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Messages - variantventures

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1
I'm working with a journal aimed at conservators and curators on producing a suggested an article that contains a list of suggested data to collect on playing cards.  For example, many older collections fail to list the provenance of playing cards.  Photographs are always face on and the backs are frequently disregarded.  In the oldest playing cards information regarding watermarks is often disregarded.

So, as the title says, when you're looking at playing card entries in museums/online collections, what information do you wish had been collected and reported?


2
Design & Development / Re: On Demand Production That's Not In China?
« on: July 28, 2019, 10:45:51 AM »
Yeah, that's what my research found.  I was hoping folks here would know about some gem that I'd missed.  That's a pity.

3
Design & Development / On Demand Production That's Not In China?
« on: July 24, 2019, 09:54:37 AM »
I'm having a little trouble finding this information.  I am trying to find an on-demand card-printing service that doesn't produce their cards in China.  Taiwan is okay, Hong Kong is not.

Thanks for your assistance.

4
Playing Card Plethora / Kickstarter - Mamluk Playing Cards Recreation
« on: September 28, 2018, 01:19:30 PM »
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/119783014/trzes-mamluk-deck?ref=discovery&term=mamluk

I'm not affiliated with this artist or this project in any fashion.  I disagree with some of the design choices that were made.  But it's still a very nice reconstruction of an important historical deck.  Only 8 days left.


5
A Cellar of Fine Vintages / Re: USPCC Collection
« on: October 16, 2017, 11:49:18 AM »
2018 according to the librarian I corresponded with.  Also, while the catalog will be online there is apparently no effort at this time to digitize the collection itself.  So you'll still have to travel to Vanderbilt to see items in the collection.  I've already submitted a list of items I'd like to examine when it becomes possible to do so. :)

6
A Cellar of Fine Vintages / USPCC Collection
« on: October 12, 2017, 12:42:45 PM »
The USPCC's playing card collection has been acquired by Vanderbilt University.  Hopefully that means the collection will once again be available to researchers.  Yay.

7
A Cellar of Fine Vintages / Re: Oldest playing cards in the world?
« on: July 10, 2017, 09:57:58 PM »
My report on my visit.  Images of the cards.  Awesomeness.  https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B15SAMYZtejMdXU3LWh1UzRiZU0

8
A Cellar of Fine Vintages / Oldest playing cards in the world?
« on: May 20, 2017, 05:11:31 PM »
I just returned from a visit to the Dallas Museum of Art.  The DMA recently (a few years ago) became the new host site for the Keir Collection.  The Keir Collection (named for the building where it used to be hosted) was acquired over the course of many years by Edmund de Unger.  The DMA has devoted one small gallery to the exhibition of some of the more durable objects in the collection.  Not on display are four fragments of paper that might be playing cards.  The owners of the collection and the curator at the DMA granted me permission to view the fragments.

I'll start by telling you that I'm not allowed to share the photographs I took.  Sorry.  I'm working on putting together a PDF with my observations and sketches.  The examination took place in a rather dimly lit room and I wasn't allowed to use flash photography.  The fragments have been rather cleverly mounted on archival paper sandwiched between two sheets of frameboard (the thick, stiff material used to matte items for framing) in which a window has been cut.  The clever bit is that two of the fragments have markings on the back and cutting away most of the archival paper allows this to be viewed.

The first fragment is the familiar de Unger fragment which is frequently mentioned in connection with the Topkapi playing cards.  Viewing it in person allowed me to see traces of the colors.  I'll save a detailed description for later but I'll tell you this card had a red border and made use of gold leaf or metallic gold ink/paint (probably the latter).  The fragment appears to be of two sheets of paper and I found this surprising as I expected it to be thicker.

The second fragment is an ace of cups.  At full size it was probably very close to the size of the Topkapi cards.  It made extensive use of red, probably a non-organic red like cinnabar, and what looks like an organic yellow and, possibly, an organic red/pink.  If found the red to be very similar to the middle eastern playing card in the Benaki Museum in Athens.

The third fragment was completely unexpected.  It's actually two fragments and I suspect the fragments are from two different cards of the same deck.  The larger fragment is at least a three (possibly a four) of coins that are striking similar (but clearly different) in design to the Topkapi cards.  At full size the larger fragment would be very close in size to the Topkapi cards.  The smaller fragment is of a suit that's not really possible to determine.  If I had to guess I'd say swords, but that's a pretty wild guess.  It has the typical arched top of the Islamic-style decks and there's a rectangular square above it that had gold ink/paint in it.

The fourth fragment shares some design similarities with other Islamic cards but I don't believe it's actually a playing card.  If it is, it's completely outside my experience.

The first two cards are dated to the 13th Century.  So, in addition to being part of the extremely small corpus of early middle eastern playing cards they are perhaps the oldest surviving playing cards in the world.  I feel very fortunate to have been able to see these in person and am very grateful to the curators at the DMA (who worked with me for two years) and the de Unger family (who gave me permission to view the cards).  As soon as I have my observations and sketches put together I'll let y'all know.

9
A Cellar of Fine Vintages / Re: Was there a USPCC museum catalog?
« on: May 19, 2017, 05:14:50 PM »
When I contacted the company about two years ago they informed me the collection had been carefully boxed up and sent to storage and was still complete.  The Catherine Perry Hargrave book was suggested as the best catalog of the collection.


10
A Cellar of Fine Vintages / Re: Thickness of Early Playing Cards
« on: February 14, 2017, 03:41:13 PM »
I have updated the spreadsheet containing the raw data provided by the various institutions.  I am continuing to reach out to other institutions to enlarge the sample set.  Some of the reports provided have been quite terse while others have been voluminous (22 pages from the Beinecke Library).

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1iodWD7KGC4HCURkCo5kIkNM-m98s5VziN9KBAAPJhQ0


11
Design & Development / Specialty Deck for SCA
« on: February 06, 2017, 01:23:08 PM »
This is a project I've been working on for a few years.  The 'deck' itself is fairly simple, the obstacle was my lack of artistic skill.  This project creates a suit for each 'kingdom' in the Society for Creative Anachronism.  The designs are based on established heraldry and use designs from 14th and 15th Century illumination.  Based on my experience with modern consumers (where are my index corners?) I am keeping index numbers at the corners and the cards are designed to be used in two orientations.  All designs share a common, very simple, back so players can mix and match suits as they desire.  A suit of trumps has been sketched out but I haven't started building it yet.  Some images.

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16473491_1056897341123179_4037388432809170288_n.png?oh=70df1a224016131e6b99530a2ad9ef91&oe=5908077B
You can see this design borrows from the Trumps of the Visconti Tarot.  I really enjoy the indent work used to decorate the gold leaf backgrounds.

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16427303_1053505084795738_2605086501348505683_n.jpg?oh=c2995f705b68b05e9efbc41c52eb4020&oe=59487645
Another suit sans numbers.

Layout of these cards has been very tricky as it's easy to make them too busy.  There are also limited options using the fairly small medieval color palette.  Overall I'm happy with how these are shaping up.

12
Design & Development / Re: Laying out uncuts for Make Playing Cards
« on: January 04, 2017, 12:37:07 PM »
I'm guessing that means the first card you put in was in the top left, the second card was to it's right, and so on?

13
Design & Development / Laying out uncuts for Make Playing Cards
« on: December 27, 2016, 11:45:32 AM »
Anyone know how the uncut sheets from Make Playing Cards are laid out in relation to the order the cards are entered using their interface?  I have some specific ideas about how I want the cards to appear but haven't been able to determine how that's going to work and haven't heard back from them on my inquiries yet.

Thank you.

14
I think that last card back is a real improvement.  I still like the original faces best.

15
I like the originals better.  I think Fess makes some good points about the card backs. 

16
The advice you have received from the previous posters is 100% correct and you should pay attention to them if you want to be a commercial success.  That said, I wouldn't change anything.  Your three of skulls, in particular, just jumped out at me.  Loved it.  These suits are recognizable and close enough to the originals to be readily recognizable.  You've got the parchment look without veering into 'ye olde cardes' territory.  The art work is detailed but still simple enough to easily read.  I like this.  Which means it is probably doomed to commercial failure.

17
A Cellar of Fine Vintages / Video Tour of Card Exhibit in Bohemia
« on: December 06, 2016, 04:18:00 PM »
This is a YouTube video uploaded by the museum in Roztoky of their exhibit of Bohemian playing cards.  You can see some of the cards found under the floor in Prague Castle in the first two minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utj5Yd-g45k

18
Design & Development / Re: Hand drawn design to vector images???
« on: December 05, 2016, 01:03:26 PM »
I routinely convert hand-drawn images to vector images.  My method is cheap and easy but I wouldn't use it for modern playing card designs as it will lack the crispness most collectors of modern playing cards expect.

I get an electronic image of the hand-drawn image.  This can be done using a scanner or a camera.  In most cases my phone camera is superior to most low-end scanners.  All scanners are NOT created equal.  Most commercial scanners for home use have a fairly low quality image resolution.  E.G. The Brother multi-function printer/scanner/fax I have at home is crap for scanning artwork.

Once I have an electronic image I load it into GIMP (the free, open-source version of Photoshop) and I clean it up.  Since I'm working with black and white images I typically turn the contrast way up.  I also remove the white background, but that's not strictly necessary.  I save the image in .PNG or .TIFF format (these are lossless formats that support transparency).  Do NOT use .JPG/.JPEG.

I then import the file into Inkscape (again, open-source and free) and use the trace bitmap utility.  This will create a vector version of the image.  I then delete the original image I imported into Inkscape (this is important) and I'm done.  Infinitely scalable image.

This is conceptually very simple but it takes a little practice to figure out all the twists and turns.

19
A Cellar of Fine Vintages / Re: Thickness of Early Playing Cards
« on: November 03, 2016, 08:41:33 AM »
The Fournier Museum says they have no information on the provenance of the deck beyond the fact that it was acquired by the Musuem (actually Felix Fournier) in Seville in 1970.  Given the characteristics of this deck I'd say it's from the Provence-Languedoc regions.  It could be Catalan but I'd bet it's closer to Northern Italy because that region has a history of producing 'mixed' decks that exhibit characteristics from multiple regions.  The measured thickness of the cards, and the fact that they appear to have been a finished product that saw usage, is what currently intrigues me.

20
A Cellar of Fine Vintages / Re: Thickness of Early Playing Cards
« on: November 02, 2016, 11:13:17 AM »
I think A. Pollett's map showing the area (in yellow) where the deck might have originated is correct.  That border area between the large design traditions (Spain, Italy, France, Germany) was very fertile ground for design variety.  Neither her website nor Tor's discuss the immediate provenance of the cards, however.  They were found in Seville.  In a binding?  In a collection?  Under a floor?  If the cards were cut into cards, and not used in a binding or cut out of a damaged sheet, then the weight of the evidence would suggest these cards were printed on a single sheet of paper and were intended to be used this way.  That's a departure from the majority of other cards which were printed on multiple sheets of paper.

And I am seeing commonalities of both design and manufacture.  The Stukeley/Bohemian design, for instance, was pretty static for almost two hundred years.  We can see French designs that persisted for similar lengths of time.  And the evidence I am gathering is showing that paper weights were very consistent up until the 17th Century (when evidence is scare) and the 18th Century (when there's lots of evidence showing the changes made in the construction of card-stock).  Even the pigments used are demonstrating consistency.  Translucent yellow on the card?  That's almost certainly some variety of buckthorn berry.  There's a lot of variety in some of the details, granted.  But there are also a lot of broad similarities.

21
A Cellar of Fine Vintages / Thickness of Early Playing Cards
« on: November 01, 2016, 11:22:11 AM »
I've been trying to gather more information about the thickness of early playing cards.  This is a crucial question when attempting to re-create early playing cards so I've gone to some effort.  I have contacted multiple museums and conservators and been fortunate enough to have some responses.  The Beinecke Library, in particular, was exceedingly helpful.  I am still in awe of the amount of work they did in response to my request.  Most of my requests are still outstanding but I hope to receive more responses this month.

The summary is: Playing cards were constructed of a smooth, white paper made from hemp and linen.  In early playing cards this paper was between 0.17mm-0.24mm thick with 0.19mm-0.22mm being the most common range.  This equates to a paper weight of approximately 199gsm (plus or minus a few grams).  Cards were constructed of multiple layers of cards, in most cases, which gives weights of 400gsm to 800gsm.  With modern cards being produced in a range of 290gsm to 320gsm you can see that early playing cards were much thicker.  As time went on card makers became more sophisticated and began producing cardstock using a thick (0.22mm to 0.26mm) paper for the core and thin paper (0.11mm) for the face and back.

An interesting note on this research is generated by the Morisca Cards held by the Fournier Museum.  This museum deserves some credit as they are, so far as I am aware, the first to take a thickness measurement of cards in their holdings and publish those measurements.  And those measurements are interesting because they reveal the Morisca cards are, at their thickest, 0.18mm thick.  This is, of course, nicely within the range of of other measurements.  What's interesting is that the Morisca Cards appear to have survived as cards rather than as portions of a binding.  That might indicate the Morisca cards were made from a single sheet of paper rather than from two or more sheets.  The provenance of this deck is unclear and I've written the museum requesting more information but have not, as yet, heard back.

I'll add more information as it becomes available.

22
Playing Card Plethora / Re: Mamluk Playing Cards
« on: July 13, 2016, 12:52:27 PM »
Made contact with the artist.  His production schedule has slipped and he's looking at early 2017 for production.  He plans to make the cards full size (which is approximately 4in wide by 10in high) and expects the price to be 50+ Euros per deck.  Plus shipping from Europe.

I plan to organize a bulk purchase for folks in the US in order to cut back on shipping costs.  If you want to get in on it let me know and I'll contact you when he announces he's ready to take orders.

23
Playing Card Plethora / Mamluk Playing Cards
« on: July 12, 2016, 01:34:37 PM »
I am not involved in this project (I am, in fact, working on my own, competing project) and I don't know what the exact plan and costs will be but I thought you might want to know about this.  This person is producing a beautiful reproduction of the Topkapi deck of playing cards for release sometime in 2016.  If you are interested in Islamic playing cards you will at least want to take a look at this website:
http://mamluk.spiorad.net/index.htm

24
I very much like the updated Lakshmi design in comparison to the older design.  I think the colors/contrasts really make the card visually appealing.  I think all your cards need a similar pop to them, particularly the back of the deck.  I'm okay with one way designs (a lot of people aren't) but you need more contrast to the colors to make them stand out.  Right now the back just sort of fades together.

25
I liked seeing how the card bases were made, by hand, and then painted with skills passed down through the family line. Reminds me of pottery studios I visited in Europe where families had been producing beautiful wares for generations.

Annette :)

It's very similar to how early European playing cards were made - hand-crafted by artisans, usually on commission of a wealthy patron, like a member of royalty or a merchant.  I've even heard of decks being made out of precious metals like silver and gold instead of paper - they were displayed in the home instead of used for play, placed where visitors could see them as a show of conspicuous consumption to indicate (or inflate) one's perceived wealth, and by extension, their status.  We don't start seeing anything even close to mass production of cards until post-Gutenberg; even then, playing cards were still considered luxury items until the Industrial Age caused an explosion of mass production and an increase in high-quality print work, in roughly the latter two or three decades of the 19th century.

And yet... in 1377 the city of Paris prohibited playing cards on workdays.  The implication being that playing cards were available to enough of the working class to cause problems at work places.  While Gutenberg invented movable type, wood-block printing had been around Europe for at least one hundred years.  While this technique is laborious when producing reading material, it lends itself readily to playing cards.  Evidence is thin but it appears that playing cards were being mass manufactured by the last quarter of the 14th century, a good fifty to sixty years before Gutenberg introduces movable type printing.  And playing card production was quite sophisticated by the 17th Century.  There's evidence for cards being treated with a protective coating that was also intended to make the cards smoother (soap) and being polished on marble slabs, for instance.

Playing cards were firmly established in the Islamic world by the 15th Century or earlier, if the dating of the De Unger and Madina card fragments are to be believed, but playing cards do not appear to have moved from hand production to mass production despite the fact the Islamic world was using paper and woodblock printing for hundreds of years before most of Europe.  There is a lot of active speculation about the reasons for this and most of them tend to boil down to culture.  As an indication, the Ottomans banned the printing of books in Arabic until the early 18th Century despite the fact that Sephardic Jews from Spain had brought movable type technology at the end of the the 15th century and been actively using it in Istanbul for two hundred years.


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