Winter Waite: Glitter Edition (Second Printing?)
As most will attest, the glitter on the cards are not very easy to capture via photograph!
If you’ve been with us for a few years, you’ll probably know that the Winter Waite Tarot has been one of our most popular decks over the years. So it will come as no surprise that one of our most requested decks to bring back has been a version of the Winter Waite, with the “Glitter” edition making it to the top of the list.
If I was to guess the reason for it’s popularity, I think it’s because we rarely have any in stock. Why on earth would we not stock something of ours that is a best seller? Isn’t that business suicide? Good question! The truth of the matter is that these type of decks are very difficult (and costly) to produce because the process isn’t automated; So much can go wrong with producing glittery effect cards like this, because instead of laminate, the surface is covered in little glitter pieces through hand sprinkling, then a kind of glaze is put over it. Like I say, so much can go wrong with this and it needs a steady hand. At least that is what I am led to believe, but maybe it’s a little more technical than that. I’ll leave it to the experts!
The Knight of Cups with a glittery makeover.
I think the “Glitter Waite” reminds people of that Christmas card visual, and seeing the cards sparkle with actual glitter gives a magical Christmas feeling to readings. That and the imagery in the deck, based on the original Winter Waite (2019 edition, a slight upgrade from the very first Winter Waite we produced in 2018) brings a great festive feel to the cards.
As the production of these cards is a bit more involved than standard printing, the market isn’t flooded with glitter decks. It still maintains it uniqueness. If there were such a thing as an “awards” event for unique Tarot decks, I think Christine’s Winter Waite series, in particular the Glitter edition, should be nominated! Of course I am biased, but she is always bringing new ideas to the table.
Since 2021, when we first produced the Glitter version of Winter Waite, we have had a few attempts here and there to reproduce the deck without any success. As the old saying goes “if it were so easy, everyone would be doing it”, and it’s wearying when you put a lot of work into something and you have literally nothing to show for it.
I think this time around we are closer than ever before to recreating the Winter Waite: Glitter Edition deck. While I have updated the box a little in terms of color, the card imagery will remain the same. We’ve seen a handful of samples so far, and things look promising.
As I write this, even now there is no guarantee the Winter Waite: Glitter Edition will actually make it to our store. It will really depend when we go through the decks, and we’ll do our best to go through them meticulously, to see if they have the same quality that the first printing was known for.
The sample sheets proved informative of what direction we’re going with the project.
Based on the samples, which arrived in sheet form about a month ago, the glittery texture has come out well. We compared it alongside our last remaining Glitter Waite Tarot from the very first printing (we keep samples of most of our work for reference) and the finish is virtually identical in quality. We then received a final sample deck, all cut and cornered, for a final examination and it seems that these too have passed the test.
I guess what I can say is, because these are all sprinkled and glazed by hand, each deck will have to be checked individually before being sent out, because with applying glitter, no deck is exactly alike. When the official shipment comes in, most likely we will have them for sale in small batches.
So that’s currently where we are at with the progress of reprinting the Winter Waite: Glitter Edition. Please sign up to our newsletter if you’ve had your eye on this deck over the past few years, because we expect if it ever does make it to our online store it will sell out fast.