Weird Science Oracle: Work in Progress

I’ve started work on a new oracle deck. This one will probably be about 50 cards in the standard tarot size. I got the idea after a customer contacted me on Etsy and gave me feedback about my card design. Unsolicited, to be sure, but it turned out to be practical advice from a working card reader. They said that cards that are standard tarot size and that have no borders would be preferred by a broader audience. Some of the decks they liked were my Rock Star Oracle and my Weird Science Deck of Curious Cards.

Make it stand out

I was craving something a bit more free and unstructured to work on…

I also love these decks and am especially fond of the Weird Science deck as it is unique and unusual, as well as being multi-purpose for a wide variety of artists, so I was already thinking of expanding or recreating that style of deck. I’m also working on my first Tarot Deck, a collaboration with my pal at Mak Jagger Tarot, which has a specific theme and focus so I was craving something a bit more free and unstructured to work on at the same time. I like to work on different projects and in different modalities at the same time so I don’t get bored.

Each time I start a deck I have a general idea of some elements, such as the size of the cards, how many cards will be in the deck, and how I will package it for sale. I also know what the modality will be - digital design or collage, or a combination of the two. For this deck I knew I wanted it to be nearly all collage with minimal digital processing, to be standard tarot size, to have found poetry as the only text on the card, and for the images to extend all the way to the edge of the card in a borderless design. I also wanted this to be a sizable deck and have decided on between 50-54 cards.

Source material is an important element in collage work, of course, and I wanted to have a somewhat cohesive theme without each card having a predetermined meaning. I decided to use recycled book pages for a part of each card design, using an interesting paperback about how designs for the University of Chicago changed over time. The text is interspersed with colorful, geometric maps that I thought would be a perfect palette and cohesive design element in this deck.

I also missed working with my favorite source, nature guides and animals encyclopedias, so I decided to use one element from each of these on each card. To keep some sense of cohesion I stuck to a small collection of source books that includes reptiles, birds, insects and seashells. Having some loose “rules” when starting an oracle deck gives me guidelines and a container to work within, and it ensures that the final card deck will have a cohesive look and feel and the cards will be able to be “read” together without losing continuity of tone or feeling.

I also missed working with my favorite source, nature guides and animals encyclopedias, so I decided to use one element from each of these on each card.

Because these will be borderless cards I am not worried about trimming the edges. I’ll just crop them out after scanning them to digital image files. Usually I work on index cards because they are the same proportions as a Tarot card, and are inexpensive and easy to find. But I have had these 4x6 sheets of photo paper for decades that I know I’ll never use to print actual photos like we all did 20 years ago. So I decided to use some of it up as the canvas for these collages.

So far I’ve finished 25 of the 50 or so cards I plan to make. When I get excited about a project and into a flow state, it’s very easy for me to work with sustained energy for hours on end. I might be sore the next day from standing at my workbench, but it is a satisfying kind of weariness.

Here’s a video flip-through of some of the collages for this deck: