Edging you tarot deck - DIY

Many tarot decks come with white edges. Make your copy more beautiful - and longer lasting - with color edging that you easily can do yourself.

For many years I did not feel the need for edging decks. That was until I startet using decks without a white border! Look at this (amazing!) deck. For dark or colorful cards like these, it takes only a few shuffles before you start to see the results on the edges. Thereof the need for edging.

This is a sample before edging.

This is a sample after edging. See the difference?

Edging is really quite easy. For a longer lasting result, many use alcohol based permanent markers. I don't. The reason is - at some point during the process, I will make a small mistake and ink will get onto the front or the back of the card. With a permanent marker, It's not a given that I will the ink off the card again. Cards with ink stains on them - uh oh.

What I do - I dive into the box with my kids coloring pens and go from there. Most of them are easy to apply, and can be easily wiped off the card if a mistake happens. For this particular deck I chose black edging. As you can see in the picture, I picked out two coloring pens. I tested both on a not so visible place to make sure it gave no bleed. One of them did give a small bleed and didn't get to join (it gets to do lots of fun coloring with the girls, so no worries on his behalf). The other one worked perfectly and to my satisfaction it smelled like sweet liquorice so the process was even more enjoyable than I expected - - -

For the end result, I was very happy. I will do it again in a few days to cover uneven areas, but as for now this looks so much more together than before. Now these beauties are really ready for shadow work...

Here is an outline of the process for you!

1. Choose your marker

I prefer water soluble kids coloring pens with a cone shaped tip. For best results, pick a color close to the color scheme of the deck.

(I saw once a deck which had been colored in all colors of the rainbow - very fresh!)

2. Start edging

Start with a test card (maybe you kept the extra card in the deck when it was new) and make sure the marker does not bleed, and that it gives the color you want. With water soluble pens you might have to to each card twice to get an even look. You'll figure that out.

Be slow and pay attention to each card. Make sure you covered all the white edges. Don't try to use the tip of the pen, use the edges of the pen to paint.

3. Wipe card

It is always a good idea to wipe every card quickly when you did all four sides. If you make a mistake and get ink on the front or back, wipe it immediately before continuing with the rest of the card.

Some ink can be wiped off with the fingers as long as it didn't dry yet. You can also use a paper towel or a piece of cotton fabric from an old sheet. For these cards I wiped with my thumb and index, sometimes I wiped with a piece of paper towel or a very slightly damp cotton cloth.

4. Leave to dry

You have to let the ink dry without using the cards. For permanent markers, dry up to 48 hours. For water soluble I think a few hours will be fine, but why not just put them away for the night just to make sure. Some edgers lay all the cards out to dry one for one, for me that was not necessary.

Here you can see half the deck done. It probably has to be done twice for a totally even result.

The deck I used here is a favorite of mine, the Tarot of Haunted House by Sasha Graham.

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