PRAHA CELESTIAL CLOCK Flip-Book Animated Playing Cards (Kickstarter)https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/swabbeddecks/praha-celestial-clock-flip-book-animated-playing-cards-uspccA flip-book animated deck of cards featuring Orloj, the world's oldest still functioning clock in Prague.Cost: ~US$12 per deck
Current funding level: over 70% funded
Kickstarter ends: Sunday September 5, 2021
Designer and animator Stephen W. Brandt has been producing a series of Clockwork decks, all of which feature striking flip-book animation. He's an animator, broadcast designer, art director, illustrator, and graphic designer, so he has the ideal skill-set to produce animated playing cards as part of his fig. 23 brand.
His
Praha Celestial Clock deck is currently up for funding on Kickstarter, and is the fifth in his series of clock-themed decks with flip-book animation. He has also created a series of "Storybook" decks (Wonderland, Looking-glass, and Wizard of Oz).
When it comes to playing cards, I have a special fondness for uniqueness and novelty. One of my favourite types of custom playing cards are
those with flip-book animation. The idea is that if you quickly flip through the deck with your thumb, the individual pictures combine to produce an animated image. You'll occasionally hear this described as "taking a deck to the movies". Playing cards are ideal for flip-book animation because a complete deck typically has of just over 50 pieces of thin cardstock, and these are just the right size and thickness for flipping through with your thumb.
The previous decks in Stephen W. Brandt's series of animated Clockwork playing cards focused on the international cities of New York, Paris, and London, and the state of Montana. This new deck honours one of the world's most majestic timepieces: the Prague Astronomical Clock, which is also known as the Praha Celestial Clock, or the Prague Orloj. Completed in 1410, this famous clock is the oldest still-functioning clock in the world. Besides the time of the day (in three times), it also gives information such as the location of the sun, phases of the moon, star positions, and more.
Much research and time went into the making of this deck, in order to recreate both the design and movement of this famous clock, and to incorporate it into a custom deck of playing cards. See
this animated gif for the full experience of what the cards offer when animated.
The city of Prague inspired the deck's overall design. This as well as design elements from the Orloj served to shape the heavily customized pips, and the composition of the card faces. The court cards were inspired by a series of Czech postage stamps from the 1990's that commemorate medieval folk tales. These have been reimagined with a Jugendstil flair. The resulting deck has a style that reflects both medieval and Art Nouveau/Jugendstil elements.
The Jokers are a visual nod to Czech artist Alphonse Mucha. They depict a regional archetype of the Devil with one human foot and one hoof, which forms part of the Christmas iconography from the region.
An "Information Card" is included along with the deck, and gives information about the Praha Celestial clock. Printing will be by the United States Playing Card Company.
Kickstarter link
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/swabbeddecks/praha-celestial-clock-flip-book-animated-playing-cards-uspccFor other decks of playing cards in the Clockwork series are all available from the creator Stephen W. Brandt, at his website
fig23.com:
●
Clockwork Empire City deck ●
Clockwork La Ville Lumiere deck ●
Clockwork Quackington deck ●
Clockwork Montana Mustache Manufacturing Co deck 
(Read 2611 times)
