Kickstarter: 3 Questions with Paola Valtellino of the Original Blackcat Playing Cards

The Blackcat Playing Cards are designed by Paola Valtellino, a designer with a great passion for skateboarding. For many years she practiced skateboarding, trampled many parks and made many falls. A few years ago, Paola fell in love with the mesmerizing art of card flourishing. They reminded her of the performances made with her boards, so much dedication and dexterity.

A year ago, she started to conceptualize her own deck of playing cards. She wanted to create something that amazed, having watched for videos of people who are flourishing and often times, she's focused on the card backs. With that, her goal was to create a back that would be eye-catching.

Last week, we had a chat with Paola about the inspiration behind the Original Blackcats, support from the community and her favorite playing cards.

What is your inspiration behind the Original Blackcat Playing Cards? How did you come up with the idea?
I'm a skater, I've always dressed like a skater, so I wanted to create a "skater" deck, I know it sounds strange, but it's like that. I grew up with big brands like Vans or Element and I wanted to bring that kind of design, that kind of philosophy in my cards, a very street view that meets the classicism of the cards.

All the elements inside my cards are "classic" I did not want to distort too much the original design, I put my own, it's all personalized, from the patterns of the clothes of the KQJ to the design of the axes. The mascot of my deck, the black cat, is the result of my other passion, I love cats, they are fast, flexible and responsive, if they could go on the skate I think they would be cool!

We first noticed the deck on Instagram. What do you think of the community in terms of the feedback and support that you’ve been getting so far?
I found many people ready to support my project, I did not think I would like so many people, I was pleasantly surprised by this. Many people who follow me on Instagram have supported my project, with 4 weeks to go, I hope to attract more backers with the cool design.

Finally, what are your favorite playing card decks?
I'm "new" in this industry, can I say that? so I'll tell you what I used to train and I found it perfect for me. I started with the Monarchs, I received them as a gift from my boyfriend and cabbage, they are fantastic, a perfect feeling, a unique design. I recently funded the Caroline Ravn campaign with her RAVN, they are amazing and the concept behind fascinates me.


If you liked what you read here and would like to support Paola, head to Kickstarter here! Pledge starts at €10 and the deck will be printed by Cartamundi.


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Card Flash: Diamon Playing Cards No.8 Playing Cards

The eye-catching Diamon Playing Cards No.8 is the third deck from Artedame Dutch Design Studio. Crafted for cardistry, the deck features a striking diamond pattern design with a candy pink and seaweed green colorway.

The deck is fully custom and have a very modern look and feel to them. The usual standard courts, Ace of Spades and pips have been updated to harmonize the diamond theme, with a complementary color palette.

The face cards of No. 8 now comes with a little edge arrow, new typeface, new jokers and a special gaff card. We love how the deck came together!

Not only has the theme translated beautifully, but the striking card backs are also aesthetically pleasing and functions incredibly well together, making flourishes, fans and shuffles look exceptionally great! Available now from diamoncards.com for €12.00.

News: A Look at the 52 Plus Joker 2018 Club Deck

The fourth 52 Plus Joker Club deck was introduced at the 52 Plus Joker Convention in Cleveland, Ohio by designer by Randy Butterfield from Midnight Cards. Randy might be familiar through his previous deck designs that include the Draconian series, Oculus, LUXX, the Ornate series, Rome, and Grinders.

This year, Randy has designed a superb club deck that honors not just the club, but also the city of Cleveland. The tuck sports a brown colorway, a nod to the Cleveland pro football team, and the back of the box displays a gold silhouetted view of the Cleveland skyline.

Unlike previous club decks, Randy used gold foil only on the box, not on the cards. The cards themselves are subtle but still eminently elegant. The card backs and the joker feature the 52 Plus Joker logo, a jester, in brown. The color brown is also used in all the court cards.

Like all 52 Plus Joker club decks are available to club members only. To join 52 Plus Joker and be eligible to purchase one or more of these find decks, head to 52plusjoker.org.

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Deck View: Mercury (Standard Edition) Playing Cards

Retro. First. Space.

Produced by Vanda Playing Cards, Mercury is the first deck of The Planets series. The deck features the gorgeous artwork of Srdjan Vidakovic, from Novi Sad, Serbia. After 9 months, his vintage and retro art style have been gorgeously reflected on this luxurious deck.

The deck is fully custom, from the eye-catching card backs to the gorgeous Ace of Spades and retro hand-illustrated court cards and joker featuring creatures with stone-like heat-resistant skin. The Standard Edition deck is printed by the United States Playing Card Company and packaged in a stunning embossed black tuck box with holographic bronze and white foil printed by Clove St. Press.


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News: Instagram Story Takeover by MyTurn from RIPNDIP X Fontaine Pop-Up

Cardistry-Celeb, My Turn (@myturn4real) is taking over our Instagram Story for the next 6 hours (Instagram: @kardify), all the way from the RIPNDIP X Fontaine Pop-Up in Los Angeles. Follow My Turn to see what goes on during the Pop-Up event!

Image Courtesy of December Boys (Instagram: @decemberboysUA)


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Cardistry: RIPNDIP X Fontaine Playing Cards To Release Today!

In anticipation of the RIPNDIP X Fontaine Playing Cards release at the RIPNDIP pop-up in Los Angeles today (27th October), Fontaine Cards dropped a cool performance video featuring Birger Karlsson and Carter MacDiarmid using the new deck. Check out the mind-blowing video below:



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The 12 Best Playing Cards for Halloween 2018

It's that time of the year! Once again, we have painstakingly compiled the best playing cards for All Hallows' Eve just for you. Behold! The Kardify Top 12: Halloween 2018 Edition! This year with enough owls, ghosts, skulls, Vikings, quirky characters and pirates to keep your spine tingling through the night. If you have one that we haven't discovered. Do feel free to share.

Note that the selection expressed in this top 12 are solely those of the author and the list is in no particular order.

Dead Soul

Brought to you by TCC Playing Card Co., Dead Soul Playing Card is a dark macabre deck featuring 52 uniquely designed cards. Beautiful back design and custom courts! Fantastic detail, intricate design, and style to bring out your dark side.

Maidens Playing Cards

From Joker and the Thief, Maidens Playing Cards is a fully custom deck inspired by Dia de Los Muertos. On the outside, the lavish tuck box features an incredible dyed creme colored paper stock, letterpressed and adorned with beautiful foil accents inside and out! Inside, the face cards tell a story through the use of symbolism and meticulously illustrated throughout. The back design is eerie yet eye-catching! The consistent design of the face and backs beautifully tie the enchanting theme of the deck together.

Bicycle Bone Riders

Still one of our favorite. A collaboration between Art of Play and Bicycle, these fun new limited edition Halloween-themed playing cards are inspired by Bicycle's classic Rider Back design, the Bone Riders feature fun illustrations of bike-riding skeletons, fanciful jack o'lantern's, flying bats, and ornate pumpkin vines entangling it all together. Each deck includes two specialty Jokers, a unique Ace of Spades and one blank-face and one double-back card. Packaged inside a festive tuck box featuring premium matte card stock with embossed typography.

Strigiformes

Strigiformes Playing Cards is a fully custom deck of playing cards featuring original illustrations of owls designed by Renee LeCompte and produced by PlayingCardDecks. The deck is fully custom with meticulously hand-illustrated courts, pips, jokers, aces, and a custom back with tarot symbology used throughout. The darker tone gives the deck an enchanting feel!

RAVN Purple Haze

A collaboration between Caroline Ravn and Stockholm17, The Ravn Purple Haze is beautiful, elegant and at the same time attractive. The deck was designed to keep the classic look. The faces are quite standard, with improvised hands and the faces of the Jacks, Queens and Kings. The jokers are intriguing and Ace of Spades is very attractive.

Fury & Rage Knights

From Midnight Cards, Knights Playing Cards is a fully custom deck inspired by medieval knights and their most recognized style of armor and weapons. The Knights card backs feature an etched armor background and a head-to-head layout of the shield, Bull Head crest, and Battle Mace. The face cards have a metal texture with grey full-bleed coloring and the pips have a silver metallic look inlaid with Rivets.

House of the Rising Spades

From the mind of Lorenzo Gaggiotti of Stockholm17, the House of the Rising Spades is an exquisite deck inspired an esoteric realm full of mysteries built for cartomancers, cardists, magicians, collectors, dreamers, and card enthusiasts. The beautifully illustrated face cards have no standard index, particularly the spot number cards (2 to 10).

Voodoo

Voodoo Playing Cards are produced by SpielKartenShop with artwork by Sam Hayles. You will notice that he has a thing for skulls and you will see in his design a lot of inspiration from esotericism to punk, bizarre to gothic, apocalyptic to elegant and all the bizarre things and elements from our strange world. You will find a lot of symbols hidden in the artwork and references to the world of voodoo. For the cards, Sam chose to use the sepia and old paper and grungy textures because that’s the style he loves and use the most and again fitted very well with the overall theme and style of graphics!

Haunted 8's

If you’re not already in the spirit of Halloween, then this spooky deck is certain to get you in the mood. Ghouls, Goblins, Headless horsemen, Zombies, Scarecrows, Pumpkins and more...! All packed into the October Kings Wild Shorts deck recently delivered to subscribers. A fun-filled deck brimming with artistry and ingenuity for All Hallows' Eve. The theme, colors, spooky characters and design elements that make up Haunted 8s came together perfectly!

Ragnorak

Ragnorak is a fully custom Norse-themed deck series designed by the team at Design Imperator. The Jormungand (Dark Blue) and the Fenris (Dark Brown) Editions features fully custom pips, indices, aces, and courts. The card backs showcase Norse artwork inspired from original knotwork and wood carving designs, both set in a mirrored composition printed with metallic silver and copper inks. The meticulously hand-illustrated courts along with the darker tone of the deck highlight drama, intensity, and an epic battle!

Salt & Bones

Inspired by the life and crimes of Captain H. Every, the man behind the biggest heist in history, Salt & Bone Playing Cards from Ellusionist celebrates bad intentions by becoming the lost bounty. The narrative of the deck starts with the striking bone white tuck, an imperfect paper grain reserved for rich men and cunning thieves. The compliment black and red foil adds a touch of danger and intrigue. Inside, the fully custom pips twist and snake you towards the elusive treasure, and court cards contain the sigils of the most infamous pirates to ever live.

Odd Bods

The Odd Bods Playing Cards is a brilliant deck illustrated by Jonathan Burton. Produced by Art of Play, the Odd Bods Playing Cards feature amusing characters, quirky illustrations, and playful imagery. The deck has been hand illustrated in a beautifully nostalgic style and designed to have the look of ‘aged’ Victorian lithographs. Every image proves its own quirk and oddity, but is never ostentatious-- Odd Bods are the epitome of refined indulgence. Packaged in a gorgeous gold-foil embossed tuck box.

The selection expressed in this top12 are solely those of the author. 



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Cardistry: Cardistry Touch PULSE Pre-Order now LIVE. Drops INSANE Trailer!

Pre-Orders of Cardistry Touch PULSE are LIVE on cardistrytouch.com! Along with the highly anticipated PULSE deck, the team has surprised everyone with the release of the limited edition PULSE Blue, sold exclusively on their website.

The PULSE decks sport a darker tone featuring diagonal speed line patterns prominently featured throughout with contrasting accents on the corners, giving flourishes, displaying a cool new experience with stunning, unique patterns. The face cards have a unique repeated geometric design on each card. The deck is kept secured in a unique swivel tuck box. Printed by Cartamundi on the C9 stock.

Pre-order ends November 15th. The estimated shipping time is January 2019. Also… Check out their new performance video below:



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Card Flash: Untitled V2 'Reflections' Playing Cards

While the first version of 'Untitled' playing cards represents the fluid nature of art, Untitled V2 'Reflections' is a journey into the mind of an artist. The bold artwork on the mirrored card back in particular signifies that art is a reflection of self, created from one's own perception of reality.

In order for artist Adam Borderline to share his art in a way that’s personal yet obtainable, he created a raw deck with very few post processes. The original image as seen on the jokers is from a painting, then photographed and mirrored 4 times.

For the face cards, the hearts 2-10 have one pip enhanced to incorporate the back design, however, the royals and the aces have been left unaltered. Adam told Kardify that this signifies the untitled ones, born from nothing, with nothing.

The Ace of spades has been enlarged and incorporates the back design, with a faint Untitled logo beneath it. To maintain a consistent color palette of the deck, the standard blue from USPCC has been removed, leaving just red, yellow and black.

Adam's second deck does not only look good, it is also thought-provoking with many hidden meanings and messages within. Available from your favorite Murphys Magic retailers.

Detailed Look at Fontaine X RIPNDIP Playing Cards

Zach Mueller surprised attendees of Cardistry-Con, Hong Kong when he revealed the highly anticipated Fontaine collaboration deck with streetwear brand RIPNDIP. RIPNDIP is a Los Angeles based clothing brand that has a very specific voice and it often focuses on eccentric designs that aren't afraid to stray from the norm. This is clearly reflected on the FULLY custom RIPNDIP Fontaines.

The tuck features RIPNDIP's iconic white cat, Lord Nermal. In fact, Lord Nermal is featured prominently throughout the deck. From the card back patterns, Aces to the pips, courts, and jokers. This IS the best Fontaine yet! Even with 10,000 print run of the deck, we expect these to go FAST. Word is, the deck will drop October 27th.

Originally posted on cardistrybeast.com. Images Courtesy of December Boys (Instagram: @decemberboysUA) – Used With Permission. Available now from on decemberboys.com.ua.

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News: Haunted 8's Playing Cards from Kings Wild Shorts

If you’re not already in the spirit of Halloween, then this spooky deck is certain to get you in the mood. Ghouls, Goblins, Headless horsemen, Zombies, Scarecrows, Pumpkins and more...! All packed into the October Kings Wild Shorts deck recently delivered to subscribers.

The Haunted 8's deck is a fully custom hand-illustrated deck. Fans of Kings Wild will certainly recognize some of the design element from this deck. Jackson Robinson took his well-loved Crazy 8's theme and completely redrawing it into the Haunted 8s.

The result? A fun-filled deck brimming with artistry and ingenuity for All Hallows' Eve. The theme, colors, spooky characters and design elements that make up Haunted 8s came together perfectly!

Kings Wild continue to surprise with this incredible deck. We are really excited and eagerly looking forward to future subscription decks from Kings Wild Shorts.