ORNATE Playing Cards Preview

[N3TL0@D3R]

they're just fine....OK, I've seen better.... i just want a freaking brick!!!!!!
Awesome mate, i will be waiting for those.

[sinsandman]

Bicycle branding or not, this will be a great deck. Looking forward to it!

[RandyButterfield]

It's wild how much controversy could stem from just a small 2"w x 1"h area on the tuck box!

Here's another still image from the promo animation that will hopefully soften the non-Bicycle
branding a little more.

thanks, Randy

[NathanCanadas]

The face of the box looks amazing, the queen design is brilliant. Randy the design is awesome, super awesome, duper awesome, and did I say it was awesome?! You are the next Da Vinci

[Don Boyer]

I want to see those cards - and those chips!

[Dudeee]

Firstly, I would like to say I am a poker kinda guy as well.

Secondly, I am looking for a new set of chips for the new home.

Thirdly, I love the ornate and opulent look of the cards. They look like poker cards that royalties will use for a game of poker.

These cards and chips looks perfect in my opinion, the details and the colors are extremely regal.

Awesome Job Randy!!!!

[RandyButterfield]

Thanks for the compliment Dudee!

A regal set of cards that look like they're for royalty is what I was going for when I first started designing
these. I was watching an episode of _______ and got hit by the spark when they were in a room with
a bunch of ornate, baroque style chairs!

The ORNATE Poker Chips are in limbo as of now. I've attached the flats to show a full look of them. In order
to get the designed border, that would flow nicely with the cards, the chips would need to be custom Ceramic
Chips. Clay Chips with sticker inlays have great print quality but the borders available aren't great for these
designs. The unfortunate part of Ceramic Chips is the printing technology is not the best. The ink actually soaks
into the chip so there is some bleeding that doesn't allow for superfine details, and the colors darken up also.
The prototypes I had mad look OK but they're definitely not perfect. I had to lighten a lot of the colors and remove
some fine details, most notably the lighting and texture on the "Flower" shapes.

I'm ordering a set for myself this week. When I get the finished Chips I'll make the call on whether the final chips
are good enough to sell them through my MidnightCardCompany website, that is still in progress.

thanks, Randy

[Aaron]

Thanks for the compliment Dudee!

A regal set of cards that look like they're for royalty is what I was going for when I first started designing
these. I was watching an episode of The Tudors and got hit by the spark when they were in a room with
a bunch of ornate, baroque style chairs!

The ORNATE Poker Chips are in limbo as of now. I've attached the flats to show a full look of them. In order
to get the designed border, that would flow nicely with the cards, the chips would need to be custom Ceramic
Chips. Clay Chips with sticker inlays have great print quality but the borders available aren't great for these
designs. The unfortunate part of Ceramic Chips is the printing technology is not the best. The ink actually soaks
into the chip so there is some bleeding that doesn't allow for superfine details, and the colors darken up also.
The prototypes I had mad look OK but they're definitely not perfect. I had to lighten a lot of the colors and remove
some fine details, most notably the lighting and texture on the "Flower" shapes.

I'm ordering a set for myself this week. When I get the finished Chips I'll make the call on whether the final chips
are good enough to sell them through my MidnightCardCompany website, that is still in progress.

thanks, Randy

HOLY CRAP! Don't make me need to buy the chips also Those look amazing! How big of sets will the be sold in?

[Dudeee]

Thanks for the compliment Dudee!

A regal set of cards that look like they're for royalty is what I was going for when I first started designing
these. I was watching an episode of The Tudors and got hit by the spark when they were in a room with
a bunch of ornate, baroque style chairs!

The ORNATE Poker Chips are in limbo as of now. I've attached the flats to show a full look of them. In order
to get the designed border, that would flow nicely with the cards, the chips would need to be custom Ceramic
Chips. Clay Chips with sticker inlays have great print quality but the borders available aren't great for these
designs. The unfortunate part of Ceramic Chips is the printing technology is not the best. The ink actually soaks
into the chip so there is some bleeding that doesn't allow for superfine details, and the colors darken up also.
The prototypes I had mad look OK but they're definitely not perfect. I had to lighten a lot of the colors and remove
some fine details, most notably the lighting and texture on the "Flower" shapes.

I'm ordering a set for myself this week. When I get the finished Chips I'll make the call on whether the final chips
are good enough to sell them through my MidnightCardCompany website, that is still in progress.

thanks, Randy

I really hope the chips work out, they look like they fit nicely on my poker table.

On another note, I forgot to suggest this in my previous post.

Even if the chips aren't possible, I think this will be a good idea and I think they will sell too(at least with the collectors and poker players).

How about getting some plastic cards? From a poker player to another, these are essential for a truly Regal game. On top of that some designers are starting to print plastic cards nowadays, Karnivals and Gargoyles both have cards done with plastic.

Hope you can handle the added suggestion.

[RandyButterfield]

Hey Everyone,

I'm not adept at website coding, at all. I'm currently working on relearning Dreamweaver, so my original plan was to just squeak out
a finished website and not deal with a store section. After I saw Paul (Tendril - http://encarded.bigcartel.com/) mention that he uses
big cartel for his store I checked into it and it's really cool. They host your store at a small monthly fee and you don't have to worry
about any order coding stuff.

So, unless my Poker Set turns out like crap, I'll have the Poker Chips for sale on my site in 2 areas. The first being a cheap 4 Chip
(one of each color) Sample Set so people could make a small purchase first and get some Chips in their hands before they invest in a
full set. The second being the set quantities of 100, 250, 500, 600, 750 and 1,000. If big cartel allows for dropdown ordering of specific
quantities I'll probably go with that so people can get the exact amount of Chips they want. Either way with the sets I'll have a sentence
or 2 stating that when someone orders they can e-mail me with Chip color breakdowns if they don't want 25% of each color in their set.

So far here's what I was thinking of having in my store:

Poker Chips SAMPLE SET
Poker Chips Set Quantities
1 or 2 Shirts
Art Glycee Prints
Playing Cards and Uncuts (these will redirect to the store page of the company that's producing and distributing the cards)


I'm happy to take any suggestions if anyone has any ideas on other items.

@ Dudee, Plastic cards is something I didn't look at in-depth, but after seeing all the hassle that Reagan has gone through
with his plastic cards (the Kem/not Kem debate) I'm thinking that I'll stay out of that arena at this time.

thanks, Randy

[NathanCanadas]

Randy, I think that's a great idea. It would allow people to choose exactly what they would like.

[Billywiz]

Randy, will your poker chip sets come with a custom dealer button or standard dealer button? If custom do you have any ideas or pictures? Thanks.

[Aaron]

Well, I am going to need a set of chips. I have a decent set but I have been looking for a new one so these will be perfect. I'll probably pick up a 500-piece set, depending on price. And a brick of the deck should do for me and maybe an uncut. I can't wait to get the chips and decks. I am really curious what company will be putting these out. Can you tell us if it is a big company?

[RandyButterfield]

Randy, will your poker chip sets come with a custom dealer button or standard dealer button? If custom do you have any ideas or pictures? Thanks.

I actually hadn't planned on a dealer button. I'll look into it and get back with you. I wasn't planning on selling full sets with all the bells and whistles - i.e. Chips, Dealer Button, Dice, Case and Cards. There's a lot of places online to purchase empty Poker Cases and Dice at very reasonable rates. I added Dealer Button to my "to do" list and will work on a design for it. I'm sure the company printing the chips can also print custom dealer buttons.

@Aaron, the thing with Ceramic Chips is they're not cheap!
If I have them in the store they'll probably be priced around:

$1.00 per Chip (1-250 Set)

.90¢ per Chip (251-500 Set)

.80¢ per Chip (501-750 Set)

.75¢ per Chip (751-1,000 Set)


thanks, Randy

[NathanCanadas]

Would the chips be usable for card magic? That would be rad! 

[RandyButterfield]

Would the chips be usable for card magic? That would be rad! 

I have no idea!! They would be 39mm Smooth Surface Ceramic Chips.
The weight and "clink" of the prototypes I have are real nice.

[Don Boyer]

Would the chips be usable for card magic? That would be rad! 

Chips?  In card magic?  I usually use cards...  Y'know, seeing as how it's card magic and all that... 


Now, COIN magic, on the other hand...


There's a sister category of coin magic that covers chips.  There's differences in how they handle, and the gaffs are somewhat different.  Chips are generally much lighter, and larger than all but the biggest coins.

[Dudeee]

I can't wait for this deck to be out. It has the two things that I like, luxury and regal looking cards and it's designed with poker in mind too.

I have never requested for a signed deck so far, but I'm gonna break the rule this time.

I hope it will go on sale soon.

[phantom1412]

I'll be ordering both decks and chips for sure. For collection purposes only.
I can't imagine myself letting people throwing, playing, destroying ... etc the chips. LoL

[xlacs]

These are absolutely gorgeous and elegant looking. Wish I had a man cave and a nice poker table to show them off in .

 

[RandyButterfield]

Thanks for the kind words everyone! I should be getting my set of Chips hopefully by the end of this week.
We have our monthly Poker night in 2 weeks, so I will definitely be trying them out soon! I'll take pictures of the
Chips once they arrive.

thanks, Randy

[RandyButterfield]

Here's some pics of my set of ORNATE Poker Chips. I'll be testing them out in a couple nights with my Poker buddies.

thanks, Randy

[Aaron]

DAMN!! Those are SEXY! I love them, I doubt I wil be able to afford them at $1 a chip though. You should consider also making a version of the chips on cheap plastic chip that come in sets at Wall-Mart. Then us less wealthy people could also buy them.

[Don Boyer]

Those do look awesome.  What's the weight of each chip?

Are they REALLY going to cost a buck a chip?  What about in bulk?

[RandyButterfield]

Those do look awesome.  What's the weight of each chip?

Are they REALLY going to cost a buck a chip?  What about in bulk?

Thanks Don. The weight is 10-10.5 grams and they are 39mm in diameter. The blank chips themselves are imported from Sun-Fly (www.sunflycasinochips.com) so they are professional grade ceramics. They are printed by a Florida based company called Palm Imports (http://www.palmimports.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=3).

The cost to myself is .59$ cents per chip, no matter how many I order at a time. This doesn't include the shipping fees to myself, the time spent sorting and getting the sets ready for mailing and WASTE. I learned last night that around 5% of the chips will be tossed. Some of them have missing ink patches and some have dark outlines at the edges. So with the 751-1,000 Chip Sets selling on my site for .75$ per chip there's a good chance I could lose a few dollars on each set sold. I'm not too worried about that yet though. If I sell them through my site they will mainly serve as tax deductions for Midnight Cards - with the added bonus that it raises the awareness of the Midnight Cards brand.

I'm looking into another company that prints on Ceramic Chips so we'll see how that pans out.

Good Clay Chips are just as expensive, or even more expensive, as Ceramics. The plastic/ABS chips are closer to .20$ per chip but the range of available borders is very limited. I could look into maybe having some ABS chips with inlays at a cheaper price as an option to those who can't afford or don't want to spend a lot on Ceramics.

Here's Palm Imports info on ABS Chips:

http://www.palmimports.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1&Itemid=2

Would you guys be interested in on option to buy ABS Chips?

thanks, Randy