ORNATE Playing Cards Preview

[NathanCanadas]

The palm import chips don't seem they would fit with your design... How big would the price difference be?

[RandyButterfield]

The palm import chips don't seem they would fit with your design... How big would the price difference be?

Nathan, I'm using Palm Imports now to print the Ceramic Chips. The ABS link above is just Palm Imports available borders for custom ABS Chips. There are some other borders available with other companies, but not much more of a variety. That's why I went with Ceramics in the first place - the ability to do FULL customization with the Chips and border. If I did some ORNATE ABS Chips they would probably sell on my site for .50¢ or less per chip.

thanks, Randy

[NathanCanadas]

I meant the ABS chips from this link:
http://www.palmimports.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1&Itemid=2

If there are other border possibilities, then it might work out, but for a difference 9 cents a chip, I would rather have one that is uniform.

[RandyButterfield]

I meant the ABS chips from this link:
http://www.palmimports.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1&Itemid=2

If there are other border possibilities, then it might work out, but for a difference 9 cents a chip, I would rather have one that is uniform.

It would be a .50¢ difference. The Ceramics would sell on my site for $1.00 or less per chip. The ABS would sell for .50¢ or less per chip.

thanks, Randy

[NathanCanadas]

Oh, wow! I thought it cost you 59¢ for the ceramics and 50¢ for the ABS. I would personally go with the ABS: the price difference is really big for not a huge design difference.

[Don Boyer]

Personally, I might pay for a more expensive chip - but having the cheaper option available is smart business.  There will be a lot of people here who simply couldn't afford it.  At a dollar a chip, a small set of only 100 costs $100 - that's not cheap.

[Russell CircleCityCards]

Randy and I met up last night and I got to take a look at the chips.  They are gorgeous!  The detail they can put on a porous chip is amazing.  Looking at the PSD vs the final chip is pretty close.


As for the price, I don't think these are really intended for long-term serious use.  It is more of a fun and unique collectible item to have.  Anyone can go to Walmart and buy chips to use for the weekly poker game, but this is functional art.


I've been looking into a few chip dealers myself, it is amazing the range of materials and quality that is available.  I think Randy found a winner.
I'd love to make some for my Americana deck... 

[RandyButterfield]

Thanks for the kind words Russell! It was great to meet you.

I was lucky to get my Americana Kickstarter decks last night and they are badass!!
The grunge background is perfect, the art is sweet and the USPCC did a great job with
a really small border trim.


As for the Poker Chips, I'm not counting on selling very many sets. I don't know if I would want to
sell a lot of them! After spending over an hour just going through my set of 600 picking out the bad chips
with missing ink patches and just getting them all separated I had a huge headache. Granted, they were
in order in the shipping box but after I let the kids play with them for just 15 minutes they were a cluster****!

thanks, Randy

[Lara Krystle "Lane"]

Randy... you are AMAZING! These are gorgeous cards! And also I'm not a gamblr or card player of any-sorts... but those chips makes me want to be one hahahah!!!
You are an amazing talented designer. I wish I was more like you guys here at Aethercards (and elsewheres) who has this awesome talent for designing and drawing.

I <3 the Sapphire and Scarlet names.
I can't wait to get some of these. I just hope I don't miss out on it like I  did on the seasons due to the heavy site traffics that I couldn't get through.

These are really incredible.

[K]

I must say those cards and chips look sexy  any idea when is the release date? Can't seem to find it.. but it's good to take your time and get everything to perfection like the seasons  I'm with others on the $1 per chip, wouldn't that be expensive especially to international buyers? due to the weight and all.. Because I'm really interested in getting those!

[RandyButterfield]

I must say those cards and chips look sexy  any idea when is the release date? Can't seem to find it.. but it's good to take your time and get everything to perfection like the seasons  I'm with others on the $1 per chip, wouldn't that be expensive especially to international buyers? due to the weight and all.. Because I'm really interested in getting those!

Sorry I haven't responded earlier. My family and I are still at Disney World! It looks like the release date of June is still doable, by early July at the latest.

As for the chips, my neighborhood Poker game last week went great. The chips looked, clinked and felt great. My Poker buddies thought they were cool, and they're hard to sway with anything new! Next week I'm going to check on a different company and maybe get a few chips through them to compare with the Palm Import chips.

I have a couple other items to go with the ORNATES that are in progress and should be pretty sweet also + a LOT cheaper than the Poker Chips!

thanks, Randy

[LeonJL]

Is this deck still scheduled to release in June? Latest early July? Any updates on it? I do look forward to seeing this deck and the chips. 

[RandyButterfield]

Is this deck still scheduled to release in June? Latest early July? Any updates on it? I do look forward to seeing this deck and the chips. 

Hi awretch,

Unfortunately they're delayed a little bit and it looks like mid-to-late July. It's out of my hands, so I can't control when they come out. Hopefully they're worth the wait!

I've been concentrating on getting some cool accessories and art prints to go with the decks. The Poker Chips had a great breakthrough the past couple weeks. I contacted a different Chip manufacturer and they ran a few samples of the ORNATE Chips on there Smooth Ceramics. They look amazing! The color richness and fine details are head-and-shoulders better than the Palm Imports Chips I originally planned on going with. Another good development is the new Chip manufacturer liked the designs quite a bit and it looks like they will be available to purchase through their website directly. This means the Chips will be a little cheaper than if I was the middle man going through Palm Imports. It also means I won't have to deal with shipping Chips to my home, sorting through them to complete orders and shipping them out to customers! That is a huge relief. I don't want to say the Chip manufacturer's name yet because we're still working on the details.

I've also been working on a website for Midnight Cards. Website creation is something I dread and have been putting off for too long. I keep pushing it back to work on print or promo items. Tonight I finished up a design for a Midnight Cards specific print piece that turned out pretty cool. I went ahead and grabbed a section and put together a quick Wallpaper. I'll have iPhone, iPad and various size wallpapers of this and an ORNATE version(s) as free downloads on my site as well.

Here's the link to the large version of the Wallpaper:

www.midnightcardcompany.com/MidnightWallLG.jpg

Once the cards get close to releasing I'll start a new thread in the Playing Cards Plethora section with a link to the Promo Animation.

On a side note - just a couple weeks ago I was writing up some description copy for the ORNATES and ended it with "Playing cards fit for a King!". A couple days later I saw the White Monarchs description "Elegant, fit for a king,....." and now just tonight I noticed the new Baroque Deck from Criss Angel has a product description that ends with "ideal for fans of magic and LOYALS alike.... The King of Cards!". What is going on!! I need to go back and changeup my copy some.

thanks, Randy

[Lara Krystle "Lane"]

Hey Randy I remember the thing about the description. did we go for something like "Creating finely detailed playing cards to suit your Royal impulses" At least that is what I went with on my post
http://laranovales.wordpress.com/playing-cards-co/midnight-card-company/
But yeah.

xoxo
Lara

[RandyButterfield]

Hey Randy I remember the thing about the description. did we go for something like "Creating finely detailed playing cards to suit your Royal impulses" At least that is what I went with on my post
http://laranovales.wordpress.com/playing-cards-co/midnight-card-company/
But yeah.

xoxo
Lara

Thanks Lara! It's actually still in there, last line of the Company Overview. It looks like we changed the copy for the short tagline
to "Creating finely detailed playing cards to suit your Royal impulses". I just noticed the link for the interview. Very cool!

thanks, Randy

[LeonJL]

Thanks for the update Randy! I'm sure they're worth the wait. You mentioned accessories and art print, are you planning to make a combo or some sort so that people who are interested could get one which includes decks, chips(i know it's more costly if it's shipped to you and then for you to pack it into a combo..) and other things maybe?

Great news on the chips! From your description, it's piqued my curiosity and I want to see how they turn out.

Anyway, hope to see this on the Playing Cards Plethora in the future!

[NathanCanadas]

I'm sorry if this has already been answered, but now that you have a sponsor for the deck as well as probably one for the chips, will you need a kickstarter or will you directly skip the pre-ordering phase and just order the decks and have them to order on your site? Also, congrats for the chips, I'm glad they turned out well and won't be too costly either.

[RandyButterfield]

I'm sorry if this has already been answered, but now that you have a sponsor for the deck as well as probably one for the chips, will you need a kickstarter or will you directly skip the pre-ordering phase and just order the decks and have them to order on your site? Also, congrats for the chips, I'm glad they turned out well and won't be too costly either.

Nathan, the decision to go without Kickstarter was made back in January!
The decks will be up for sale when they are instock and ready to go. No pre-order.

thanks, Randy

[Don Boyer]

After the description you gave of the last chip set, I admit my curiosity is piqued about this new one.  Don't suppose you could post images of them?  I'll settle for CG previews!

[RandyButterfield]

After the description you gave of the last chip set, I admit my curiosity is piqued about this new one.  Don't suppose you could post images of them?  I'll settle for CG previews!

Hey Don,

Here's an ok picture I took of the Old and New Chips side-by-side. I don't have a macro lens so the photo quality isn't great, but you can see some of the differences. The Red and Gold Chips have a little depth-of-field going on but you can see the sharpness difference of the New Chips on the White and Black ones. The best comparison that comes through in the photo is the Floral Pattern on the White Chips. Also, the Gold colors are much nicer and all of the Suits and Floral Pattern have a lot more detail showing through in the New Chips.

I'm doing some minor color adjustments, lightening some colors and darkening others, to make the New Chips pop even more for production.

thanks, Randy

[Don Boyer]

After the description you gave of the last chip set, I admit my curiosity is piqued about this new one.  Don't suppose you could post images of them?  I'll settle for CG previews!

Hey Don,

Here's an ok picture I took of the Old and New Chips side-by-side. I don't have a macro lens so the photo quality isn't great, but you can see some of the differences. The Red and Gold Chips have a little depth-of-field going on but you can see the sharpness difference of the New Chips on the White and Black ones. The best comparison that comes through in the photo is the Floral Pattern on the White Chips. Also, the Gold colors are much nicer and all of the Suits and Floral Pattern have a lot more detail showing through in the New Chips.

I'm doing some minor color adjustments, lightening some colors and darkening others, to make the New Chips pop even more for production.

thanks, Randy

I noticed the red-suited chips have sort of a black "filigree" in a circle near the edge of the chip.  The black-suited ones don't have anything filling them in.  I'd consider using either white or red to fill them in like the red-suited ones.  It will make them pop even more, I think.  If you use red, you might need a brighter shade to get some real contrast going on in there.

[RandyButterfield]

@Don, I'll look into that when I'm adjusting the colors.

I just talked with the Poker Chip Manufacturer and the Chips will definitely be selling on his site after the cards launch!
I have some work to do because he asked if I could create some more color options, since a lot of Poker players like
a good variety of chips. The plan is to expand the Chips to 8 in total (2 different colors for each suit). I'll decide on the
new colors while making the adjustments on the original 4.

There will also be an ORNATE Dealer Button available at a 2" Diameter and at a 3.5" Diameter size.

thanks, Randy

[Lara Krystle "Lane"]

Randy this is AMAZING!
the new chips looks more crisp than the old ones an i can really see the detailsdespite my eyes being a little weak in the morning.
I can really the difference with the black and the yellow chips. Great find. and I'm really happy for you! Looking forward to this.

[LeonJL]

I agree with the new chips looking amazing!! Personally, I like the black and white chip the most as they show the most contrast of colours. Can't wait to see the 4 alternate coloured chips as well. Any purple chips maybe? I like the combination of purple and gold although i'm no expert in colour schemes and matching. 

[RandyButterfield]

I agree with the new chips looking amazing!! Personally, I like the black and white chip the most as they show the most contrast of colours. Can't wait to see the 4 alternate coloured chips as well. Any purple chips maybe? I like the combination of purple and gold although i'm no expert in colour schemes and matching. 

I won't be sure of the new colors until I get back into the files, but my gut is steering towards Blue, Green, Purple and Orange. They would all be soft, almost pastel colors - similar to the Gold Chip.

thanks, Randy