Wildwood?

[CheapShoes]

I have a love:hate relationship with this deck. The good - is its uniqueness and some amazing reads I've had by concentrating more on the images... over the card meanings. Also, it is just... unique. I also like the general forest-green color tones. The bad? Well, the "meaning" words at the bottom of the minor arcana drive me nuts. I really don't need a word that I disagree with right there on top interfering with intuition - much less confusing a querrant. In fact I just took the deck yesterday and blacked-out the entire right half of the bottom border with a sharpie, and trimmed the white borders off on the other three sides... Perhaps a brash and drastic measure, but I feel it is improved. We'll see. Still struggling with some meanings where the image conflicts with the traditional meaning such as the 5 and 7 of cups. Others like the Blasted Oak or Mirror, I really dig. The cardstock is rough, but so many now have this same rough cardboard stock and blank backs I'm OK with it but not excited. I actually think the book is decent and interesting, but a lot new to learn if you are learning another method or two at the same time.

 

[CheapShoes]

Re the printing debate- my Wildwood copy shows how much variation can occur in just one box!- it's obviously all printed in the same place, but half the cards are smooth and slightly darker than the other half which have a gritty feel and the writing is paler. My theory? At the printers, sometimes paper is loaded a different way up, and/or the ink is fresh or running out and not going on so evenly. Or maybe the temperature in the room is different on some days which slightly affects drying.
Whatever the reason, people are not imagining the differences. I guess Tarot folk are just more sensitive to details which most people aren't aware of.

A little side topic, but I agree with Earthair on printing QC woes. If you've ever trimmed a deck with a straight cutter, the random off-center and off-axis printed images will be obvious in many decks. My Medieval Cat Tarot that just arrived has three different tints to the background and borders that is not intentional as it does not follow numbers or suit. Subtle, but obvious just casually handling the deck (US Games, printed in Italy). I assume large sheets of cards are printed one type die at a time and will vary when a new ink cartridge is installed. I don't notice color variation in my two Wildwood copies, but plenty of slightly off-center and off axis prints. Printed in China.

 

[meeka4monty]

I have had an interesting relationship with this deck. I bought it when it first came out, found it to be rather gentle and softly spoken. I didn't need to read the book, it was game on. Then that specific deck got damaged so I repurchased it.

The second time round, I just didn't connect with it like the first time. The white borders seemed more intrusive and readings were harsh in comparison. I hadn't had something like this happen before. Something felt "off". I ended up trimming it and still have the deck in my collection. It has a unique voice but I felt the illustrations/creative energy of the deck was almost too large for the small cards and bringing the images 'out' through trimming the borders made a lot of difference. This second deck is nothing like the first.

I use it still, but for certain occasions such as when I want to hear a harsher truth.

 

[G6]

Not the best and not the worst

I LOVE some of the images in this deck and others not so much especially the animal portrait cards. Whenever I see the animal portrait cards I really wish they'd gone a different route with the imagery of those particular cards. I think it's the courts that are all animal portraits. I also don't like when they rename the pips, which they do in the Wildwood. The book I like a lot. It gives a different take on the cards, which I enjoyed. All in all, I think I bought the set for $13 or something like that when it came out, so I'm not too unhappy about it. In hindsight, I think DruidCraft would have been a better choice for me, but I'm happy to have Wildwood in my collection. It's worth the $13 that I paid for the cards and book.

Hope this helps!

 

[Scarlet Woodland]

I got the wildwood quite recently and after a good start realised I just didn't want to get it out of the box. Took a while to figure out why we weren't getting along but finally twigged it was the cardstock and borders.

The deck is very brick-like with a cardboardy texture that makes it a pig to shuffle. Because the cards don't glide over each other I find all my attention is focused on the physical challenge of shuffling it instead of the reading. As for the borders, if you read on a white cloth then I'm sre they'd be fine but against my black one the thick white borders shout at me and drown out the card.

Having never trimmed a deck I was a bit scared to try till I remembered the edge of the king of wands was damaged anyway so bit the bullet and gave it a try which does seem to have helped. A corner rounder is now winging its way to me from the US so I can trim the whole deck. Fingers crossed it works out because there's so much to like about this deck and I love Will Worthington's others.

Would be really interested to hear how any other wildwood trimmers have got on.

 

[Scarlet Woodland]

Deleted

 

[RavenLuna]

I got the wildwood quite recently and after a good start realised I just didn't want to get it out of the box. Took a while to figure out why we weren't getting along but finally twigged it was the cardstock and borders.

The deck is very brick-like with a cardboardy texture that makes it a pig to shuffle. Because the cards don't glide over each other I find all my attention is focused on the physical challenge of shuffling it instead of the reading. As for the borders, if you read on a white cloth then I'm sre they'd be fine but against my black one the thick white borders shout at me and drown out the card.

Having never trimmed a deck I was a bit scared to try till I remembered the edge of the king of wands was damaged anyway so bit the bullet and gave it a try which does seem to have helped. A corner rounder is now winging its way to me from the US so I can trim the whole deck. Fingers crossed it works out because there's so much to like about this deck and I love Will Worthington's others.

Would be really interested to hear how any other wildwood trimmers have got on.

I trimmed mine some months ago, and I do think it is much improved. I took the white off the sides and the tops, but left the titles intact. Due to the wonkiness of the printing, I have some cards taller than others, but I intend to lop the bottoms off sometime soon. The artwork is much nicer without the white borders!

BTW I used a 5mm corner cutter on mine, and they look good.

 

[Scarlet Woodland]

I trimmed mine some months ago, and I do think it is much improved. I took the white off the sides and the tops, but left the titles intact. Due to the wonkiness of the printing, I have some cards taller than others, but I intend to lop the bottoms off sometime soon. The artwork is much nicer without the white borders!

BTW I used a 5mm corner cutter on mine, and they look good.

That's great to hear, thanks. I went for the 5mm too. Here's hoping my hand done one still works with the rest when I'm finished. Ah well, nine times out of ten the king of wands only shows up as a significator for the other half anyway... not sure how he'd feel if saw the wildwood card that represents him haha.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jjKkcVv7UOs/T7-FcnTfOgI/AAAAAAAABcc/-HVf8QK6Lsk/s1600/Bows004.jpg

Nah, he'd probably show up as Mr knight in this one.

 

[Gareth84]

I find the app and the deck annoying. Some of the interpretations included hardly retain the traditional or basic meanings. For example, the Queen of Pents is a Bear. I'm just not a fan. But if you are, enjoy!