Edging decks in Black -- Any tips for my Oil Marker?

[Wyrdkiss]

I picked up a Deckcolor Opaque Black broad-line marker at the suggestion of a local art store clerk .

I wish to edge my hand-trimmed travel Thoth.

 

I'm wondering if any of you can share experiences or suggestions to make the process go smoother for me.

For example, should I clamp the deck and do the full sides at once, or should I edge each card one at a time?

I don't mind either way -- I just want to be effective.

 

The cards have been clipped with a corner rounder and are not trimmed perfectly even

 

Thanks

Edited June 22, 2023 by Wyrdkiss

[MuninnMissinHuginn]

I am sorry to say, personally I am not a fan of those markers. My experience has been that they can sometimes have a bead of paint, and sometimes they are dry.  Of course you can practice on a piece of card stock.  If the cards are slick at all if they are clamped together and there is extra moisture in the pen then the ink has a tendency to wick down between the cards.  My suggestion is to do one card at a time, and use the side of the pen on the card.  The pressure applied is also a factor, a light touch so the card does not push into the pen.  These are my thoughts, hope they are helpful.

 

Here’s how I would hold the pen. And the pen used.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is how the card looks    

 

I tried a Sharpie as the felt is very hard, the Pigma pen is medium soft.  I am not sure if it was because the Sharpie is old and sort of dry more ink bled onto the front of the card. See below.  

 

Edited June 22, 2023 by MuninnMissinHuginn

[Wyrdkiss]

Thank you for the feedback @MuninnMissinHuginn. Should I consider taking this pen back and getting a water based one such as yours? The staff member was concerned about wear, and felt in the long run the oil based would be more permanent / less rubbing away.

[MuninnMissinHuginn]

Are your cards more paper or plastic?  That is one factor, because if the cards are more plastic then the staff member is correct. A water based pen will smear on a surface that is not absorbent. But I am biased against those pens, they often are fuzzy so little hairs drag around.  I can’t speak to that brand, as I think I have mostly used the Sharpie version (see below, and they are not fuzzy). My biggest complaint is that the nibs dry out so quickly. The Farber Castle has been the best so far, for a white pigment, but I think it is white India ink (whatever that means). The Pigma pen is a permanent pigment so it will soak into fibers and be as permanent as the fibers that have been colored. The red is oil based sharpie.

 

Hopefully someone else will chime in.  

 

   

Edited June 22, 2023 by MuninnMissinHuginn

[Raggydoll]

I would not clamp the deck together, I’ve seen people doing that and it it often goes terribly wrong. I have personally never had good results with markers so I’ve always used those ink pads where you more or less just swipe the card edges against the ink and wipe off any excess with a paper towel before it dries. Works beautifully for me, and there are archival ink pads so no problem with harming the deck.
 

If you trim the deck prior to edging it, beware that it’s even more likely to bleed. This is especially true with markers, so perhaps test on a title card first. Best of luck! 

[Wyrdkiss]

Thank-you everyone.  I'm kind of committed now to the marker pictured. As you can see, it will take some time to get skilled at thorough coverage. I'll need to do several passes per side. With patience I think they will look ok. And yes, this thoth printing has a bit of a laminate feel, but with the cut I can see how it's absorbing a bit more.

 

[Wyrdkiss]

Ps This deck was laser cut in one pass  at a kinkos printing store! I forgot about that. 

[MuninnMissinHuginn]

I wish you the best with this project!

[Wyrdkiss]

2 minutes ago, MuninnMissinHuginn said:

I wish you the best with this project!

Thank you, I'll post final pics for sure. 

[Wyrdkiss]

On 6/21/2023 at 7:52 PM, MuninnMissinHuginn said:

I am sorry to say, personally I am not a fan of those markers. My experience has been that they can sometimes have a bead of paint, and sometimes they are dry.  Of course you can practice on a piece of card stock.  If the cards are slick at all if they are clamped together and there is extra moisture in the pen then the ink has a tendency to wick down between the cards.  My suggestion is to do one card at a time, and use the side of the pen on the card.  The pressure applied is also a factor, a light touch so the card does not push into the pen.  These are my thoughts, hope they are helpful.

 

Here’s how I would hold the pen. And the pen used.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is how the card looks    

 

I tried a Sharpie as the felt is very hard, the Pigma pen is medium soft.  I am not sure if it was because the Sharpie is old and sort of dry more ink bled onto the front of the card. See below.  

 

Greetings.

 

I'm definitely going to try the Pigma black.  Will go to local shop tomorrow and pick one up. yuk ... this ink pen has left a sticky residue on the side of the cards that I have started.

I hope the Pigma, when passed over, helps remove that   a bit.

[Wyrdkiss]

On 6/21/2023 at 8:29 PM, MuninnMissinHuginn said:

Are your cards more paper or plastic?  That is one factor, because if the cards are more plastic then the staff member is correct. A water based pen will smear on a surface that is not absorbent. But I am biased against those pens, they often are fuzzy so little hairs drag around.  I can’t speak to that brand, as I think I have mostly used the Sharpie version (see below, and they are not fuzzy). My biggest complaint is that the nibs dry out so quickly. The Farber Castle has been the best so far, for a white pigment, but I think it is white India ink (whatever that means). The Pigma pen is a permanent pigment so it will soak into fibers and be as permanent as the fibers that have been colored. The red is oil based sharpie.

 

Hopefully someone else will chime in.  

 

   

That red looks good, and thank you for the feedback.  These cards are more laminate, yet with the cut / trim but... absorbent on the sides.  Dealing with quite a duality here.

Edited June 23, 2023 by Wyrdkiss

[Wyrdkiss]

I used a black Sakura Sensei pen eventually.  Not sure it's worth the effort,  and probably needs another entire pass on each side? 

 

[MuninnMissinHuginn]

@Wyrdkiss,

 

Sorry I have missed your posts.  I totally understand the sticky issue!  I thought that was just me, as sloppy is my default. How dissatisfying, did it seem that the ink was soaking in at all?  Or sitting on top and then you wiped the excess off?  Are you doing one card at a time?  

[Raggydoll]

I’m not sure if it’s just the lighting in the picture but the edges look like they haven’t picked up much color. I don’t think you’re supposed to have to do it multiple rounds. Like I said previously, I don’t really use pens for edging, but I have seen others do it and the color looked quite saturated on those decks. I found an old picture of a deck that I edged in black, and this was just one pass with the ink pad. I think this is the type of coverage that people get when they ink with black pens too, so not sure what went wrong 🤔 Is it a chisel tip or brush tip you used? I think chisel tips are preferred by most people for edging.

 

I hope you can solve it and have a result you’re happy with! 

 

[Wyrdkiss]

14 hours ago, MuninnMissinHuginn said:

@Wyrdkiss,

 

Sorry I have missed your posts.  I totally understand the sticky issue!  I thought that was just me, as sloppy is my default. How dissatisfying, did it seem that the ink was soaking in at all?  Or sitting on top and then you wiped the excess off?  Are you doing one card at a time?  

Greetings,

 

I am doing one card at a time. I completed them last night, but it was one pass only on every side. Event that took a while. I may do them again for another round in the future. For now, I'm leaving this experiment as-is.

 

My deck is an unusual circumstance.  It is a standard sized Thoth trimmed down to a smaller, pocket version by removing the keywords and border.  But here's the interesting element: I had it laser trimmed at Kinkos.  It was not done perfectly well, but probably with about as much error as would of happened if I had done it by hand. My point is I do not know what that did to the aspect of absorption with the sides of my pack.

 

I do know this -- the deck is genuinely unique now.  One reason I chose it is the fact that I own six copies of the Thoth.  Already road-weathered, and trimmed, it is now a bit darker. A bit stickier, and ready for adventure. I have always considered it an, "anything goes, read anywhere, for anyone" pack. Now, that applies three times over.  I made some visible ink marks on the front of the cards with this edging, which I am not happy about, but I guess it adds character -- like a scratch on a new truck.  So I'm going to roll with it with hopefully minimal regrets.  But ... I do not foresee myself doing this again with a different deck in the future.

 

 

 

Edited June 30, 2023 by Wyrdkiss

[MuninnMissinHuginn]

@Wyrdkiss,

 

I am with you on the leave the experiment as is, and am sorry it did not work out.  Hopefully the sticky will go away.  Thank you for sharing. 

[Eugenie]

Anybody tried edging in gold or you have to have special equipment for that? 

[Raggydoll]

I’ve edged in gold, I used an archival ink pad and it turned out very nice. I believe I have sold all the decks I edged in gold so I can’t show you what it looked like. 

[Eugenie]

37 minutes ago, Raggydoll said:

I’ve edged in gold, I used an archival ink pad and it turned out very nice. I believe I have sold all the decks I edged in gold so I can’t show you what it looked like. 

Oh, great to know! Thank you! I will try that.

[Raggydoll]

Just now, Eugenie said:

Oh, great to know! Thank you! I will try that.

I recommend that you test it out on the title card or on a regular deck of playing cards first, for practice and to see if you like it 🙂

[Eugenie]

4 minutes ago, Raggydoll said:

I recommend that you test it out on the title card or on a regular deck of playing cards first, for practice and to see if you like it 🙂

Yes, that I will! Who knows how it can turn out, I definitely won't start with a deck that I don't want to ruin. Will do my business cards! 

[Misterei]

On 6/30/2023 at 12:24 AM, Raggydoll said:

... I found an old picture of a deck that I edged in black, and this was just one pass with the ink pad.

5 hours ago, Raggydoll said:

I’ve edged in gold, I used an archival ink pad and it turned out very nice. ...

I've only edged one deck in black ... but it came out great using a Tsukineko dew drop inkpad. I would have ruined the deck had i tried doing it with a pen.

[Nemia]

I used simple black markers. Important: a quiet hand. Keep your elbows on the table, light from the non-dominant hand's side. Do one card after the other, and let them dry without touching. 

 

It all turned out perfectly. You can always touch up a bit later. 

[Tanga]

Trimming tools:

 

Inking tools:

 

Results:

 

The two on the left are Posca & Sharpie metallic so they're shiny (shiny doesn't translate in the photo). Green Posca + Silver Sharpie. Black Marks-a-lot, Pink Posca + Gold Sharpie.

One pen 1st, then the next applied in little dashes after the 1st application has dried.

Cards must be done one at a time, and laid out to dry.

It takes a lot of time.  

Once dry - you may need to re-apply in places you missed - so you do the whole process again.

Trimming is done one at a time by eye with long scissors. Elbows on the table alla  @Nemia. Then round off with corner rounder.

They're not exact - but you can't see that when they're all together.

 

Bleeding depends on cardstock & pens.  After trimming there may be more bleeding - trimming makes the card edges micro-split apart.

Less likely to bleed if you use an ink pad.

There's only one deck I trimmed that I regretted - Kat Black's Golden Tarot  https://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/golden/.  It was better with the golden borders on.  

Everything else 👍.  

I like that trimming reduces card size so they fit more snugly in my hands.

Edited November 15, 2023 by Tanga

[Wyrdkiss]

3 hours ago, Tanga said:

Trimming tools:

 

Inking tools:

 

Results:

 

The two on the left are Posca & Sharpie metallic so they're shiny (shiny doesn't translate in the photo). Green Posca + Silver Sharpie. Black Marks-a-lot, Pink Posca + Gold Sharpie.

One pen 1st, then the next applied in little dashes after the 1st application has dried.

Cards must be done one at a time, and laid out to dry.

It takes a lot of time.  

Once dry - you may need to re-apply in places you missed - so you do the whole process again.

Trimming is done one at a time by eye with long scissors. Elbows on the table alla  @Nemia. Then round off with corner rounder.

They're not exact - but you can't see that when they're all together.

 

Bleeding depends on cardstock & pens.  After trimming there may be more bleeding - trimming makes the card edges micro-split apart.

Less likely to bleed if you use an ink pad.

There's only one deck I trimmed that I regretted - Kat Black's Golden Tarot  https://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/golden/.  It was better with the golden borders on.  

Everything else 👍.  

I like that trimming reduces card size so they fit more snugly in my hands.

Tanga the distress ink looks amazing! I am such an admirer of these.  Not going to attempt it again after kind of mucking up my mini trimmed Thoth, but it is certainly good to see others doing fine work with edging ( in part to using the best tools). I was unable to acquire the distress locally, and impatience prevailed in my attempts.