia said:

Work slowly under good light from the left (if you're righthanded). Use good tools, heavy scissors, good corner rounder. Keep your elbows on the table to get maximum control over your hands. Move the card not the tool - let the scissor cut straight and adjust the card to the scissors, not the other way around. And if it doesn't turn out perfectly done - it doesn't matter. Only you will notice, and it's a sign that it was done by hand and not machine. You're not a machine. Give it your best effort and don't be a perfectionist. You're personalizing this deck so it will carry the traces of YOU. No need to be perfect, just do you best.

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Thank you, Nemia! You're right. I'm mostly doing this to try to make these mass-produced decks a little bit more personal. When put on the table to be read I'm pretty sure I won't see if some corner is a little bit crooked or weird, ´cause the main image is what I'm looking at.

I'm gonna start to round the corners of my TdM by Noblet (they are sharp little bastards lol!) and take it from there. Thanks for the support.

You can always "polish" little irregularities with sand paper...

I blackened the edges of my Anna K. (no pictures yet), Secret Forest and Silhouettes Tarot, of course, also my Thoth.

I gave orange/brown edges to my Etruscan, purple edges to the mini Pagan Cats and the Inner Child, and light yellowish to the Harmonious mini. I'll add more pics later.

It's a small thing but makes a huge difference in how I see the deck. It's the finishing touch. Edge treatment is a great option for those who wish to personalize but are afraid of "spoiling". Even a very light colour will add a personal touch and make the deck more precious.

These are beautiful, Nemia! Especially the black ones look gorgeous! I'd love to try that too... I'm just afraid that the colour will rub off on the card faces and ruin the whole deck! I already read that it is a good idea to do one card at a time and then let it dry overnight, but still... (yes, I'm a chicken...)

Has anyone ever used Edding markers before for edging a deck? I have Eddings in silver metallic and gold metallic that would probably look beautiful...

Serenia said:

These are beautiful, Nemia! Especially the black ones look gorgeous! I'd love to try that too... I'm just afraid that the colour will rub off on the card faces and ruin the whole deck! I already read that it is a good idea to do one card at a time and then let it dry overnight, but still... (yes, I'm a chicken...)

Has anyone ever used Edding markers before for edging a deck? I have Eddings in silver metallic and gold metallic that would probably look beautiful...

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Try it on a deck of playing cards first to see what issues you might run into before trying it on your tarot decks.

rwcarter said:

Try it on a deck of playing cards first to see what issues you might run into before trying it on your tarot decks.

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That's a good idea, thanks!!

I did my trimmed Holy Light deck's borders with silver edding and it turned out fine - but the Edding went dry before I finished the job, have to buy another one!

If you work slowly, one card after the other, spread them on newspaper without moving them and without letting them touch each other, there's no danger of the colour rubbing off. All the pens i used dried very quickly. Afterwards, I take the cards as pack and touch up tiny spots.

Just take your time. There's no reason it shouldn't work. You may wish to check whether the pen you use can be removed with a q-tip in acetone or something similar, if you should really rub something off by mistake.

And I always check with the additional cards in the deck - they're made from the same material and show me whether the paper absorbs the colour, bleeds etc. All the decks I treated until now took the colour nicely but you never know.