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Steve Brooks Founder / Manager Northern California - United States 3780 Posts |
Jim,
Perhaps you could share with our Café faithful how the DOOMSDAY decks came to be - you know, your inspiration, the artwork, etc. Finally, any future decks we should be looking for from you? Thanks so much.
"Always be you because nobody else can" - Steve Brooks
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Diamond Jim V.I.P. Diamond Jim Tyler 231 Posts |
Steve,
Thanks for the question and having me here as your special guest. It's been fun. I have been fascinated with ghosts, mythology, superstition and magic since I was a child. I try to use NLP and wonder words in my performances when I can. Also I think subliminal messages and images can enhance a performance. Also certain symbology conjures up images in people's minds. So I created a deck with a Mayan calendar theme last year since the apocalypse seemed to be on the tips of everyone's tongues. My intent was to create something for my own personal use and that I could give away to clients. The deck showcased my name Diamond and used a black and white modified image of the Mayan calendar to help create a mystical looking piece of apparatus. I wanted to print with USPC but I thought that even with a 2500 deck print run that the investment was too much for something I'd be giving away. So I found a local company that would do a decent job. Hoping to recoup some of my investment with the smaller print run of 400 decks I listed them on my website at $10 per deck. Word spread fast and I sold out of them quickly. I remember that while I was waiting for the decks to be delivered that I shared the imagery of my back design in a magic forum. Someone came forward and started calling me names and told me how stupid it was. That only put more fuel on my fire to make them succeed. Needless to say it has been my best seller to date. So I went back to the drawing board and made the deck more commercial by removing all of the references to me. I took a leap of faith and printed my first batch of Doomsday decks with USPC. They all sold out before they arrived at my door. I reordered the next batch with USPC hoping that the market was not over saturated with my new pack. The second batch sold out very quickly. Thinking that those that had the black and white decks might want a companion deck I created the Blood Reds. These eventually sold out as well. Luckily the actual Doomsday did not come to pass, but without it I don't think I would have sold as many decks. I played on people's superstitions and sense of humor. But also tried to create a useable and aesthetically pleasing pack of cards. I am working on another deck. It is top secret. I think it will outsell the Doomsday deck tenfold. I am not rushing the process. I like for my ideas to brew in my mind for awhile before jumping too far forward. Most of the back design for the new deck has been completed but the hard part I'm trying to figure out now is the packaging. I have so many good ideas but I can't use them all. |
Diamond Jim V.I.P. Diamond Jim Tyler 231 Posts |
FYI gang. I think I have only one more set of the Mayan decks left so please email me before ordering.
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Steve Brooks Founder / Manager Northern California - United States 3780 Posts |
Thanks for sharing Jim.
"Always be you because nobody else can" - Steve Brooks
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The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » The February 2013 entrée: Diamond Jim Tyler » » DOOMSDAY Decks... » » TOPIC IS LOCKED (0 Likes) |
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