Fantastic Menagerie Tarot - a few cards online

I really really love the Hermit. Just the right atmosphere for me.

Well - fresh off the press and redone for the umpteenth time (story of our lives!) here is The Star. We have taken the Ibis that lurks at the back of the RWS card and made her, well, the star! I'm very fond of this one - hope you like it.

Rosanne - what a FANTASTIC idea you had about tarot metamorphosis...If you grew up with Gulliver, I grew up with Fables de la Fontaine - just as wonderfully illustrated by our friend JJ Grandville, which is one reason I jumped at the opportunity of writing for baba-prague and the baba studios.

I've been re-reading Ovid's Metaphamorphosis (Ted Hughes's great translation) as inspiration, and getting my mind around the whole idea of human-to-animal transformation. Before Darwin even boarded The Beagle and made his groundbreaking observations in South America, Grandville was already thinking of the crossovers. Rosanne - do you mind if I borrow your idea for the book?

These are wonderful illustrations and caricatures, and to see them slowly transforming into tarot cards has been a real joy, as has been trying to transform them into words. It's when you see Grandville's great sketches that you realise what the quote "a picture is worth 10,000 words" really means.

ps - oh, a new Star! I like her - very sensual (Helvetica notes metamorphosis...and gets to work).

This earnest child would trot off to school with her precious book underarm(it was already an old book)and be puzzled by her friends thinking the book gruesome. Just like they thought beauty and the Beast was disgusting until Disney put out illustrated books. No one ever illustrated as well as Grandville -dark and delightful. I can remember thinking that Granville was the author of Alice in Wonderland lol. I have a Hans Christian Anderson book- same thick cream aging paper- that weird indigo blue/purple and the story of the 'Tinderbox Box' with illustrations by someone who adored Granville I think.
Wonderful, dark, spooky story. Helvetica, of course you can- finally one day I will hold you words in my hands- I love that thought!!!! ~Rosanne

Helvetica said:

ps - oh, a new Star! I like her - very sensual (Helvetica notes metamorphosis...and gets to work).

Click to expand...

Yes, sorry, it happened last night. I promise no more changes as great as this one - we ARE sticking to the sketches, honest! But I think she is worth a bit of last-minute panic as she IS better than the former star - and I love fact we got the ibis in.

So much to do though, so much to do!

http://www.fantasticmenagerie.com

KAREN!!!

Ever since the site is up, I always click to check out new cards

I can't wait....... LOL
When are we expecting to see the 1st batch ??

~Jo

I am hoping beyond hoping that the Fantastic Menagerie will be large cards!
I have placed my pre orders with Tarot Garden and I am wondering if anyone can tell me the size of the finished cards. I have not the Tarot of Prague, but if someone does could they measure them for me? -They look as if they might be the same size as Prague? Many Thanks ~Rosanne

Rosanne my Tarot of Prague is 8 x 12.8 cm. Bigger than most tarot cards, but still easy to manage for me.
I hope the FM is this size too.

Thanks a mint WolfSpirit- yay that means they are slightly longer than the Ancient Egyptian- same width. Great! I hope they are the same size then as the Prague (or even larger ) I love big cards!! ( and tiny itsy bitsy ones that need a magnifying glass to make me look studious lol) Are you going to get some these wonderful cards? It takes a lot for me to love themed decks and rave! Poor RWS might take a hammering now and once I get the 22 Oswald Wirth and the Ukiyoe I will be fulfilled (I think) ~Rosanne

We are pretty much standardising on the size of the Tarot of Prague second edition - which is also the same size as the Baroque Bohemian Cats' Tarot and The Fairytale (oh, See of Logos, the oracle deck with Rachel Pollack, will be larger - but maybe I can talk about that elsewhere when we have more cards to show). We spent a long time thinking about size and asking people here (AT was fantasically helpful as we were able to get a lot of input). The cards are about as large as they can be while still being shuffle-able. Of course, no one size can suit everyone, but we think this is a good size and shape for the majority of people. It's 78mm by 120mm. That's 3.1 inches by 5 inches.

I think the deck will be out in March - it was held up by many factors, including simply the time spent on the Fairytale (much longer than we had anticipated).

Thanks for the support - this final phase of card design is always the hardest I think - feels like publication is in sight but there is still SO much to do!