What I actually wanted to do was open a store that offered independently made tarot and oracle decks like the ones I collected, first online and then offline. I would purchase these independent decks from vendors like Two Sides Tarot and Little Red Tarot, and I imagined that perhaps I might create my own small collection to offer to Manila residents (and maybe Asia).
In This Article...
Now I know some of you who frequent this blog do have tarot deck creation goals of your own… so I thought I’d put together a guide that can *fingers crossed* walk you through the creation process the way I did it.
Disclaimer: If you think this piece is going to be about suppliers, printers, and the like, I’m going to warn you right away that it isn’t. I get a lot of queries about those things. I encourage you to conduct independent research on execution. You can set together your decks just as easily as I did by conducting your own research. Your best friend is Google.
So let this serve as a guide, but don’t expect any spoon-feeding. Open yourselves up to the experience of learning through process, discovering through research, and creating a tarot deck all your own.
Have a goal in mind. Back in architecture school, we had to begin with a design challenge before we could even begin sketching or discussing aesthetics. You must understand your why. Initially, why are you building a deck? Is your deck an outlet for your creativity or an attempt to tackle a problem? Are you making a deck in order to generate income, support a certain cause, or get a little more tarot knowledge for yourself?
Knowing your why will set the tone for your entire creation process. Give this fundamental step time.
Once you have your test deck, use it. Tote it around (believe me, that tester won’t leave your hands the minute you get it!) and do readings for yourself, for potential clients, and for friends. See how it performs in the wild.
Revise, revise, revise. My most dreaded step of any project, but one that is absolutely essential if you’re going to get things right. Now that you’ve held your sample in your hands, have used it for 10, 20, 50 readings, you’ll know what needs shifting and what needs adjusting.
I immediately spotted things I wanted to change with my first run of the PM Starter Deck. Thank goodness I only had 11 copies printed, so I was able to remedy any glitches I saw without spending a fortune.
Study the market. If you’re super confident about your deck, then you can have it professionally done now! You can make a few copies just for you, or if you want to bite the bullet and go for a big print run, then go ahead and make that job order. Rest assured with the knowledge that you tested your deck, tweaked it as much as you needed to, and took into consideration everyone’s feedback as well.
See if people take interest with this newfangled indie deck you’re using. If people seem genuinely interested, then consider taking things commercial. Study your numbers and see if they’re good enough to make you feel like you’re taking a calculated risk.
If you decide to do a big print order, then do a Hail Mary and wish yourself luck. Who knows, your creation might be the next thing to hit the indie shelves of Two Sides Tarot and Little Red Tarot, right?
Can I create a custom tarot deck?
- cards in the shape of tarots
- 10 to 160 cards per deck are in each deck.
- Customization: As needed, the front and back of each card may be changed individually.
- Size: 70 x 121 mm, or 2.75″ x 4.75″
- Materials available:
- professional standard card stock S30 (FSC-certified) with blue core (smooth finish)
- Black core, S33 exceptional smooth card stock (smooth finish)
- Blue cored M28 professional standard linen card stock (linen finish)
- Blue core M29 professional BGM linen card stock (linen finish)
- The minimum order quantity for this option is 1000 cards, which are made on M30 magic quality card stock with a black core and a linen air light finish.
- Black core M31 casino quality card stock (linen finish)
- The minimum order quantity for this option is 1000 cards in the M32 master quality card stock with a black core (linen air finish).
- A35 typical card thickness
- 100% premium white plastic card stock, P10.
- E27 ecological card stock for bags
- Printing choices
- Holographic (front)
- Holographic (front & back)
- back with high gloss and full color print
- full color print with a gold gilded edge
- Full-color print with a silver gilt border
- (Front) holographic + edge in gold gilt
- Silver gilt edge and holographic (front)
- Cold foil spot gold on the back with a full-color print (front)
- Full-color print and spot silver cold foil on the back (front)
- Full color print with spot holographic cold foil (back) (front)
- No color print, spot gold cold foil on the front and back.
- No color print, spot silver cold foil on the front and back.
- No color print, spot holographic cold foil on the front and back.
- Finish:
- Options for packaging (per deck):
- Shrink-wrapped (default)
- plain or unique rigid box (uses 100 percent recycled chipboard)
- a simple white tuck box
- Printing on box:
- UV-coated T30 (gloss)
- aqueous T30 (matte)
- Aqueous, T25 100 percent recycled (matte)
- Aqueous T27 Eco Herbage (matte)
- Choices and results:
- Using gold foil stamps
- foil stamping in silver
- Stamping in gold foil and embossing
- Stamping in silver foil and embossing
- Stamping in gold foil and debossing
- Stamping in silver and debossing
- foil in gold (full cover)
- aluminum foil (full cover)
- Iridescent foil (full cover)
- a box’s seal
- typical seal for MPC
- individual stamp seal
- individual gold stamp seal
- Add-ons:
- If no box is selected for delivery, each card deck will be individually shrink-wrapped. If a plastic or tin box is selected, a card band is utilized for the cards. Tuck boxes will be shrink-wrapped if chosen. Roll up the uncut sheets and place them inside a firm tube.
- No order minimum is necessary. purchase one deck of cards for
What is the price of making a Tarot deck?
As an illustration, the production cost for a regular size oracle card deck printed by MPC will be roughly $30.10 USD for 42 cards plus packaging. The printing price drops to $13.70 per card if you can order 100 decks at once. It costs $7.36 each deck for 1000 decks, and so on.
A nice place to start is cardstock. It will be more durable than regular printer paper and is about the proper thickness. It is much simpler to create and print your own unique card deck because it can be printed using your home printer.
- Select a smooth or linen card stock for your project.
- Choose how many cards you want, then complete.
- Include a choice box in your deck.
- Here’s our tarot card generator online.
- Upload picture files, then drag and drop them onto the front and back of cards.
- Preview and checkout.
Self-Publishing Your Oracle Deck without an ISBN
The first choice is to get your deck printed in modest quantities and sell it locally without formally releasing it as a book product. If you plan to sell your deck mostly online, on Etsy, or in neighborhood book stores, this is a terrific option.
If you’re willing to handle the majority of the shipping yourself and anticipate selling a realistic number of decks each month, it’s a simple way to get started.
As an alternative, you can have a print-on-demand business like MPC or The Game Crafter produce your deck. Since each of these businesses has a physical location, you can sell your deck there directly, have orders transported straight to clients, and have individual copies made whenever someone places an order.
The benefit of this approach is that you won’t have to handle any of the packaging and shipping yourself, and you won’t have to make any initial outlays of money. The drawbacks of this strategy include very low profit margins per sale and lower-than-expected final product quality due to digital printing instead of offset printing for your business cards.
Self-Publishing with Your Own ISBN
The second option is to self-publish your deck with an ISBN number and have it produced in bigger quantities (beginning at 5001000 copies). You’ll need to conduct study to learn the precise steps to take for your deck because they may vary depending on the country.
The benefit of this approach is that you have the option to publish your deck as a physical book product and distribute it to book stores and online sellers all over the world once you have an ISBN number.
If you want to sell a lot of your decks, it would be excellent if you worked with a business that could store and ship your goods for you. A popular solution for this is Amazon FBA. This is a service that many of the bigger printing firms also provide.
(Note: You might need to publish your oracle or tarot deck along with a guidebook in order to obtain an ISBN number. Playing cards are not officially eligible for ISBN numbers as a stand-alone product. There are, however, some exclusions to the norm. If in doubt, get in touch with your ISBN organization for more details.)
Getting Your Oracle Deck Published by a Publishing House
Finally, you might want to think about submitting your deck to a publishing house that specializes in oracle cards and/or spiritual literature.
However, working with a reputable publisher has certain special benefits as well if you feel compelled to pursue this path.
You won’t have to bother about printing, distributing, or sending your deck to clients yourself, to start. By utilizing the network of booksellers that your publisher already has, you can reach a far wider audience with fewer upfront costs. A portion of the promotion will also be done for you by your publisher. (However, you will be required to contribute to the promotion as well.)
To Sum Things Up …
The process of getting your oracle card deck published can take many different forms. Ultimately, you must decide what is ideal for you based on your objectives, vision, plans for using your oracle deck to generate money for your company, and the time and resources you are willing to commit both now and in the future.
If I were to make a recommendation to you, it would be as follows:
Develop your vision first. Describe the specifics of your deck, including its subject, number of cards, preferred card size, whether a box and/or booklet are necessary, how you want to use the deck in your business, and other details.
To create the first physical prototype of your deck, work with a prototyping business.
Choose your next course of action once you are satisfied with what you have. If you want to self-publish your deck, print a small quantity (up to 1000 decks, or print them as needed, based on your budget and preferences) and then start marketing your cards to your target market. You can send your prototype and proposal to publishing houses if you’re thinking about finding a publisher for your oracle card deck.
Aim higher. Invest in the tools and services you’ll need to reach more people and sell your deck. This could involve employing a warehouse and distribution service, setting up Amazon FBA, printing and publishing your cards with an ISBN number so you can distribute your deck to book stores, etc.
As a general rule, give yourself the room and resources you’ll need to expand into your vision without feeling constrained, honor the trip, and ground your idea as swiftly or gradually as is appropriate for you and your business at this moment.
Want More In-Depth Support to Bring Your Vision of Your Own Oracle Deck to Life?
For more information on how my team and I can help you with our done-for-you services, check out my DIY course here or send me a note.
Questions you don’t really want answered
Even though it might seem apparent, it’s advisable to refrain from asking the tarot cards questions that you aren’t prepared to hear the answers to. That’s because answers to these questions can reveal information you’re just not quite ready to hear.
“Tarot can definitely come off as offensive if you’re not willing to hear the truth or consider an opposing opinion. Tarot reading Nicole Fortunaso
According to tarot reader and life coach Nicole Fortunaso, “tarot may truly come out as offensive if you are not willing to hear the truth of the problem or look at an alternate viewpoint.” She advises analyzing why you’re reacting the way you are in order to reflect on how to effectively address the underlying problem if you ask the question and aren’t satisfied with the response.
What occurs when tarot cards are read?
According to her, “Tarot cards do not predict the future; rather, tarot is a tool for spiritual guidance and allows the reader to connect to his or her inner wisdom.” “Tarot readings assist a person in learning the information required to make sense of a specific circumstance. As readings provide a person with insight into past, present, and future occurrences based on their current path at the time of the reading, decks are best utilized as a tool of inner wisdom and guidance. The cards don’t always predict what will happen; rather, they help a person analyze a situation and choose the best course of action based on what is already known and what the cards indicate.”
How much does printing an Oracle deck cost?
Most print-on-demand businesses let customers place orders as low as one deck. This is ideal for testing reasons or if your initial printing budget isn’t too large.
On the down side, this printing technique has very high production costs, which means your profit per sale will be modest. Additionally, you won’t have a lot of design freedom, so it would be a good idea to think about some additional options in the long run.
The good news is that almost all print-on-demand playing card manufacturers also provide bulk discounts for larger purchases.
Say you intend to sell each card in your deck for $35: Your profit per deck will only be around $5 if you print your cards on demand. If you purchase 100 decks in bulk, your profit per deck rises to $21.30 after subtracting shipping and other costs. You can make $27.64 per deck after expenditures at 1000 decks. so forth.
This choice works best if you anticipate receiving orders frequently, you feel confident sending the cards yourself, or you want to sell the cards locally but would rather print them in smaller quantities initially.
What elements make up a tarot deck?
The Venetian or Piedmontese tarot served as the inspiration for the typical modern tarot deck. The major arcana, which contains 22 cards and is also known as the trumps, and the minor arcana, which has 56 cards, make up the 78 cards that make up this deck. Moon, card number 18 in the major arcana.
Am I able to create my own oracle cards?
Since the meanings of oracle cards are typically stated directly on them, there is no need to learn the meanings of each individual card, making it an even simpler hobby to start than tarot cards.
Variability: You can make your deck as distinctive as you want it to be because the format for oracle cards allows for so much flexibility. In addition to the meanings on their cards, some artists also include rituals for the user to do.
Oracle stands itself from other card games by being a collector’s item in addition to a game and a hobby. It’s difficult to stop after purchasing just one deck because there are so many decks available with various sorts of artwork. Printing oracle cards is a creative approach for artists to promote their work in a way that is both aesthetically beautiful and practical.