How do we bring to life your Handcrafted tarot decks : The full PROCESS revealed
Guess how many steps are necessary to bring your tarot to life ?
12 steps (depending on opted options), 9 steps at least :
Printing : Printing 2 sheets of handmade cotton paper for each card of your deck, with beautiful colors, as close as possible to what they originally were in the 17/18th century.
Required time : several hours ; up to 3 hours when the printer works properly and doesn’t need maintainance.
Glueing : We use natural starch glue for your deck. Once the two pieces of handmade cotton paper are glued together, we install them in pile with a white sheet of regular paper in between each sheet to protect them.
Required time : up to 3 hours for a full deck
Iron Press : This step is crucial for your deck to be solid and to remain in good shape for a very long time. Once each card of your deck is glued, we put the pile inside the iron press. We put a very low pressure at first. We set a timer for 15 minutes, then we had a bit more pressure and set the timer for another 15 minutes. We repeat that process until the iron press reached the maximum level of pressure.
Required time : 24 hours to enhance the glueing step.
Drying : Once the first iron press step is completed, we separate each handmade cotton paper from the regular sheet of paper we used for protection. We hang each sheet of handmade cotton paper in order for it do dry fully and evenly.
Required time : 24-48 hours drying (it can take an extra day, depending on weather. While the rainy season, the humidity is so intense that some steps take longer).
Smoothing (when selected) : Once all the sheets are perfectly dried, we turn on the oven! First we heat it up to 170°Celcius, then we pile all the sheet of paper together (protecting them - up and bottom- with regular thick paper). We check regularly and when the paper burns our fingers, it’s ready ! Florent has more resistance to heat than me, so when I touch and burn myself thinking it is ready, he always says “hum, not yet, it needs to really burn”. Florent does the smoothing step 99% of the time 🤣. If the paper does not burn enough, the soap will not slide as much and the process will take much longer (once I needed 25 minute just for one card, because it wasn’t hot enough). And if the paper is not burning at all, or not even heated, the soap won’t stick to the paper and you won’t have a lamination, your deck won’t be protected and it won’t be as it used to be in the 17/18th century. Traditional smoothing is one our main signature yet a hard process to bring such a lasting result!
Required time : 4 hours for a full deck.
Cutting : Once the smoothing step is complete, we are ready for the cutting step. Your deck is taking shape ! We usually enter in a deep focus mode in order to cut the deck as nicely as possible! We do our best to offer you the best handcrafted deck :)
Required time : 3 hours for a full deck.
Removing excess of soap (when opted for smoothing) : During the smoothing step, soap is all around (even on the floor and most unexpected places🤣) lots of soap accumulates on the back of each card, so we miticulously remove it, one card at a time. We use a 100% natural soap made from bio olive oil.
Required time : 2 hours for a full deck.
Iron Press : Once the deck is ready, we need to put it again in the iron press so each card is totally flat. The heating process for smoothing then do deform the paper so this step is a must and it can last quite long!
Required time : 72 hours (minimum). It can last up to 5 days, depending on humidity level.
Cutting corners 3mm (when opted for) : Some person love to have rounded corners, especially for a daily use. At Tarotgraphe, we always recommend to choose obtuse corners, for a more authentic deck and when after a few years (or months depending on how harshly the cards are shuffled), the corners start to look damaged, you can always cut the corners yourself (always in 3mm) with a rounder easily accessible on market.
Required time : a solid hour for a full deck.
Handcrafted packaging (envelope or box) : depending on what packaging option you opted for, it requires a few days for the painting / drying / varnishing for protection / decoration, etc.
Required time : 1 hour for envelope / 3 days for a box (for the painting and varnish to dry properly).
Blessing of your tarot deck : At Tarotgraphe, we love our customers and we love Tradition, it is very important for us to “walk the talk”. So all your decks are blessed before shipping as an act of love and faith.
Required time : 10 minutes.
Shipping of your tarot deck : We live about an hour driving away for the city center so it always requires half a day to prepare the packaging, register each package online, then drive to the post office and wait for the post officer to process all your orders :) Usually we group that step with groceries and other personal needs in town.
Shipping time : We ship handcrafted tarot deck each Monday and/or Thursday.
There it is!
You are fully aware of what is going on after you place an order with us.
We kindly inform you as well that currently there is a 3 months waiting list if you order your deck today.
If you wish to surprise someone for a birthday, we advice you to order at least 4 months ahead (and to get in contact with us so we can do our best your you to receive your order right on-time for your loved ones) ♡
We kindly remind you that we and Tarotgraphe moved to Belize, so depending where you order from, delivery time is longer.
We provide 2 delivery options :
The regular one from the local Belize post office (no insurance provided but it’s more affordable and comes with a tracking numer).
The Express delivery through Fedex (with a possibility to insure your package at extra cost, through a third party shipping insurance).
Thank you for your trust & patience.
We work hard to make all tarot lovers, happy with Tarotgraphe.