Funded in just 2 minutes on Kickstarter, the Elixir Deck is the 5th and final deck of the Apothecary collection from Seasons Playing Cards. Designer Alex Chin continues to surprise with yet another breathtaking design and craft one of the most sophisticated yet classy deck of playing cards.
From hand gilding to Intaglio plate engravings, the hard and patient lessons learned from the past two projects are finally presented in full form. The Elixir deck is an elegant single deck offering representing the truest tribute to traditional handcrafted products. According to Alex,
Extremely limited and available at steep discounts only on Kickstarter, this campaign is made as a thank you tribute specifically with my previous backers in mind. Your voices were heard and this campaign is the result of your requests. The result is a simple, clear cut, no fuss campaign, with all your favorites, and none of the hassles. Gilded on all cards? Check. Engraving on Box? Check. Cellophane and Numbered Seals? Definite stretch goals.
Each deck of the collection was represented through a visual system of colors and symbolism. The Elixir deck takes these items into account and turns it into its own. The back design shows the transformation moment of the climatic orb being formed. The flowing movement of the design hints to each of the previous 4 seasons telling of the full Apothecary story.
The deck pays homage to the previous decks before it by bringing in all 4 power aces into this single deck. Court cards feature different coloring in the consistent engraving style as before. The Joker features the elixir, captured in the incense flacon of legends.
Alex mentioned that the hardest development of this deck was the integration of the extreme engraving design on the tuck box. This was the reason why this deck almost didn’t happen. Alex explained,
I designed the deck specifically with the engraving process in mind. But instead of going for only the smallest details possible, I wanted to play with movement and went for extremely high coverage (which is typically unusual for this print process). To get this “movement” effect in the design the metallic ink coverage was pushed to the utter limit to what a plate would hold creating a meniscus mound of ink so that when drying occurred, it would create an undulating texture you don’t get with smaller details.
The results are remarkable. The final product results in a striking “moving essence” of the golden Elixir design Alex tried so hard to achieve.
The Elixir decks will be printed by USPCC on Aristocrat stock and Magic finish. Pledge starts at $36 on Kickstarter and for the collector, a limited amount of exclusive cabinets of curiosity will be available featuring a black and burlwood dual tone finish and a rare white Elixir deck with holographic gilding that glimmers in the different colors of all 4 seasons. Comes with a certificate of Authenticity.
