Deck View: 3D Metal and Mechanized Playing Cards

Gears. Unique. Metal.

Designer Dale Mathis broke new ground with this unique eye-catching deck of playing cards. Dale has designed a clockwork like contraption that is complete with movable gears and a mechanical card frame to this unique eye-catching tuck case. Stunning!

Inside, the cards are printed by the United States Playing Card on standard Bicycle playing card stock and embossed finish. Only the tuck case, back design and Jokers are of custom design. 

Find awesome decks at JP Games. Use the code KARDIFY10 during check-out to get 10% off for orders over £50.

JP Playing Cards: 7 Questions with Paul Middleton of LUXX Playing Cards

Earlier this year, a teaser of LUXX was revealed to the customers of JP Playing Cards and this has generated quite a buzz around the playing cards community. Created by Paul Middleton and designed by the talented Randy Butterfield, their aim was to create a beautiful deck of playing cards which still have some traditional elements - to appeal to as many of JP Playing Cards' customers as possible ranging from magicians and cardists, to collectors and amateur poker and card game players. Finally, LUXX is available as a pre-order from JPPlayingcards.co.uk.

When the first teasers of LUXX were released in March, we reached out to Paul and had a quick chat about his motivation for creating his own deck of playing cards, inspiration behind LUXX, working with Randy and his thoughts on crowd-funding.

From running jpplayingcards.co.uk, one of the fastest growing online playing cards store in Europe to creating your own playing cards. What motivated you to create your own deck of cards? 
I guess it probably started when we first realised that Lawrence (LPCC) was opening up his printing company to work with third parties. His Legends decks have all been extremely popular with the majority of our regular customers and so the motivation became to produce a deck that was practical yet beautiful. An elegant deck of cards that was still something that would be opened and enjoyed. With that in mind the aim has been to go with traditional recoloured courts with a beautiful at of aces and back design. Something we can be proud of as a small family business, and a deck we'd enjoy using ourselves too.

Can you describe the LUXX playing cards and why you’re passionate about it?
The LUXX cards will be elegant, intricate and beautiful whilst remaining practical and fun to use. I've even passionate from the start about seeing these cards be used and enjoyed and the best way we can do that is to make them affordable and accessible, but still with a luxury feel. So we'll do our best to keep the price realistic and we're also planning a potential reprint in the future so we can stock it as a running line in our store. We're working on ways to make the first run special though, so collectors will have something to cherish.

When the teaser image of LUXX was released in January, many were pleasantly surprised to find out that Randy Butterfield created the design. How did you and Randy end up working together?
We had initially agreed to work with a UK based design agency who I was in regular contact with. Shortly before work was due to start I got the feeling that or work was last in the line of a long list of priorities and I began having doubts. I've been talking with Randy of and on since the inception of our company as he's always been very friendly and generous with his time. I can't remember the specific email conversation but I ran the idea past him on the off-chance and he said yes rather unexpectedly. If I'd realised that we would have asked him first! He genuinely is one of our favourite playing card designers.

What role did you play in the art direction and how much time was spent working on the deck?
Realistically - I wanted to give Randy a framework for the deck and the idea and then go with it. I'd told Randy from the very beginning that it was my intention to let him design and to trust his skills and experience. There have been a couple of occasions when I may have had a different opinion to Randy but ultimately I've tried to stay true to my word about trusting his opinion and instincts, after all - we're not designers and Randy is the one with huge successes behind him.

Are you planning to release more decks in the future?
The simple answer is no, we'll see how this goes first of all. Our business has grown at a reasonably fast pace and we don't want to bite off more than we can chew, so to speak. We'd love to produce more decks, but have no plans right now.

Update: Paul pointed out that there are plans for a second LUXX for sure. When and how is up for discussion at this point. That is good news! :D

Do you see the continuous strong growth of playing card projects on Kickstarter as a trend or or fad? Why?
Great question. It's very hard to say to be honest. It's pretty clear that Kickstarter is here to stay in the playing card industry. It's become a big part of the market in recent times with the surge of independent using the crowd funding platform. My own personal opinion is that I'd love to see it being used to actually Kickstart a business rather than be a pre/order process for each and every deck that is created by a company. That being said, it's a risk free no lose situation - who wouldn't be happy with that?

Finally, what are your favourite playing card decks?
As a family - the cards we love the most are Aurum from Encarded, Royal Optik from Uusi, Mana v1 Oracle and Randy's Ornates - but my personal favourite would have to be either the Ornates or Aurum.


I want to thank Paul for his time and sharing about the beautiful LUXX Playing Cards. You can also check out the wide range of playing cards available from JP Playing Cards here!

Analytics: Kickstarter July 2014

With the increased interest in crowd-funded playing card projects particularly on Kickstarter, we are publishing a monthly tracking report as part of our popular Analytics series. The goal is to give an analytical insight into the month-on-month performance of projects and how these numbers are tracking cumulatively year-to-date.

July was a relatively slow month, carrying on the momentum from the previous month. Backers continue to be cautious on their spending, with a lower total pledged across all playing card projects this month. The number of successful projects remained largely unchanged. The year-to-date (YTD) numbers continue to surpass 2013 numbers. The chart below describes how 2014 is tracking against the numbers from 2013 as benchmark.

Playing Card Projects 

The number of unsuccessful projects increased slightly to 23% in July while % of successful projects ended close to last months number (31%).

Here is what July looks like in numbers:

Projects launched in July were predominantly in the first half of the month.

Here's a look at how projects performed over the month, largely unchanged from last month.

Funding

A total of $533k was raised by all projects in July, significantly lower from June's number of $765k.

Here is a look at the top 5 most funded playing cards:

The top 5 successful playing cards projects for the month contributed 59% to the overall funding of successful projects!

The average YTD funding goal of successful project remained stable at $10.5k.

Backers 

This month, approximately 13.5k backers were recorded across all projects. The average pledge per backer for successful projects continue to decrease. This month it stands at $43.3.

Line chart below is a month-on-month comparison for 2014 with the 2013 curve used as benchmark. It is interesting to note that there is an uptick in the average spent per backer in July considering that $/backer have softened last month. Backers continue to be conservative in their pledging patterns. This will change slightly when projects by well known designers are scheduled to launch in August, King's Wild Army Deck, JPPlaying Card's LUXX, Alex Chin's Seasons and the exquisite Mana Decks by Erik Mana.

Top 5 funded Projects by backer numbers below:

Launched Projects 

Here are the top 10 most funded projects launched in July:

From the numbers this month, it is obvious that backers are in a holding pattern with the news of the alternative crowd-funding platform, CardLauncher launching in August and some of the major project coming out next month. We expect the numbers to pick up and perform better in August.


Data provider:

1-ON-1: Alexander Chin of Seasons Playing Cards

Seasons come and go, but two particular “Seasons” never made their way to the light of day, until now. In 2012, Chicago-based designer Alexander Chin introduced the world to his Season’s Playing cards. The 1st two decks released were the Seronda and Primavera decks representing Spring and Fall. The decks received high acclaim from collectors and enthusiast alike. Now, a few years later Alex will be completing the circle by releasing Verano and Inverno, Summer and Winter, on Kickstarter to the anticipation of many.

As designers go, Alex has a style all his own and the elegance and quality of his work is to be admired. At a young age Alex was a bit introverted and found a passion for drawing to help express himself. Along with drawing, Alex found other hobbies to occupy his time, such as swimming and piano and a few not so common hobbies such as contact juggling and later in junior High School, card magic. But of all of these interests, drawing was the one that made Alex feel truly creative.

“It's easy to get lost and flustered when you're at the defining age of social awkwardness, but when I sketched I was absorbed into a world where communication of myself was so easily captured on paper.”

Nearing the end of his junior High School years, Alex’s expression started transferring more and more to magic, specializing in card magic.

“The practicality of impromptu card magic was so much more vast than props. These cards were little pieces of artwork that I would carry around in my pocket. But when I took them out they would delight people everywhere I went. It amazed me and I became infatuated with them. To this day I have not found a simpler or cheaper way to spread joy than to delight someone with surprise. It had turned into an extension of who I was.”

In High School, like many young magicians, Alex came across the release of the Black Tiger deck by Ellusionist. It was the 1st custom deck Alex had seen…

“It opened a Pandora's box to the world of card collecting. I think this happened to a lot of people who were in the magic world at this time.”

Standard Edition

Limited Edition

At 14 Alex was met with an awkward confrontation with his mother at 1AM. What could a 14 year old boy possibly be doing on his computer at that time of the night?

“…my mom is a good hearted person, but she wasn’t born yesterday, so when she sees her teenage son up late at night using the computer she’s going to assume certain things. So Detective Mom storms over to see my screen to verify her worst fears. Instead of tantalizing women looking to hook up in my local area, I had actually stayed up to snipe on a card auction at the last minute for cheap. I was hooked to say the least.”

After completing High School, Alex attended the University of Illinois where he majored in architecture leveraging his passion for illustration and design with his desire to change the world.


“Freshmen usually tend to dream big don't they?”

During his college years Alex found his passion for drawing started creeping back into his life. Becoming more interested in the organic, abstract and kinetic, and with the sudden burden of school work off his plate with graduating college, Alex found himself with a window of opportunity before having to return home and venture out into the world and his career path…

“…before returning home and facing the scary reality of a job that would define the rest of my life. I decided that I would take this time to discover who I was.”

With soul searching at hand, Alex tried to commit himself to working on his art all day, every day. It helped express his emotions and discover the direction he wanted his life to take. He would create something and then abandon it, create some more and repeat, looking for something to click, which was the normal “Spirit” of each day. Of all the projects Alex started, there were two in particular that seemed to break the cycle of abandonment. One was a tea company called Mood Garden, the other was Seasons.

Mood Garden was a tea company that Alex had started with a friend that expanded his interest in package design. Mood Gardens, as Alex puts it, had mild success with two full product lines receiving incredible press both online and on Blogs like TrendHunter. Alex also found himself penning the forward of a book due to the exposure of Mood Gardens.

“ We tried launching a Kickstarter for it and never ended up getting funded. I think there was a culmination of inexperience on both our ends coupled with a fear of commitment to such an investing project having just graduated college with student debt. It sadly never came to fruition.”

With the lessons learned from the Mood Gardens experience, Alex’s other “Itch”, Seasons, started to develop and Alex finally found a concept and design that he was proud of and ready to be introduced to the world. Timing, as they say, is everything. During this time there was a bit of transition in the Playing Card industry, it was expanding and the larger companies, new to all this unexpected success of these pieces of paper, were in for a rude awakening. Like anything that meets unexpected success, the industry started developing a not so earnest approach to their products, delivering very little in terms of time spent truly creating custom decks and just “Marketing” tactics to gain profits. Alex was about to show what a lot of blood sweat and tears could translate to.

“I was lucky enough to have been in the game right when the market was starting to expand. I think I owe a lot of success to the court cards of that deck. It was at the height of when larger custom card companies were being called out for their efforts in deck creation. The biggest differentiators between the little guys and the big guys were the willing time investments into those faces. From there you know the rest. “

Standard Edition

Limited Edition

When asked about his current professional and personal goals Alex expressed how he returned to Seasons after such a long hiatus as well as his interest in running his own design studio specializing in interactive packaging design with a built in brand consulting service.

“For the longest time I was looking for a career which was the main reason why there has been such a gap between the first set of Seasons and now. I was working with a large holding company for about a year and a half designing and managing different brands and product lines for them. Eventually I quit after seeing an absence of creative fulfillment and made the jump to doing Seasons again, shifting my track in life from career to calling. I don't know if I'll do Seasons forever but for now it provides the type of autonomy that gets my creative juices flowing in an arena that I was born and bred in.”

As Alex concentrates and builds on his vision he does find himself missing magic, but is still an avid collector. The collector in him developed as his studies increased during his school days, causing the time he had to practice magic to decrease. Collecting gave Alex a way to stay connected to the world of playing cards without sacrificing his studies; it was a way to achieve a balance between the two. During this time Alex also dabbled in cardistry, but found the same pitfalls he came across with magic, not enough time to practice and as they say, practice makes perfect.


“I had a brief stint back in the heyday of D&D of cardistry but realized that it required a similar amount of practice as magic had with a less satisfying response from audiences. That kind of niche is something you truly have to love to get good at. As of now I am still a collector but I miss magic dearly. I hope that once I've created a stable enough environment that I can start investing some of my time back into learning how to delight people again.”

Verana Tri=Panel

Inverno Tri-Panel

So here we are the new Seasons decks on the horizon. Scheduled for release on Kickstarter on August 27th, the decks will be Black and White featuring an accent color to connect each deck to the Season it represents. The Tuck cases will also undergo some changes to support the more “Holistic” approach Alex is taking with these decks and satisfying both newcomers as well as the existing fans of the Seasons decks. Alex also has a few other playing card projects he’s been investing his time into, taking a more “Thematic” approach to these decks but striving to keep the mystery, intrigue and detail that Seasons supporters have come to expect.

“As a collector myself, it's those timeless decks that keep their spot on the shelves that make my collection complete. In everything this company does, it does with the mindset of raising the bar and changing design.”

Seasons Playing Cards have always been synonymous with quality and artistic design, I know I’m in the majority when I say I can’t wait to add the new Season decks to my collection and I’m also very excited to find out that there are new projects with new directions and concepts that we can all wait for with great anticipation. It was my complete pleasure to collaborate with a fellow Chicagoan, great designer and fantastic person on this piece, I strongly urge everyone to mark their calendars for August 27th so you don’t miss out on a sure to be amazing project. Alex was nice enough to give us some of his time during his busy schedule and was also nice enough to answer a few final questions.

What has been occupying your time and interest since the release of Primavera and Seronda?

My biggest current interest is this little social experiment I saw online called the 100 Days of Happy. I don't participate through social media but the gist is that once a day you call out something that you are grateful for and makes you happy. Over time it's proven to change your outlook on life. I took it to a physical medium and every day I'll do a 15 minute sketch of something. Over time this book has become a record of mundane little experiences that just make me grin like a child. It's one of the best things I've done for my personal well-being besides daily exercise. I'm also into branding books. Lots of them. A nerdy amount.


I’m sure you’ve seen the explosion in the industry, what are your thoughts on the recent boom?

I remember being on the UC forums before the renovation of the site and talking about this. It was during a time where the Brimstone had already come out and the Vortex was an upcoming Kickstarter I believe. At the time I think there was only 1 deck a month and the average for decks were around 25K. I predicted that with this social proof of success, there would be a large bubble in the market that would eventually burst causing people to choose and leaving only the good designers in the arena. I figured the increased competition would be good for the art.
Looking at the market now I think I was on the right track but the bubble grew much faster than I would have ever thought. I didn't anticipate the crossover of artists from other fields to begin participating. What also surprised me was the change in behavior of collectors. I had assumed the increased competition would force choice but instead I'm noticing that people will still usually back a project but just reduce quantity. It makes absolute sense for those trying to diversify their collections, but for me I'm usually a brick or two kind of guy which sets the investment a little higher.
The increased competition has made it near mandatory for court cards to be custom now (something that's even seen in the big companies today too). I'm glad for that. Competition pushes us to do better. I have a hall in my apartment that is full of uncut sheets by other companies. A lot of people ask why I don't display my own. Seeing my own work creates complacency of having done something while seeing the work of others make me feel motivated to do just as good, if not better.
There is an increased competition for crowdfunding decks now but I do anticipate a similar amount of deck projects in the next couple years before any drop. With the introduction of new production facilities that require a lower startup cost, having a successful deck funded isn't hard which will probably feed the momentum the next few years.

You’re a talented designer, do you have any projects, past, present or future, outside of the playing card industry that you’re proud of and enjoyed working on?

I mentioned Mood Garden earlier and I have a few international branding projects that I was pretty thrilled to create while under employment at my previous gig. I really do enjoy working on interactive package design and hope to start pursuing some new personal projects in the field of alcoholic beverage packaging soon.

Do you have any final thoughts or comments you would like to share?

Your interview was absolutely enjoyable. It got me to do a lot more self-evaluation than I'm used to which is a good thing! I hope to launch another deck soon to get an excuse to talk with you again haha. It was an honor to be here on Kardify.


I can’t thank Alex enough for his time and collaboration. Be sure to check out the NEW Seasons Kickstarter project launching on August 27th for Verano and Inverno, the next chapter in the Seasons decks. You can also keep up with any developments from Alex and Season’s playing cards on their Facebook Page and you can also visit the Seasons Playing Card website for products and information.


This exclusive 1-on-1 is written by Anthony Ingrassia for kardify. No part of this article can be reproduced without written permission from the author. You can check out Anthony's awesome collection on his Facebook Page Sparkz Collector.

Kickstarter: Coat of Arms Playing Cards Relaunch

Updated: The Coat of Arms Playing Cards project is now LIVE on Kickstarter.

Justin Froyd launched the original Coat of Arms Playing Cards on June 2014, and unfortunately he didn’t quite reach his funding goal. He spent the last 2 months enhancing the deck and project, and he will be relaunching very soon .

For the relaunch, the funding goal has been lowered to $16k and like the first project, will feature both the Standard Edition Coat of Arms deck and the Limited Edition Dark Ages deck.

The popular Dark Ages Deck will be limited to 1,000 decks and will be printed by EPCC. The prices for add-ons such as uncut sheets and the aluminium playing card case have been reduced. Justin has included some early early early bird pledge level.

Don't miss out!

Kickstarter: 7 Questions with Rosy Palamara of the Science Deck

I love science! Science teaches us about our place in the universe, helps us understand our world better and the advancement of technology that improve our quality of life. You can help others fall in love with science with this unique deck of playing cards!

Created by Rosy Palamara. the Science Deck is a custom deck of playing cards inspired by it’s four main fields of study- Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Technology. It features important elements and discoveries in science as well as important scientists presented in a sleek blueprint format. The artistic design on a subtle grey background provides readability and adds to the pleasing aesthetics of deck. A lot of thought have been put into the design and illustration of the deck.

For example, each of the suits represent a different field of science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Technology), the numerical cards features an important discovery or invention in science and the courts have been composed to represent important scientists each within their speciality of field.

We managed to have a quick chat with Rose about her design background, the inspiration and the design evolution of the Science Deck and her thoughts about the growth of crowd-funded playing cards.

Can you tell us about yourself and what is your design background?
I have been an artist, well forever. I have studied Graphic Design, Photography and Fine Art, and therefore I cannot help but see the world through designer’s eyes. I have designed everything from gardens to book illustrations. I also consider myself very lucky to have the opportunity to create something I would like and something meaningful to me, and this is where the Science Deck has come about.

This is your first Kickstarter project. What motivated you to create your own deck of cards?
The Science Deck was first a vision in my mind while playing poker, as I do often and immediately thought this is something I needed to do. The fact that each card can be a work of art that is also useful as a game really inspired me to create this deck. I see many decks that are so similar and traditional that even as a collector I was unmoved by what was being produced. I saw an opportunity to satisfy this urge for a deck to be unique and memorable.

What is your inspiration behind the Science Deck? How did you come up with the idea?
The idea came about mainly because apart from being a designer I am a complete nerd. Everything about Science has a magical quality, an element of discovery. Science holds the answers to so many questions for mankind, and our future. Science encompasses everything from the way our bodies work to what is beyond the stars. So the inspiration for this deck has come about by combining design, science and playing cards. Three things I am passionate about.

How much time did you spend working on the deck and can you briefly go through the design evolution of one of your unique card design?
I began designing and developing the Science Deck 8 months ago. The design process was very different to what I imagine traditional decks to be like in that every single one of the 52 cards needed research, investigating and their aesthetic appeal over the whole deck needed assessment. The suits were assigned scientific fields of study, Chemistry, Biology, Physics and technology. The most important discovery became the Aces, further scientific concepts graced the number cards 2 through to 10. Notable Scientists were chosen as the court cards.

The design process began with my vision to for the deck to have a classic appeal and although I attempted to keep the style relatively simple the process was long. The portraits for example commenced with the careful placement of individually shaped lines to form the faces, hair and bodies. Then the technique of shading with the use of dots, which I will admit I pondered the size and placement of each dot with an excessive amount of thought that bordered on obsessive.

What was your most brilliant breakthrough when designing the deck?
The Joker cards took me a while to decide upon and then when I realised, it was a bit of a “ah ha” moment, they needed to be something the same but also different, Schrödinger's cat (Dead and Alive) and the principle in quantum theory of this paradox was deemed a logical way of describing this.

What are your thoughts about the continuous strong growth of playing card projects on Kickstarter?
Kickstarter is such a great platform for artists and designers to create a project and reach so many people. The Science Deck project has had backers from all over the world. You can’t always know how others will view your work. Kickstarter generates an honest representation of how good a deck is. Kickstarter has become a gathering place for people to support projects they believe in and for creators to launch campaigns. The accelerating growth of playing card decks on Kickstarter I think means better quality decks being produced overall. I think many more people are not just viewing decks as a game but also a piece of art as a whole. I have collected playing cards for many years and I personally am elated to see so many new exciting decks being created.

Finally, what are your favourite playing card decks?
I enjoy decks that offer variety and originality. So my top 3 right now would have to be the ‘Ultimate deck’, ‘Playing Arts’ and ‘Seronda’ for its classic elegance.



Thanks for your time, Rose. All the best! At the time of writing, the project is 73% funded with 10 days to go. If want to support the Science Deck, you can find it on Kickstarter here. 


Pledge starts from AUD$12 and there are multiple add-ons available such as the popular uncut sheet and the digital download of the cards.

News: Kardify Collector Crown Custom Tee

Help support Kardify by purchasing this limited edition shirt. Cool eye-pleasing design on the front and the familiar Kardify logo on the back.

Available in white, orange, slate, yellow and turquoise on a high quality American Apparel Crew tee for men and white and pink on a quality Women's Fit tee for the ladies.

This is a crowd-funded project on TeeSpring for 14 days.  You will not be charged until a minimum of 50 have been reserved. :) Thank you for your support!

1-ON-1: Jason Brumbalow Part Two

Welcome to Part Two. 

This segment is all about RUN, Jason goes into detail about the inspiration and story behind the deck as well as some 1st looks and availability information.

Enjoy!



Once again I want to thank Jason for his time and collaboration, it was great fun!


This exclusive 1-on-1 is written by Anthony Ingrassia for kardify. No part of this article can be reproduced without written permission from the author. You can check out Anthony's awesome collection on his Facebook Page Sparkz Collector.

Deck View: Blueblood Redux by UUSI

Royal. Indigo. Legendary.

One of our all-time favourite. The Blueblood Redux features hand-drawn illustrations by UUSI (artists, Linnea Gits & Peter Dunham), for all the court cards, original layouts for the pip, (number) cards and 2 original jokers artwork that form a diptych. An artful take on the classic playing card deck,

The deck also features embossed design on the tuck box stock and printed on a bicycle playing card stock with air cushion (linen) finish by the USPCC.

Limited stock available from JP Games. Use the code KARDIFY10 during check-out to get 10% off for orders over £50.

StartNext: 7 Questions with Daniel Schneider of Black Roses Playing Cards

The Black Roses Playing Cards is an elegant deck of cards that links classic design with modern elements. Meticulously created by Daniel Schneider, this deck is fully custom and features new faces on the court cards. Unlike other crowd-funded playing card projects featured on Kardify, Black Roses was launch on Startnext.de, a popular German crowd-funding platform.

We managed to have a quick chat with Daniel about his background, the inspiration and the design evolution of Black Roses, and his thought on the playing card community.

Can you tell us about yourself and what is your creative background?
I've started with magic very late. Back in 2009 I saw this guy on german television in his own show "Street Magic with Farid". Ever since then I have a passion for magic and since I've discovered Dan and Dave, I'm a total playing card fanatic.

I've studied web design but graphic design is what I'm actually doing most of the time.

This is your first Crowd-Funded Project. Why Startnext.de?
As I'm from Germany it was simply obvious to start my crowdfunding on Startnext because the communication is very easy there. The community isn't as big as the community on Kickstarter, but I don't think that this is a disadvantage. You have to thrill the supporter beyond the platform anyway.

What is your inspiration behind the Black Roses Playing Cards? How did you come up with the idea?
I simply missed a deck of cards which shows my own personality. The idea of drawing new faces on classic playing cards is not really mine, for example David Blaine and Daniel Madison did that before and their decks have been an inspiration to me.

In the beginning I only wanted to replace the faces so I don't loose the classic look. But with time, the card got more fancy like the Queen of Hearts with the long blond hair or the King of Hearts with the hoody. Nevertheless, I think I managed it that the cards have not lost their classic look with modern faces.

The "Bicycle Rider Backs" and "Bicycle Leaf Backs" inspired me to draw my own Black Roses back design. The result is something completely new, but still exactly what I wanted- a classic playing card deck. The color black because it is unique and classy.

How much time did you spend working on the deck and can you briefly go through the design evolution of one of your unique card design?
I can't say anymore how long I've needed to complete the deck... I think 6-8 weeks with a few breaks in between. First I remove the face from the original court card. I look for a suitable photo and trace the outlines of the face. Everything happens on the computer. The eyes are the most striking and most difficult thing to draw. When I have all the outlines I place them over the court card. Finally, I color the hair etc... if necessary.

We initially noticed the Black Roses Playing Cards on Instagram. What do you think of the magic/playing card community on Instagram in terms of the feedback and support that you’ve been getting?
I haven't received so much feedback like I wish I had, but what I've heard was very positive and I'm very pleased to hear that because I know that they are really honest. There are almost always the same people who likes my photos and I noticed that of course.

What are your thoughts about the continuous strong growth of playing card projects?
Before I started to design my own deck, I never realized how many people creating there own decks. When I look at the statistics I haven't chosen a good month! :D But I guess that is a good thing. Crowdfunding makes it so much easier for people to realize their ideas due to the number of playing cards in the market now... you can easily lose track, but good things will catch on.

Finally, what are your favourite playing card decks?
I love the Bee Erdnase Deck and the 1st Split Spades. The finish is awesome. I also love the simplicity of the Smoke and Mirrors (V4-V6), Rounders and Nocs.

Awesome! Thanks again for your time Daniel and all the best!


Pledge for Black Roses starts from 8€ and it is currently 21% funded. Don't miss out as this is only available for a limited time on StartNext.de.

Contest: Got LUXX? Win a Red Jerry's Nugget!

In conjunction to the pre-order launch of LUXX playing cards on 29th August 2014, JP Playing Cards and Kardify are pleased to offer you an opportunity to win one rare authentic Red Jerry's Nugget. As you all know, the price for this sought after deck has been on the rise in the secondary market and it isn’t uncommon to see individual decks sell for over $400.00!

Rules and Such

Up for grabs is one RARE Red Jerry's Nugget.  To participate, you must complete all the mandatory entry requirements below:

+ First, follow Kardify on Facebook (contest clues will be posted daily on Kardify FB Page).
+ Follow JP Playing Cards on Facebook (for us to verify and contact you if you win).
+ For each clue, you have to LIKE the clue as an acknowledgement that you seen the post. This of it as a check-in to each of the clue. IF your name is missing in any of the clues, your entry may be disqualified.
+ We will inform you where to submit your entry on the FINAL day. So you don't have to ask us.
+ No cheating. No entry bots. No entering for others. No entering using multiple accounts. Cheaters will be banned permanently from all of our giveaways... forever!

This contest will begin on August 21, 2014 and end on August 30, 2014. No additional entries will be counted after this date.

Prizes:

Grand Prize: Red Jerry's,
Second Prize: LUXX Twin Set + Dealer Coin,
5 x Runner Up: £10 discount code (when spend £30 or more) .

This contest is open to ALL.

Winners will be selected and will be announced on JP Playing Cards Facebook page. The winners have 48 hours (2 days) to respond. If the winner do not respond within 48 hours, another winner will be selected. If a winner is selected, and their entries are found to be fraudulent, they are automatically removed from the list and another winner will be selected.

The winner will be announced on September 1, 2014, after the pre-order launch of LUXX Playing Cards.

1-ON-1: Jason Brumbalow Part One

Something a little different with this 1ON1. 

So a few weeks ago I approached Jason Brumbalow about doing a 1ON1, in the same manner I've approached everyone else who's been kind enough to collaborate with us. We went back and forth on schedules and ended up making an appointment via Skype to discuss what we wanted to do.

From that meeting we came up with a date and time for our "Interview" we felt the easiest way to do this was via Skype once again and I could go back through the conversation and build the "written" piece from there.

A few days later when I started working on the piece I sat there for about 20 minutes pulling bits and pieces out of the video capture and kept getting distracted by the conversation itself. So while the notion of making this a video interview was bantered about, Jason knew it might be a possibility, we really didn't set out to do that. So while this is a bit crude, and not how I would do it in the future, I think the "piece" is much more interesting coming directly from Jason than anything I could have written.

So ignore the guy on the left and I hope you enjoy Part One of our Jason Brumbalow 1ON1



I want to thank Jason for his time and willingness to be a guinea pig on this new format, it's greatly appreciated.

Coming soon Part Two of our Jason Brumbalow 1ON1...stay tuned!

This exclusive 1-on-1 is written by Anthony Ingrassia for kardify. No part of this article can be reproduced without written permission from the author. You can check out Anthony's awesome collection on his Facebook Page Sparkz Collector.

Deck View: The Hive Playing Cards- Limited Edition

Fun. Charming. Delightful.

The Limited Edition Hive Playing Card is designed and illustrated by Brendan Hong and produced by the famous Kings Wild Project. Inspired by classic playing card art, this fully customized 54 card deck that comes with its own unique court cards to custom Jokers, Ace of Spades and back design. 

They've been printed to exquisite standard by EPCC (Expert Playing Card Company) and limited to 1000 of each color (Red and Blue). 

Another well-crafted deck of playing cards from Kings Wild Project. Find out more at http://kings-wild-project.myshopify.com/

Kickstarter: 7 Questions with Justin Meitz of the Kids Deck

The Kids Deck is a deck of playing cards specifically designed for kids and magicians. These aren't the intricately designed cards that everyone is familiar with, but cards that kids will love to use and magicians will perform with. This deck will be available on Kickstarter from August 15.

Created by Justin Meitz, a professional Magician, the Kids deck consists of 3 decks, a red & blue backed deck containing 52 beautifully hand drawn cards done in a kids style. The third deck includes alphabet cards (A-Z) and numbers (1-26), appropriately named the ABC123 deck.  Kids will be able to practice multiplication with the numbers and memory games with the letters.

Between his busy schedule, we were able to catch-up with Justin for a quick Q&A on his design background, the inspiration & design evolution behind the Kids deck and his thoughts on Kickstarter.

Can you tell us about yourself and what is your creative background?
Sure, I am a third generation professional magician, learning magic from my grandfather, and absolutely love my job. I travel around the world performing my unique brand of stand up magic specializing in VIP events, trade shows, and corporate entertainment. I also had another job which really inspired the Kids Deck to come to life. I graduated from the University of Nevada Reno with a Bachelors of Science in education and a minor in elementary education. I spent 7 years teaching 2nd & 5th grade which was so much fun! 4 years ago I retired to focus on my projects.

I created Magic House Publishing and published the award winning picture book The Amazing Alexander which Lance Burton says "This is an amazing story!" I have also published instructional DVD's for magicians and teach over 100 magic students around the country.

My number one rule in life is what I live by, Rule 1 - Have Fun!

This is your first Kickstarter Project. Why Kickstarter?
That is a great question. When I came out with my first book, it was done very traditionally. You write, find an illustrator, publish, and try to sell the product. I really wanted to try something different and all my research pointed to Kickstarter. I haven’t even launched the Kids Deck yet and I am so happy with the process that I am launching The Amazing Alexander 2 on Kickstarter later this year.

What is your inspiration behind the Kids deck? How did you come up with the idea?
During my time as a teacher I always had my students use playing cards for multiplication and memory games. But, normal playing cards are pretty boring, especially to kids. I searched and searched but could never find a deck of cards specifically designed for kids. On the flip side, as a magician I wanted a fun deck of cards to use with when performing kid shows. And yes I still perform kid shows. If you are a magician don’t let anyone scare you away from performing kid shows or make you think they are for an entry level magicians. A large portion of my business model is school shows and private kid parties! Ok, back to my inspiration for the kids deck :) I could not find a deck of cards that kids could easily relate to during a show. Normal Bicycle cards to kids are super plain and “adult like” and other magicians were using Disney, Warner Bros., and Harry Potter themed cards. Nothing that you could easily relate a story with during a party. I decided it was time to stop looking and put out a deck of cards for kids they would love using and cards magicians could work with.

Magicians, just imagine “Hey kids, I want to show you a card trick, but actually one I learned when I was your age. And, I want to show you a deck of cards that I made when I was your age!” Now you are “ effectively selling” the idea of the trick to the kids in a way they can understand and as a bonus you can give the deck to the birthday child when you are done with the routine. Win win!

How much time did you spend working on the deck and can you briefly go through the design evolution of one of your unique card design?
I am really lucky, I have the best team that I could possibly ask for. My artist Breanne Craig is an amazing artist, actually specializing in pet portraits. My designer, Jason Mead, can see things that normal people can’t. He will take an idea I have in my head and create an absolute master piece...just look at the card box! I have an editor, a photographer, and a videographer. This entire team has worked together to create the Kids Deck and without one of them it wouldn’t have happened.

I spent many coffee shop meetings sketching out card ideas and trying to think like a kid. I also have a lot of younger kids as magic students so I asked opinions and took those to the drawing board. When designing a “Kids deck” you would think you could do whatever, but actually everything was planned out pretty systematically. We wanted the decks to look like a kid drew them but at the same time make sure kids could easily identify what suit and number the card was. All in all it was a super fun project and the entire team said this deck made us feel like a kid again!

What was your most brilliant breakthrough when designing the deck?
There were two moments that were unexpected when it came to the original design. First, from the get go I knew I wanted a red and blue backed kids deck. About half way thru the design process I called my artist and asked her to draw a couple letters. The ABC123 deck was born which meant that kids could learn from fun cards and not even realize it...we call that MISDIRECTION! And magicians could now have vibrant alphabet cards for awesome magic tricks instead of boring black block letters.

Second, my artist started drawing different back designs and one of them really caught my eye. Not only was it great looking, I instantly realized I could use it as a one way “stripper deck”. Normally you would never want this with a deck of cards but remember, this is a deck for kids as well as kids becoming magicians. Part of the Kickstart project includes a DVD for kids and magicians called Card Tricks For Kids - No Rabbits Required. Magicians use Stripper Decks all the time but this made it possible for kids to use the deck as a Stripper Deck, without the Stripper portion. The idea is you show the cards to a layman, have them select out a card, and then put it back the same way you would a stripper deck...reversing the orientation of the card in the pack. 98% of people will never realize what is happening. And other than die hard card fanatics, having cards this way really doesn't matter.

What are your thoughts about the continuous strong growth of playing card projects on Kickstarter?
You know what I love about playing cards, especially for kids, it isn’t TV and video games. Playing cards bring people together. Whether you are playing poker in a casino, or playing Rook at a family reunion, or having someone “pick a card”, you are interacting with a group of “humans.” I think people have a hard time with that today...everything is face down engulfed in our phones. I have a lot of respect for all these artists and card collectors creating new decks. I think it is only going to grow and really feel fortunate to have an opportunity to share my deck with all of you.


Finally, what are your favorite playing card decks?
Since I perform full time, my go to deck is a Bicycle red back. Everyone knows Bicycle and it plays well to a full house of people. I have found that anytime I work with an “artsy deck”, people automatically wonder if its a “special deck” or gimmicked in some way. With that being said, I have a good card collection at home and full framed card sheets hanging in my office. I also make a lot of gaffed cards so playing cards in general are part of my life. But, the Black Tiger and Ghost decks were some of my first “different decks” that I purchased back in the day. Arcane and Artifice are very artsy and the Infinity deck just feels good in my hand. I recently backed the Different Deck and gave a lot of those decks to my students which they really like. I look forward to seeing new and upcoming projects!

Thank you Justin for your time and sharing with us your Kickstarter project! All the best! 


Pledge starts from $9 and the Kids Deck will be printed by the USPCC. Also, the project includes an instructional DVD, "Card Tricks for Kids...No Rabbits Required" which has the title "For Kids" but there are some sweet tricks packed into that DVD including a sweet David Regal effect called Letter Perfect... and a pretty awesome T-Shirt for kids.