EVEN MORE TAROT CRAFTING and some wine glasses. And stuff.

 Yeahhhhhhhhh I'm not done yet. But this is really just tarot extras, not more card trimming or edging. Just some other stuff I did.

First of all, one of my favorite artists for tarot decks recently came out with these lovely suede satchels for his tarot decks. I got one with a Kickstarter he launched a while back for a Lenormand deck he made, and they're very nice, just a neat little package to wrap the deck up in that extends out a bit to create something like a mini-mat for laying out cards. I loved the one with my Lenormand deck, and was highly tempted to buy some for my other decks by this artist. If you want to see, they're right here:

https://www.jamesreadsmerch.com/

Seriously. Check him out. His art is so beautiful. I've bought multiple decks, and prints that are hanging on the walls. 

In the end, I talked myself out of spending unnecessary money, because I was fairly certain I could make something like that. And what do you know, I totally did!

For my first one, I measured out a rectangle that would fit my largest deck and guidebook. Basically I cut a long strip of fabric the right width to wrap around and extend out. I also cut small rectangles for the ends roughly approximating how wide I would want the satchel to be to have enough space for a deck and a book. 

I also made a liner out of silk, since silk is a good classic wrap for tarot decks. The outside is actually made of scraps from the shorts I made for Danny when we dressed as The Producers a while ago, and I got the silk from an old robe I bought in college and dyed red. I used the trim to hide the seams on the outside since I didn't have enough of the brown suede to cut it all in one piece. The cord was salvaged from some old pillow shams I disassembled years ago. It's actually the same set I made that red brocade corset so many years ago. Feel free to backtrack through my posts to look if you like, but it's really not relevant.

It's honestly hard to describe exactly what I did, but you know, cut, sew together, sew lining in. I'm afraid I can't really give you a clear tutorial on this. If someone really wants one, let me know and I can try harder to break it down, but right now I don't think it's necessary. 

It's a really nice way to safely bundle up a tarot deck and a book, either a guidebook or a notebook or whatever and take it with me. I can tuck a pen into the cord when it's wrapped around as well.

I also made a smaller one that just fits a basic deck, and it's fine, but it's honestly just not as useful.

I also decided to do something to make it easier to lay out card spreads. I had a spread cloth I had been using, it was basically a sarong wrap I'd bought and would lay down before reading cards, but the thing with regular fabric is that whenever I try to pick up a card off of it I would always grab the fabric too. I wanted something like the playmats I used to use back when I played Magic, with the value of some Magic cards I knew it was a good way to protect valuable cards. And obviously I need a cool custom one. Luckily based on my custom printed decks I'm familiar with custom printing things. And I decided I wanted it to look just like the cloth I had been using, since I had been using that basically since I started reading. 

So I took a picture of the cloth, tweaked it a little to clean up shadows and stains on the fabric, and upped the color saturation just a bit for fun. Sent it in on the biggest mat size I could get.

I also ordered some for Cari and Rachel for their birthdays, but I don't have pictures of those. Cari's had a cool Harry Potter Ravenclaw picture and Rachel's had an image of The World from the Wild Unknown tarot deck, which is another favorite of mine and hers. So, you know, not something I made but my idea, I guess?

I also made a few more wine glasses. I really slowed down due to the fact that I was living in a very small apartment for about a year where my frankly excessive wine glass collection just barely fit into the woefully inadequate cupboard space. But I did make this:

I love this thing. The pattern was made with random chunks or clay rolled into a tube and then sliced off in circles and pressed all over the glass. The letters were made using fondant cutters. I also recently made similar ones for Rachel and Cari, because who doesn't need a wine glass for "fuck it" days?

I also made this one:

That, if you don't know, is one Fat Gum from My Hero Academia, one of my favorite characters from that show. He's sweet and caring and just amazing. And very very fat. Perfect for a nice stemless wine glass. 

So, I think that's the main crafty things I've done that's completed. Also, in case you missed the past tense of me living in an apartment I BOUGHT A HOUSE. 

It was a crazy situation, all the sudden my mom has decided to move to a bigger house because my grandma needs to move in with her and she had this great opportunity for a great house so she took it. And in the process of this, she says to me, jokingly, "Want to buy my house?" 

I laugh. Hahaha, like I'm in a place where I can buy a house. I mention to Stu, "Hey, isn't this a funny joke my mom made? Haha." And instead of laughing, Stu goes, "Wait a minute."

And it all just fell into place from there. We were able to get approved for a loan at a great interest rate, mom knocked the price down for us, Stu's parents helped with the down payment and suddenly we were moving into a house. My mom's house, of all things. I was even able to contribute more than I thought I could due to the oh so useful corona virus stimulus check the government handed out. 

Since then I've had several house related projects, I repainted some cupboards, replaced some fixtures and installed some new towel bars, toilet paper roll holders and whatnot. I got super handy with a drill and a screwdriver. I even learned to install blinds all by myself. It's been great, and I'm so happy to be out of that apartment. I have a lot more projects planned, but there's only so much I can do at once, you know?

Also, if you think I'm not doing a Halloween costume just cuz corona virus means we can't have a proper Halloween party, you got another thing coming. But you'll have to wait for that one. :D