08 October 2014

Alice tarot by Karen Mahony & Alex Ukolov

Baba studio has done it again, after many years passionate work this summer they have finally published what was one of the most anticipated deck of the year, and it is good, very good even!

Many have been talking, waiting, wanting this deck ever since it was first mentioned and the number of individuals interested only rose despite it's long genesis, the longest in the very successful parcours of Baba stdio  must say...and once it was available for pre-order I jumped on the occasion to obtain it (as many others did), the best proof it how successful it is, is the fact that the deluxe limited edition, despite its price  is already sold out! But was it worth it or is it just one of those hypes the tarot world has? My answer is simple: YES it is worth.

A work of love and dedication combining the tarot with Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass by means of collage art, a technique they have proven in the past to master at a very high degree. Due to the source material and the understanding Karen and Alex have of the tarot this deck resulted in more than just another WCS-clone with happens to be Alice themed, no this is a fresh exciting cross-fertilization between the two resulting in a 'child' that will fill you with wonder, and make you wonder if the Cheshire Cat was correct when  saying "Oh, you can't help that. We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."
But then (some) madness never hurt, and where the artist and geniuses not considered mad by those who did not understand them?

It is a nice tradition at Baba to have 2 variations of a card, in the Alice these are 2 lovers cards, both very nice and very different from your 'classic' lovers.
One card is the The Walrus and the Carpenter. the other is showing flamingo's whatever version you choose to use (or be bold and use both) they will make an interesting impact on your view of the lovers.



Both editions the Limited and the 'normal' version use the same images with metallic ink to highlight elements and/or parts of the cards (or in some even up to 90% of the image), both use the same high quality card-stock with a carbon inner layer to protect against bending and creasing, etc...
So in what do the editions differ? Well both editions have a different back, a different size (Limited edition 65 x 100 mm , about 6.5 x 4 inches and the Standard deck 28 x 78 mm (about 5 x 3 inches) and also the limited edition came in  a nice wooden box with the deck inside it also protected by a hand-sewn fold-over pouch in pure silk dupion and printed satin, the standard comes in the same kind of hinged box we came to appreciate from them.

You can still by the standard editions at the shop, it is not  a mass-market deck so  it will not be available via mass-market sellers. For our convenience the Baba Studio shop has now been divided into an European and an international part the main address remains the same http://baba-store.com/  and there you will be redirected.

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