Stukeley Style Deck

[variantventures]

This deck is based on the Stukeley decks that were produced in the 15th and 16th Centuries and copied by artists in the 17th and 18th Centuries.  This deck is based on two decks held by the British Museum with the color scheme being based on the later, 17th Century deck.  Because the images are in the public domain I have made the greatest possible use of the original images wherever possible.  Some cards were missing from the deck and had to be created from scratch or filled in to various degrees.

In monkeying with the contrast on the images I found what I believe to be the original green color used in the decks.  Without the contrast change the green simply looks like blue.  This is probably due to the way the green was produced using period pigments and the effects of time.  The cards have plain backs.

[BlueToy]

Nice repro work! Cream ground really gives a more mellow look perfect for older styles of art. The images look intriguing, sorta like a cross between regular playing cards and the Tarot de Marseille, especially in the Leaves and Acorns suits. The arrangement of the leaves and acorns remind me a bit of Ogham.

Regarding the colors, I think they look great. Not too stark, but defined. That's always a problem with doing reproduction works - like, should you stick to the original colors the artist used (which were originally bright and gaudy but faded over time), or should you give it a faded, worn look as a nod to its vintageness.

[variantventures]

Nice repro work! Cream ground really gives a more mellow look perfect for older styles of art. The images look intriguing, sorta like a cross between regular playing cards and the Tarot de Marseille, especially in the Leaves and Acorns suits. The arrangement of the leaves and acorns remind me a bit of Ogham.

Regarding the colors, I think they look great. Not too stark, but defined. That's always a problem with doing reproduction works - like, should you stick to the original colors the artist used (which were originally bright and gaudy but faded over time), or should you give it a faded, worn look as a nod to its vintageness.

Thank you.  Adding a 'sepia' look to the paper is always a tough decision.  Too much is simply ridiculous but if there's too little people think the deck doesn't look old enough.  This background is actually meant to reproduce the visual texture of a cheap paper from that time period.  It's also meant to complement the colors.  I'm going to do another version of this deck with a different color scheme and a couple of different court figures which will be done on a white background (which is what the cards would have used new).

Thanks for the complement on the colors.  Finding the green 'hiding' in plain sight amongst the blues was one of those really cool moments I occasionally get when studying history.

[Don Boyer]

Nice repro work! Cream ground really gives a more mellow look perfect for older styles of art. The images look intriguing, sorta like a cross between regular playing cards and the Tarot de Marseille, especially in the Leaves and Acorns suits. The arrangement of the leaves and acorns remind me a bit of Ogham.

Regarding the colors, I think they look great. Not too stark, but defined. That's always a problem with doing reproduction works - like, should you stick to the original colors the artist used (which were originally bright and gaudy but faded over time), or should you give it a faded, worn look as a nod to its vintageness.

Thank you.  Adding a 'sepia' look to the paper is always a tough decision.  Too much is simply ridiculous but if there's too little people think the deck doesn't look old enough.  This background is actually meant to reproduce the visual texture of a cheap paper from that time period.  It's also meant to complement the colors.  I'm going to do another version of this deck with a different color scheme and a couple of different court figures which will be done on a white background (which is what the cards would have used new).

Thanks for the complement on the colors.  Finding the green 'hiding' in plain sight amongst the blues was one of those really cool moments I occasionally get when studying history.

I've seen so many faux-aged decks at this point, I actually prefer to see an old-style design like this on a simple ivory- or cream-colored background like what you've presented.  This does look more like antique laid paper - bright white paper is more of a 20th-Century innovation, using lots of bleach.  I don't think it was terribly common in the early days of playing cards to find truly bright white paper like what you can buy at Staples these days, with a brightness score of 92 or 94.

[variantventures]

Brilliant white paper is, almost certainly, a modern addition to papermaking.  The use of bleach certainly is.  I was shocked to discover that paper was routinely sized with a mixture of starch and chalk.  This is pretty much the equivalent of painting a surface with gesso.  The paper could then be burnished.  The resulting paper was smooth and very white.  I've been looking into the research other people have done on this subject and it has been fascinating.  I was under the impression that linen formed the bulk of the material that went into medieval and renaissance papers when, in fact, it was hemp.  And some of the stuff they put into the paper to fill it out is pretty remarkable.

[Don Boyer]

Brilliant white paper is, almost certainly, a modern addition to papermaking.  The use of bleach certainly is.  I was shocked to discover that paper was routinely sized with a mixture of starch and chalk.  This is pretty much the equivalent of painting a surface with gesso.  The paper could then be burnished.  The resulting paper was smooth and very white.  I've been looking into the research other people have done on this subject and it has been fascinating.  I was under the impression that linen formed the bulk of the material that went into medieval and renaissance papers when, in fact, it was hemp.  And some of the stuff they put into the paper to fill it out is pretty remarkable.

Hemp makes sense - it would have been the cheaper of the two materials.  Hemp actually has many uses beyond that of marijuana leaves for smoking.  It's just that in the US, it became a controlled substance in the early half of the 20th Century, and by the end of World War II, we'd created a lot of synthetic alternative materials that were far more profitable for the chemical companies, though perhaps not so great for the environment.

I still remember getting a kick out of discovering that, in "ye olden days," a lot of leather goods were tanned using the tanner's own urine!  That's one case where perhaps I wouldn't object as strongly to some of the synthetic replacements...

[The London magician]

WOW

I haven't seen a 'proper' old deck before. The concept is very interesting and I would love to see the actual deck.

Good luck!