A Look at Marbling & The Correspondence Cards
over 4 years ago – Tue, Sep 24, 2019 at 11:18:54 PM

 Much like the Houses of Lenormand Cloth, these cards have a lot of hidden work in them as well. The process began in April last year during our marbling frenzy. We got really into the traditional Turkish style of marbling called Ebru, and went wild with marbling for a month.

    The process of marbling is pretty straight forward once you have the right supplies. You use a variety of metal combs to create textures of color pigment on the surface of a pool of "size".

     "Size" is distilled water mixed with something called "Carrageenan"- a powdered extract of seaweed. The size is then kept in the fridge overnight to cool down. 

During this time the paper is then prepped by sponging it with Alum and letting it dry. The alum is what allows the pattern to stick to the paper once the paper is washed off with water. 

    The size is then poured in a basin (we used an old screen from screenprinting and taped it up with a white trashbag so we could see what we were doing) and marbling pigment is added with special brushes that look like mini witches brooms. 

After achieving the desired pattern, the paper is carefully laid on the surface of the size and pressed down flat. Paper is then pulled up from the size and rinsed lightly with water before being hung to dry. (sorry these examples are from different marbling days, leave it to me to not record a single full day's process..):

 After making about 30 or 40 sample sheets our favorites were chosen and photographed. We took these and printed the envelope liners. Envelope liners were then cut out by using a template and the corners of each were rounded one at a time.

Liners were then glued in place and scored with a bone folder. We sourced the envelopes from Paper Source, one of the largest correspondence distributors in America and the greeting cards were printed out of the studio. Then everything was assembled in brown kraft boxes and fitted with a printed description card.

We only made 250 sets of these and will not be making them again. Grab one now before it's too late!

Available as an add on for $40. 

If you want to try marbling yourself here is where I purchased all of our supplies. It comes with a very thorough guide. Once you get going it's a lot of fun!
 

How to Play the Green Glyphs Game of Hope
over 4 years ago – Tue, Sep 24, 2019 at 10:39:49 PM

I briefly touched on this earlier, and it is explained in the guide, but I wanted to take a minute and explain how the Green Glyphs deck can be used to play a "board" game known as The Game of Hope. The Green Glyphs Game of Hope is based on the original Game of Hope, created by Johaan Kaspar Hechtel and published a year after his death in 1799. It is a large part of why the Lenormand deck is what it is. The Game of Hope can be played with any number of people and uses all 36 cards in the deck as the game board. If you have swapped out any cards make sure you only have 36.

Think Snakes and Ladders, but with more variations than just snakes and ladders to interrupt your journey.

After doing a lot of research it was difficult to find a single version of the Game of Hope, and many translations seemed to be missing aspects. The Green Glyphs version has additions to the game to include each card as an action card or resting space. You’ll need a few things not included, but you likely have most of them around your house already.

What you will need to play:

- Green Glyphs Lenormand Deck

- 2 dice

- Tokens -- this can be a scoop of beans or anything in quantity: popcorn kernels, pistachios (lentils are a bit small).

- 2 bowls - one to be kept empty as “the bank” and the other to hold all of the extra tokens that aren’t in play.

- A small object to represent each player - this can be anything around your house that is small enough to fit on a playing card.

How to Begin

To begin, place all 36 cards down in rows of 6 in numeric order, beginning with Rider and ending at Cross, this creates the game board on which play takes place (pictured below).

Give each player 2 Tokens to start and have one bowl empty as ‘The Bank’, keep the other bowl filled with tokens off to the side, you’ll use these when players start to win tokens. When you lose tokens they go in the bank. Players take turns rolling both dice and moving the amount of spaces rolled. The Player who lands on the 35th card, the Anchor, wins the entire bank and the game resets. You can play a short game to 25 tokens or a longer game to 50 tokens.

To decide who goes first each player rolls one die. The highest roll goes first and play moves clockwise.

All players begin off the board, so if a 2 is rolled they fall on the 2nd card, Clover. If a player rolls doubles they get to roll again.

Some of the cards are resting cards and do nothing, other cards have negative consequences and some will put you ahead or get you more tokens. Color can be used as a guide - landing on overwhelmingly yellow or gold cards will put you ahead in the game, and orange cards will likely hinder you. Beware of COFFIN, MOUNTAIN, and CROSS, they are sure to get you stuck.

The Actions of the Spaces

Below you will find the special actions associated with these cards. Some cards are resting spaces so they are not listed here.

2 CLOVER: A fortunate beginning (+2 TOKENS).

3 SHIP: This SHIP will take you to the Canary Islands, advance to BIRDS.

6 CLOUDS: Thunderstorms send you back to the

CLOVER (do NOT collect 2 TOKENS).

7 SNAKE: The SNAKE requests a token. (-1 TOKEN).

8 COFFIN: Player is stuck until another player lands here to take their place, or until a double is rolled by them.

9 BOUQUET: what a lovely gift. (+1 TOKEN)

10 SCYTHE a severing sends you back to the RIDER.

11 WHIP: Pay two tokens, and move forward two spaces OR return to the RIDER if you have no tokens. (-2 TOKENS + 2 SPACES).

14 FOX: leads you back to the woods, retreat to TREE.

15 BEAR: scares you back to the CHILD.

16 STARS: Stars rain down on you! Receive 6 tokens from the bank. (+6 TOKENS).

17 STORK: The STORK will take you to the GARDEN.

19 TOWER: This view isn’t free, pay up (-1 TOKEN).

18 DOG: DOG leads you to it’s owner, advance to SPACE 28 or SPACE 29, depending on how you associate.

21 MOUNTAIN: Player is stuck on MOUNTAIN until a they roll a double or another player lands here.

22 PATHS: All PATHS lead somewhere, but these lead back to the GARDEN .

23 MICE: MICE eat your tokens, cut your tokens in half and put the lesser half in the bank (- 1/2 OF TOKENS).

24 HEART: Advance to either SPACE 28 or SPACE 29, depending on how your heart may sway.

25 RING: you found your RING! (+5 TOKENS).

26 BOOK: This book is too good to put down, head back to the GARDEN.

27 LETTER: Bad News! If you have 5 TOKENS pay and advance to KEY and collect 10 TOKENS. If you don’t have 5 TOKENS head back to the HOUSE.

28 THE GENTLEMAN: If you didn’t get here by way of the HEART he leads you to the SUN. (can be substituted by a PERSON card)

29 THE LADY: If you didn’t get here by way of the HEART she takes you to the MOON. (can be substituted by a PERSON card)

30 THE LILY: How beautiful and delicate, go back to the GARDEN to pick another.

33 KEY: This key opens a magic door to a room filled with gold but it sends you back to the HOUSE.

(+10 TOKENS).

34 FISH: Money flows. Invest five tokens on your first time here, then receive 5 tokens every time you land here again. (-5 TOKENS then + 5 TOKENS).

35 ANCHOR: You win the lot! Collect all of the tokens in the bank and all players begin back at the start. If you, or any other player, now has enough tokens to win the game ends. If not, continue playing. Any players who have less than two tokens are given 2 tokens to begin.

36 CROSS: So close, but no luck, and now you’re stuck. Player cannot move until a double is rolled or another player lands on this space.

NOTE: If you roll a number that puts you past the game board, you bounce back. i.e. If you are on FISH and you roll a 9 you count forwards 2 SPACES and then count back 8 to land back on LILY.

Green Glyphs for Beginners
over 4 years ago – Tue, Sep 24, 2019 at 12:35:36 AM

If you are new to Lenormand I wanted to give you a first look inside the first section of the manual so you can have a better idea of how to begin with Lenormand and how easy starting can be. 

As with every card deck, it is important to understand what the cards are saying as well as their different aspects. So first we will dissect the Rider card as our example.

On this card you will notice several aspects.

1. The name of the card: These names are more or less universal throughout the Lenormand world. In some decks you might see “Rod” instead of “Whip” or “Crossroads” instead of “Paths” but their meanings will stay the same.

2. The number on the card: Each symbol is assigned a number from 1 - 36 that is consistent through all decks. It always begins with Rider and ends at Cross. These numbers are important because they represent which “house” the card is in (The Houses of Lenormand Cloth will come in handy here). For example, 1. Rider is in the 1st house, so when laying out a Grand Tableau (a spread of all 36 cards) whatever card falls in the 1st position will be in the House of the Rider. This house speaks of news, or things moving forward.

3. The direction the illustration faces: Some cards are directional. The Scythe for example will always face a certain direction. In this deck the Scythe is facing right so it takes away from whatever card is to its right and gathers whatever card is to its left. Similarly, the darkness in the Cloud card is rolling to the right so this card brings uncertainty to following card.

4. Neutral, positive or unfortunate? The bulk of the cards in the deck are neutral, in that they don’t add or take away from a situation and rather symbolize something. That said, there are seven cards in the deck that can be unfortunate to their surroundings: Snake, Coffin, Whip, Scythe, Clouds, Cross and Mice. And a few cards that are generally positive: Clover, Bouquet, Dog, Stars, Heart, Ring, Sun, and Key.

In the next section you learn how the Positive and Unfortunate cards affect the cards around them. This is used more when doing a Grand Tableau reading, but it’s worth noting as you go through the card meanings. Neutral cards generally don’t have an effect.

5. The colors: Colors make great visual clues and can help interpreting the meaning of the symbols. In Green Glyphs, all cards that have a strong presence of gold or yellow are positive cards, while cards that are predominantly orange/brick are unfortunate.

6. Reversed cards: There are no reversed cards in Lenormand, all cards are read face up for their meaning!

In the section following you will find key words behind each card’s symbolism. Keep in mind there are many more interpretations not listed, these are to give you an idea of what each card represents. Some words that fall under the same card may add confusion, but the meaning of the card can change depending on the situation at hand. When you first start reading, begin with simple situations like “What will happen at work in the following weeks?” That puts the cards into the frame of your workplace, which will make it easier to interpret. For example, if Whip comes up it most likely means “conflict” rather than “fitness”.

Because the meanings behind some cards are so broad, and some meanings seem like they don’t apply to you specifically, it is important to understand what each card means for your individual reading.

Let’s take the Tower card for example. Generally Tower stands for school, government, hospital, corporation or other big buildings. When I am doing a reading for myself and Tower comes up, I assign Tower to my workplace, the studio- a tall brick building. This then tells me that every time I see the Tower come up I should look at the surrounding cards to understand the situation at the studio.

As you become more familiar with Lenormand you will be able to apply the other meanings of the card.

The following section of the book is 36 pages devoted to the general meanings of each card, their presence (Neutral, Positive, Negative) and a few example combinations. 

Stretch Goal Reached: The House Keychain
over 4 years ago – Tue, Sep 24, 2019 at 12:31:52 AM

We've made it to our second stretch goal for the House Keychain! A little gold house for your keys to remind you of home when you're not there. 

This is an ADD ON item, meaning it does not come for free with pledges. To add it to your pledge hit the "manage my pledge" button and just add $7! You won't see an option to pick the keychain as an item here, but all of your add-ons will be managed post campaign during the survey process. So don't worry, if you've added $7 you've done it right!

If you have pledged towards "Green Glyph Collector" the keychain will be automatically included, as will the satchel if we reach that goal. There are only 10 spots left at this level and it's becoming more of a deal than ever at $120 it includes everything in this project! 

There is also a new tier available "Green Glyphs Lenormand + Keychain" but you should only switch to this reward tier if you have only backed for a deck alone, otherwise stay in your current tier and just manage your pledge + $7. Any questions just ask below!

These 1.5" keychains will be made with matte gold hard enamel and screenprinted with four colors. The back will be engraved with "Green Glyphs" and it will be fitted with a matte gold chain. You can check out the plans for the keychain here: 

Weekend Update & A look at the House Keychain
over 4 years ago – Mon, Sep 23, 2019 at 02:08:12 AM

Well it's the first weekend of the Green Glyphs Kickstarter and we've had an amazing first few days, thank you all! I hope you all are having a good weekend.

To update you on what I've been doing the past few days:

Plans are in motion with the manufacturer to print Person II cards for each deck. It's a little late to get them included in the packaging inside of each box, so Person II cards will be sent outside of the Green Glyphs box but in the same package, this will be the case for the gold dog cards as well as any other foil cards we may reach with the stretch goals.  I know this isn't ideal but knowing how long the process is for production, I have already given them the go-ahead for printing the edition. I could have waited until all the payments were processed post campaign to begin production, but we'd be looking at an April definite 2020 delivery date, and I am really trying to get these in your hands before the end of 2019.

I've also been talking to my pin manufacturer (where I designed the Open Portals Pin as well as the Prisma Visions Pins) and he's sent over the proof sheet of the Keychain. I don't normally share these with the public, but have a look: 

I realize in the mock up I did the proportions of the pendant to the chain was off so that has been adjusted. "Green Glyphs" will be embossed on the back of the matte gold pendant and the keychain will come in a custom backing card, I'm only ordering 300 of these so they will be a limited run. At $30,000 these will be available at a new reward tier OR as an add-on. To add a keychain on just hit "edit my pledge" and adjust +$7. You can do it now if you'd like, chances are we will reach the stretch goal tomorrow. You won't get a confirmation that you have added a keychain to your order, but during the survey process you will have a "credit" that can be used to select your items and the keychain will be available for selection then. 

Lastly, I've been working on tracking down the perfect satchel. I've read everyones comments and mocked up something and I am speaking to a manufacturer now. Once plans are confirmed I will share a mock up image of the satchel. Hopefully this will happen before we hit $40,000, communication delays depending. Any last satchel requests? Let me know here!