As I'm just getting started on this project, it would be premature to call any of the images I'm going to show you today "finished" or "final." The represent a start -- that's all -- and suggest a shape for the final project, as I'll explain later.
It's rare that I design a card back this early in a project, but I like the image above for that purpose. It's a detail from a large tapestry collectible rug featuring the Brownies. While not technically reversible, the image has all the other characteristics of a card back, and because of the way they are colored, the Brownie figures register more as part of a pattern than as individuals. I've modified the image only very slightly. As alternate designs for some of my other decks, I've discovered that vintage wallpaper and textile designs make for excellent card backs.
Click on the images to enlarge.
For the first time, this one of my Playroom Oracles will be split into two separate (but packaged together) decks. The first and largest of these, approximately 55+ cards, will be "the main deck." The second, consisting of fewer than 20 cards, will be the separate "Proverbs" deck. The idea is that the smaller "Proverbs" deck is initially to be set aside. The larger "main" deck will be shuffled and laid out just as normal for an oracle reading. Then, when all the cards for the reading are turned face up, the smaller "Proverbs" deck will come into play. The querent will shuffle it and then turn up one card only... the "proverb" thus revealed will set the overall tone and theme of the reading, "the moral of the story," so to speak. Above are samples of each type of card. On the left is a card from the larger Main Deck, and on the right is the first of the "Proverbs"-style cards.
If nothing else, this will make the deck just a little bit different from the other oracle decks out there. What do you think? Am I on the right track? Should I add in collaged objects as I did for the OZ deck, or (especially given the vast number of figures that typically appear in Palmer Cox's Brownie drawings) should I keep it simple as shown above? It's early days yet, so it's all subject to change.
Thanks for visiting the site, and joining me on my Brownie journey. Best wishes to you;
-- Frede.
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