The Crossed Paths Tarot Project

2004-05-13T17:57:00.000-07:00

Here it is, a year since I started this project. I'm sitting in my room with Skeet, who wanted to see the deck in its entirety. I thought I'd have a deck I could hold in my hands by now, but instead we just ended up flipping through everything in Photoshop.

I still can't believe how beautiful the images everyone came up with look. Thanks everybody. I'm sorry I've been the one who's let everyone down. This remains the project I've learned the most on in my life. Friendships were built and friendships crumbled around this, the project from hell. Don't try to do your own deck, unless you're more talented than me and have a lot of money and time to burn.

I still think I'll get the deck printed one day. This summer I'll make a website and link the images up, but that may be a while. Life is complicated and hard, just like a tarot deck. One day I'll have it all in the palm of my hand...

Although I'm still missing death and the emporer. If you see them, let me know.

2003-10-06T10:32:00.000-07:00

5 more cards for my birthday

Dinan and I had been saving magazines and catalogs for a few weeks. Underdown was going to visit for my birthdya, and we thought we'd all sit around making collages to fill in the last 6 cards in the deck.

It almost didn't happen. Christi was in a wreck last week; her back is messed up, and her car as well. I was bummed.

But Dinan was still inspired; she sat down and with scissors and glue and much shredding made 3 excellent contributions: The Lovers, Temperence, and The Empress.

I made my own chariot.

Ron contirbuted a saint's portrait as The Hermit.

That just leaves the Emporer at large. As he is always. If you find him, let me know.

2003-09-15T18:16:00.000-07:00

Yes.

Yes, I still have your artwork.

Yes, I'm still missing six, count 'em 6 major arcana. But that's all. Virgil never turned in his cards, and three cards were never assigned.

Otherwise, the deck is complete. I'm even working on the really cool back pattern.

But here's the thing: I don't know when I'll finish this motherfucker now.

This sucks more than you can imagine, for the following reasons:

1) I've never done this with a project. Ever.

2) This project's missing cards have highlighted the holes in my own life. And I don't even believe in this shit. It was all about the artwork, for me.

3) My inability to complete the cards is tied to my complicated artistic dependency on others. I have to have that one person in my life that I bounce ideas off of, that person who spurs me to greater productivity.

4) That person can't help me right now. In fact, I need a new muse.

5) I swear, that last muse thing? It's not sexual. I just work better with a partner, that's all. It's just how my art projects come together. I need a sounding board, a helper, someone else who hangs around and is more talented than me. Or at least as talented as me. This is why I surround myself with artistic, talented people. Because I work better in that sort of environment.

6) That's because I'm not a Hermit.

7) I'm out of inspiration and money.

8) But this will get finished. I just don't know when right now. This drives me batshit; I hate uncertainty.

9) So someone needs to volunteer to be my partner in this. I can't finish it alone.

10) I wasn't looking for a mirror for my life when I started this project, but it sure as hell turned into an English major's nightmare of personal symbolism. No, really. I could go off about it, but I'll spare you. It's a messy situation. I hate symbolism that isn't rooted in modern, properly made-up science like Jung and Freud. Somehow I got into this crappy old European symbolism. I mean, I can't even blame any of this on my mom. It's just me, Boethius, and the cruel wheel of fate here, folks. And we all know what an atheist I am, so I'm pretty pissed off about the whole thing.

Grr. So there it is. All laid out nice and neat in list form. Yes.

2003-08-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

Don't Worry!

I've been super busy with work lately, but things are moving along.

Virgil assures me he has finished his three cards, and that I'll have them by Friday, when he's driving to Atlanta for the big party.

But I'm still lacking THe Emporer, Empress, and Chariot. Aral is coming to vist though, and I may get her drunk and hand her crayons. So we'll see if that works out.

2003-08-09T20:50:00.000-07:00

Production Process Decided Upon

After discovering the resolution problem last weekend and realising I was going to miss my own deadline for the deck, I was seriously down.

Then Christy Ford cheered me up considerably by helping me re-think my production process.

Ford is a graphic designer I really respect, and I printed a few proof sheets of the deck and got her opinion on a few things. She's got an objective eye, not being involved herself.

We thought out loud and came up with a production process that is going to be much more affordable than I thought. She laughed at my frustration.

"Of all the tarot decks I've seen started, I've only seen one finished. And that wasn't even tarot - it was a form of Jewish divination on cards. They were beautiful, screen printed."

I put my head in my hands again. "Screen printed?"

"Well, she was nuts."

The production method we hashed out for the deck was this:

Eash 3.5 x 5 card will be printed center to a 4 x 6 sheet of high quality photo paper. The photo paper will then be backed with cardstock by PVA adhesive.

Now this is the tricky part:

I'll need a gulliotine to trim and square the deck. A guillotine is regularly used in the process of rebinding a book that's damaged by flood or fire, so I'm quite familiar with the piece of equipment. It looks just like what it sounds like: A giant blade capaple of cutting through anything very precisely. I'll definately have to go to a professional printers to have the decks cut and squared, because a guillotine isn't something that most libraries just have lying around.

The adhesive binding part of the process will allow for back patterning, something I hadn't really thought of because I just assumed it would be too difficult to acheive. But 4 x 6 is a pretty standard size, centering is centering, and I'm good with adhesives. We'll see.

That's the process.

2003-08-05T06:02:00.000-07:00

Big Bumps in the Road

Well, the deck is just a few cards shy from being completed. All the suit cards - cups, pentacles, swords and wands - are now accounted for. Dust and I may do some minor tweaking to the images to make sure our symbology is what we need it to be, but for all intents and purposes, that big part of the deck is over.

But we're still missing major arcana.

Of course, the missing cards have taken on wierd signifigance in relation to the deck. Three different people have now promised me a hanged man, yet the card never appears. Of course, one of the people who has offered is Dustin, and I'm trying to stick to our point of only doing the suits. We dominate the deck all ready; it's not fair to take more than this.

But Virgil's cards have still not appeared, leaving me without:

Lovers
Hermit
Temperance

And, of course, the Emporer, the Empress, and the Chariot are still problems. Dinan wanted to dress up my cats, Puck and Titania, for the two big power cards, and I refused. I just don't think it's dignified to dress up cats. But as I push my own deadline - I wanted these things *done* by the end of this month - I may relent and actually let my room mate put clothes on the cats.

Like William Wegman, says Dinan. Like hell, says I. Dressed up cats. My god.

Dustin, when visiting this weekend, could see how much blowing the deadline upset me. Focus on making them good, not on meeting a date, he said. He's right. So they're late. I'm sorry.

2003-07-23T04:54:00.000-07:00

A Guidebook to the Deck

Several of the artists have now asked me about a guidebook to the new deck. I've thought a lot about it myself, and here's the deal:

you're going to have to wait a bit.

I think a guidebook would be great, but it's a lot of work just to get the darn cards into production. After I actually have a deck in my hands, we'll work on the guidebook. But first things first - I have enough of a job as it is right now.

2003-07-18T12:02:00.000-07:00

All the Major Arcana are currently accounted for.

Aisling turned in a rock-on fingerpaint Heirophant. Erin gave me a Judgement card which will definately cause you to stare with your mouth open and say "how did she think of that"? Dinan is marinating on the Chariot, the Emporer and the Empress. The hanged man will go to either Erin or Kati, depending on who gets their card to me first.

And as soon as Virgil and Dinan turn in their images, the first phase of the project is done. The second phase is Dust and I coordinating our suit efforts, and the third phase is the actual printing.

So what I'm saying here is we're about 40 days from having this sucker good and finished, if all goes according to plan. Yay us!

2003-07-15T10:03:00.000-07:00

Well, Kati has picked up another card, bringing her total to SIX...and hers and Michael's as a couple to eight! Rock on, Kati!

Devon has also volunteered the talents of Aisling, her almost 4-year-old daughter, for a card. We're in talks about what is left and appropriate.

I've completed all the "people" cards I've been given pictures for. I still need pictures from Dustin, Erin, and Virgil.

The cups are turning out to be pretty complicated for me. I have this whole very genteel colored pencil thing I want to do, and it keeps not happening the way I'd like, so I'm having problems developing my theme (theme being the whole reason suits are being done by just two people - the trumps, or major arcana, are supposed to be all wild and eclectic, and the suits more patterned into themselves).

Just four cards left for grabs now:

The Empress

The Emporer

The Chariot

The Hanged Man

Rmember, Dinan is considering putting in one or two. So if you see one yu MUST have, or if you still haven't gotten in on the project, your time is running out. ;)

2003-07-09T12:17:00.000-07:00

Jill has e-mailed me to assure me that her card is done and in the mail! Hooray!

People who have turned their cards in and are therefor admirable people worthy of respect and deference by all:

Christi
Erin
Kati
Michael
Devon
Jill (pending)

Dust, doing the suit cards, has a different deadline, so allegedy he's on track. The only seriously late person so far is Virgil, and I'm sure he has a very, very good reason. Especially if he still wants to stay at my house over Labor Day weekend.

The only person I've asked to do anything over was Christi, and that was for the simple reason that I wanted one of her photocollages. The cards she sent me were fab, but everyone loves her collage work and so I asked her to do just one over again in her signature style.

Devon has kindly offered time and webspace to hosting all the images, but I won't be ready for her to do that yet for another week at least. But look for links to the images soon.

2003-06-27T12:55:00.000-07:00

Add Devon to the list of people who have submitted their cards. She e-mailed me the Fool today, and I forwarded it on to other project members, asking if people want jpg emails once a week of how things are going.

Cards still not assigned to anyone:

The Empress

The Emporer

The Hierophant

The Chariot

The Hanged Man

Justice

I'm going to try and talk both Aral and Dinan into picking up one or more of these, but we'll see how that goes. Christi may be up for an additional image as well. I can't remember if Erin asked for another - something in my head keep niggling that she did. I sort of hope so. I really like the things she's sent in.

2003-06-26T02:40:00.000-07:00

Hooray! The project is back on track after a two-week delay!

I e-mailed everyone to let them know I had a new monitor. The new deadline for most folks is July 1st, unless you've given me a specific reason why, and a specific date when, your cards will be finished.

The following people have finished their cards:

Erin - Magician, Judgement
Christi - The World, The Sun
Kati - Wheel of Fortune, Justice, Star, High Priestess, Moon
Michael- Devil, Tower

I'm on track with 10 of the pentacles done, and Dust is presumably on track with his number cards.

Virgil is currently trying to ditch the project, and I've told him he can't. We'll see how that works out. He's stuck, and I've told him to come visit me in Atlanta one weekend so we can sort the cards out. He just can't seem to get them good enough to meet his own expectations - which of course only makes me more eager to find out what he was trying to do.

And, my god people, what we have so far looks really, really good. Erin actually gave me the choice between two different Magician designs. So all is more than well despite the delay.

-e

2003-06-08T12:09:00.000-07:00

Christi just sent me The Sun. So the cards are coming in.

I however, have a bit of a problem. My monitor just fried itself - and I can't replace it until next week at the earliest. I can still use my room mate Ron's terminal, but no design work is going on at this location. So everybody gets a little extension due to my calamity.

2003-06-05T17:29:00.000-07:00

So the weekend move turned into a week-long move. Such is life.

Erin has finished and turned in her cards. Yea Erin! She's even going to come and visit a few days after the dealine, so she'll have the first big peek at how things are going, visually.

The rest y'all got a little over a week, unless you've given me a good reason why you're gonna be late. Keep up with things, OK? THis is one of the coolest projects I've ever worked on, I swear.

2003-05-28T19:38:00.000-07:00

Hey, it just occured to me this is the biggest project I've ever done. There are over 80 cards present in the finished set I've outlines. None of my other 'zines has even approached 80 pages in length. Sure, I've written mediocre novels in excess of 300 pages, but these 80 cards involve 8 other authors. So you can see why I'm projecting Labor Day as the finished set day.

I move this weekend, and so will be difficult to get in touch with Sunday and Monday. Hang tight, it'll be all right.

2003-05-26T20:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm in the midst of moving into a new house, but this project is still getting along. I've just about finished the number cards for the pentacle set, largely because they've got a solid basic concept.

Erin tells me she's finished one of her cards. Maybe she's finished them both as I type this. Dust has outlined a lot of his ideas to me, and I have to say I'm more than excited to see this set realised.

June 15, people. Just 20 days away. Nervous yet?

Oh, and check this out: Forms of Divination.

2003-05-19T12:57:00.000-07:00

Hey folks, Devon's tentatively picked up The Fool. So we've now just got 6 cards on the loose.

THE DEADLINE WE DECIDED ON IS JUNE 15. So if you've said you're making cards, and I don't see them by June 15...well, we'll have a talk, people, that's what we'll do. I'll drive to your house with crayons and you'll give me something. And when the deck is produced, and everyone's fawning over how cool this is, and they see your slapdash under pressure last minute work...heh, well.

Saw Dustin, Devon, Kati, and Erin and was pretty excited by what they say they're working on. Dust has a whole superhero thing going on with the wands, Kati's doing her own original oil paintings, and Erin's keeping me guessing. Devon says she has just a favorite photograph in mind. i'm doing pretty standard photoshop stuff for the pentacles/coins - I think this fits with their themes - but have a colored pencil and watercolor idea for the cups. So this whole thing is shaping up on being nice and eclectic, just as I had hoped.

Yay us!

2003-05-08T05:12:00.000-07:00

An updated list

Now Temperance is spoken for as well. Here's an updated list so you lazy folk won't have to scroll to the bottom of the page:

me - pentacles, cups - 28 cards
Dust- swords, wands - 28 cards
Kati - Wheel of Fortune, Justice, Star, High Priestess, Moon - 5 cards
Michael - Devil, Tower - 2 cards
Christi- Sun, The World - 2 cards
Erin - Judgement, Magician - 2 cards
Jill - Strength - 1 card
Virgil - Lovers, Hermit, Temperance - 3 cards

Still up for grabs:

The Fool

The Empress

The Emporer

The Hierophant

The Chariot

The Hanged Man

Justice

I won't be updating this again until Tuesday. I have to go to Nashville, Oak Ridge, Moshiem and back by Sunday. I'm going to see a lot of friends this weekend, and I plan on being pretty shameless about pimping the rest of this project out. I'm way too excited about it, if you hadn't noticed!

2003-05-07T07:03:00.000-07:00

Just 8 to go now

Virgil's also taken The Hermit. I'm so excited and overly curious to see what he does with his two cards - I would have never suspected he'd want the Lovers, but they were his first pick.

Friday will make it one week since I first solicited everyone for artwork. I'm still hoping I hear from a few more people. I *might* be into calling people and asking directly, but i'm worried that'll get people to say yes who really wan't want to actually do their cards. And I really need people to do what they've committed to.

So we'll see, I suppose.

2003-05-06T08:16:00.000-07:00

She's got the whole world....

Christi e-mailed me today to point out that I had listed her as having The Moon. not The Sun, in the last mass e-mail Oops. I corrected it in the entry below.

She also asked me to assign her another card. I really don't want to assign anybody anything - but Christi is trying to get started on hers, so I thought it over and gave our favorite pagan priestess
The World, as well.

Just nine more left...get 'em while the pickings are still good, people...

2003-05-05T13:34:00.000-07:00

Just so you know...

The ad for tarot cards at the top of this page makes me want to hurl. Target marketing is so darn chessy sometimes. And the point of this project is that it's home-made, from my friends, and fun.

People remember non-commercial fun, right?

2003-05-05T05:20:00.000-07:00

The first wave of replies

From now on, I'm only e-mailing people who are participating in the project. Everyone else gets to come to this webpage to check out who's doing what.

Here's the current list of cards and who's promised to do them. Notice that Kati picked up one of Christi's cards - they swapped The Moon.

me - pentacles, cups - 28 cards
Dust- swords, wands - 28 cards
Kati - Wheel of Fortune, Justice, Star, High Priestess, Moon - 5 cards
Michael - Devil, Tower - 2 cards
Christi- Sun, one to be named - 2 cards
Erin - Judgement, Magician - 2 cards
Jill - Strength - 1 card
Virgil - Lovers - 1 card

Erin, Dustin, and Virgil all asked to do the Magician, but Erin was first.

The 10 super-cool cards left are:

The Fool
http://learntarot.com/maj00.htm

The Empress
http://learntarot.com/maj03.htm

The Emporer
http://learntarot.com/maj04.htm

The Hierophant
http://learntarot.com/maj05.htm

The Chariot
http://learntarot.com/maj07.htm

The Hermit
http://learntarot.com/maj09.htm

The Hanged Man
http://learntarot.com/maj12.htm

Justice
http://learntarot.com/maj13.htm

Temperance
http://learntarot.com/maj14.htm

The World
http://learntarot.com/maj21.htm

I'll be updating the blog later today, hopefully with some of those cards taken.

http://crossedpaths.blogspot.com

If you'd like the ability to post to the blog, let me know and I'll make happen. Working with blogger is just as easy as working with Microsoft Word (and all that implies). So let me know!

Y'all rock, but you knew that all ready.

2003-05-02T12:16:00.000-07:00

I sent this letter to everyone today

Hi everybody! If you've recieved this e-mail, you're one of the coolest, most creative people I know.

I'm soliciting artwork for a tarot deck.

I know, I know, it doesn't sound like me. I've never owned a tarot deck. But I've always admired them; I like the artwork, and I like the way they let you into a little window of the subconcious.

So I wanted to make my own deck, but then I remembered one of the best things about tarot decks is the variety they're available in. I like to try to figure out what the artist was thinking when they chose *that* image for *this* concept. And I like how playing with different kinds of decks can give you different shades of meanings for the same named concept.

And then i remembered that I know some really neat people, most all of whom are artists in one way or another. And I realised what I really wanted was a tarot deck drawn by my friends. So I sat down, did my research thuroughly, and came up with a plan:

There are 78 cards in the Rider-Waite deck. 56 are suit cards, 22 are major arcana. I'd like for all the major arcana to be drawn, colored, painted, photoshoped, glued or scribbled by friends. I want them all to be reflections of the people who make them. I don't care if you use crayons or sumi ink or oils or decoupage or photoshop or collage or if you take a picture of a jar of jam and label it "Empress". I want a tarot deck that reflects how cool it is that so many creative, awesome people have crossed my path.

If you want to take part, just e-mail wich one of the major arcana you're doing so nobody doubles up. I'll keep an updated list over here:

http://crossedpaths.blogspot.com

so everyone can see what's going on. And if someone calls the card you'd like before you, you can call them and convince them to swap.

Also, everyone who sends me artwork for the deck gets their very own card in the pack. Send me an image you have of yourself that you'd like on your card, with four positives and four negatives that describe yourself. When the deck is done, you'll be in it. You can design your own card if you want, but if you're pressed for time and only want to do the major arcana of your choice, I'll be happy to construct your card for you. But you only get included in the deck if you submit artwork.

Artwork can be submitted by mail, in person, or electronicly. I have a rock- on scanner that can take anything you throw at it.

Here's the format:

3.5 x 5 inches, with a black line border 1/8 of an inch in. Edge bleeds are no problem! Title of card should rest on that border at the bottom, in the center, and be present in Courier New font, 11 point bold. I can put on the title if you want, it's no big deal; don't stress yourself over the technicalities, please!

Even if you just want to do one card, I'd really appriecate it. The cards will be produced on light cardstock and backed with bookcloth. Due to the high cost of color production, I'm just making this for myself; if you want a deck when it's all together, I can loan you the images so you can make a set, or we can work something out to cover the cost of supplies for another deck. I will definately e-mail everyone pictures of what the finished deck looks like, so the iomages will be available to all. I will not be selling copies of this deck to anyone.

Here's the current list of people involved:

me - pentacles, cups - 28 cards
Dust- ?swords? ?wands? - 28 cards*
Kati - Wheel of Fortune, Justice, Star, High Priestess - 4 cards
Michael - Devil, Tower - 2 cards
Christi- sun, moon - 2 cards

*(As most of you know, Dust did most of the major arcana for his own deck a few years ago. You can see his amazing work at his website
http://dust.trigmafall.com - but don't let his style influence your own! I asked him to do suits so he won't repeat himself)

The other cards I need are:

The Fool
http://learntarot.com/maj00.htm

The Magician
http://learntarot.com/maj01.htm

The Empress
http://learntarot.com/maj03.htm

The Emporer
http://learntarot.com/maj04.htm

The Hierophant
http://learntarot.com/maj05.htm

The Lovers
http://learntarot.com/maj06.htm

The Chariot
http://learntarot.com/maj07.htm

Strength
http://learntarot.com/maj08.htm

Hermit
http://learntarot.com/maj09.htm

Justice
http://learntarot.com/maj11.htm

Hanged Man
http://learntarot.com/maj12.htm

Temperance
http://learntarot.com/maj14.htm

Judgement
http://learntarot.com/maj20.htm

The World
http://learntarot.com/maj21.htm

Rock out. Enjoy yourself. And get included. I want to see what you come up with, and know every time I look at these cards I'm seeing an aspect of someone I think kicks ass.

-e

2003-05-01T12:58:00.000-07:00

I sent this letter to everybody today:

Hi everybody! If you've recieved this e-mail, you're one of the coolest, most creative people I know.

I'm soliciting artwork for a tarot deck.

I know, I know, it doesn't sound like me. I've never owned a tarot deck. But I've always admired them; I like the artwork, and I like the way they let you into a little window of the subconcious.

So I wanted to make my own deck, but then I remembered one of the best things about tarot decks is the variety they're available in. I like to try to figure out what the artist was thinking when they chose *that* image for *this* concept. And I like how playing with different kinds of decks can give you different shades of meanings for the same named concept.

And then i remembered that I know some really neat people, most all of whom are artists in one way or another. And I realised what I really wanted was a tarot deck drawn by my friends. So I sat down, did my research thuroughly, and came up with a plan:

There are 78 cards in the Rider-Waite deck. 56 are suit cards, 22 are major arcana. I'd like for all the major arcana to be drawn, colored, painted, photoshoped, glued or scribbled by friends. I want them all to be reflections of the people who make them. I don't care if you use crayons or sumi ink or oils or decoupage or photoshop or collage or if you take a picture of a jar of jam and label it "Empress". I want a tarot deck that reflects how cool it is that so many creative, awesome people have crossed my path.

If you want to take part, just e-mail wich one of the major arcana you're doing so nobody doubles up. I'll keep an updated list over here:

http://crossedpaths.blogspot.com

so everyone can see what's going on. And if someone calls the card you'd like before you, you can call them and convince them to swap.

Also, everyone who sends me artwork for the deck gets their very own card in the pack. Send me an image you have of yourself that you'd like on your card, with four positives and four negatives that describe yourself. When the deck is done, you'll be in it. You can design your own card if you want, but if you're pressed for time and only want to do the major arcana of your choice, I'll be happy to construct your card for you. But you only get included in the deck if you submit artwork.

Artwork can be submitted by mail, in person, or electronicly. I have a rock- on scanner that can take anything you throw at it.

Here's the format:

3.5 x 5 inches, with a black line border 1/8 of an inch in. Edge bleeds are no problem! Title of card should rest on that border at the bottom, in the center, and be present in Courier New font, 11 point bold. I can put on the title if you want, it's no big deal; don't stress yourself over the technicalities, please!

Even if you just want to do one card, I'd really appriecate it. The cards will be produced on light cardstock and backed with bookcloth. Due to the high cost of color production, I'm just making this for myself; if you want a deck when it's all together, I can loan you the images so you can make a set, or we can work something out to cover the cost of supplies for another deck. I will definately e-mail everyone pictures of what the finished deck looks like, so the iomages will be available to all. I will not be selling copies of this deck to anyone.

Here's the current list of people involved:

me - pentacles, cups - 28 cards
Dust- ?swords? ?wands? - 28 cards*
Kati - Wheel of Fortune, Justice, Star, High Priestess - 4 cards
Michael - Devil, Tower - 2 cards
Christi- sun, moon - 2 cards

*(As most of you know, Dust did most of the major arcana for his own deck a few years ago. You can see his amazing work at his website
http://dust.trigmafall.com - but don't let his style influence your own! I asked him to do suits so he won't repeat himself)

Click on the cards below to see descriptions of what I still need:

The Magician

The Empress

The Emporer

The Hierophant

The Lovers

The Chariot

Strength

Hermit

Justice

Hanged Man

Temperance

Judgement

The World

Rock out. Enjoy yourself. And get included. I want to see what you come up with, and know every time I look at these cards I'm seeing an aspect of someone I think kicks ass.

-e