Sprout Head Sale and GIVEAWAY!

After taking a couple of weeks to relax from the project, I have finally listed "The Golden Moth Illumination Deck" and other related products in my Etsy shop, Sprout Head! In celebration of my 5-year anniversary, I am offering a 10% discount on all items in my shop through the end of July! Simply use Coupon Code: 5YEARS upon checkout to receive your discount.

As part of the celebration of my shop anniversary and the official release of the deck, I am also offering a GIVEAWAY of:
- One Golden Moth Illumination Deck (includes the deck, handbook, and spread sheet) with one free Intuitive Card Reading
- One Intuitive Card Reading to another lucky winner!

In order to enter, head on over to my new blog, which is all about "The Golden Moth Illumination Deck" and read all about it in this post.

Thanks everyone!

Golden Moth Assembly Party and Notecard Illustrations

This past Sunday I held a Golden Moth Assembly Party for people to come and help assemble the card decks. It was a lot of fun! Everyone was so helpful, encouraging, enthusiastic, and full of ideas. It was great to share the deck with other people. So much of this project has been created in near-solitude, and in the past month or so I've come to realize that I need to establish and maintain stronger friendships with others for my own happiness and mental health. My default mode tends to be hermitude, so it's a push for me to reach out to others. I'm glad I did :)

Since all the counter space was taken up with cards, I had to set food on top of the washing machine and stove. I have lots of leftovers to eat this week.

The energy of a group of people with different ideas and perspectives can be so uplifting. Their help and good company allowed me get over the near-paralyzing magnitude of this project for me into something much more manageable. Thank you Cate, Leila, Betsy, Nina, Jacob, Emily, and Greg!

***

Lately, I have been working in watercolor. I took an Intro to Watercolor class with Susan Quinnild at The Visual Arts Center of Richmond last month and I loved it! Although I've used watercolor for most of my life, I've never been formally trained in how to use it. Turns out there is a lot to be learned! I'll be posting some of my work and process in a future post.

One of the rewards for The Golden Moth Illumination Deck are notecards. I finally finished the designs for those today. I don't know what took me so long, since when i actually sat down to paint it took only about 8 hours combined to complete them. I think what holds me back is not feeling clear about my ideas for the finished product and feeling overly ambitious about what sort of image to create. I find that if I sit back and allow myself to simplify, I usually arrive at a happy result.

Here are the two illustrations. They are based on images in the card deck.

Golden Moth Sneak Peeks!

In terms of The Golden Moth Illumination Deck project, the past few weeks have been a time of waiting and recuperation. But now it's time to get busy again! Here is the latest progress:

A couple weeks ago, I visited the Archaic Mess studio to do a press check. Taylor Ball (right) of Parcell Press and Travis Robertson (left) are the duo behind the Mess. Taylor mostly handles the printing and Travis mostly handles the finishing (paper trimming, stapling, etc), though I'm sure both help out in either realm.

A glimpse of the workspace where the magic happens.

Taylor wrote a detailed printing task list!

Out of the contraption and into the stacks - hundreds of golden moths!

Keeping in mind that we are but human individuals with varying schedules working on this project, Travis delivered most of the cards to me a few days ago. "Most" - meaning that there are still some cards that need to be trimmed due to the fact that he needs to get the guillotine blade re-sharpened, but it shouldn't be too long before he can deliver the rest. Check it out some of the cards!
May 21st Update: Everything is now trimmed and ready for me to get crackin' on it!

 

Some of you may notice that I changed the design of the border slightly. I was going to use blue in the border, but decided that it looked too busy.

In the meantime, there is still some work for me to do to get these cards into the hands of my Kickstarter backers, and then to the general public. I have to corner-round the cards:

And I have to hand-cut the boxes and assemble them - this is the step that I think will be the most time-consuming!

Then the cards need to be collated into numbered order for each deck. All of this goes into a package with the Arrow Spread Sheet:

and Handbook!

The Handbook looks really cute, don't you think? For some reason, I was almost more excited about seeing the Handbook than I was with the actual card deck, maybe because I still have to work on the deck but the Handbook was delivered all finished and pretty by Archaic Mess.

I was so worried about writing the book, but once I finally got into it everything flowed well. My aunt and older sister helped a lot with editing. I hope that the Handbook will be helpful and informative to others.

Oh, almost forgot - I also have been working on the mini-art that goes to Kickstarter backers who pledged $30 or more. Here is a sampling of some of the art I have finished:

So now I need to get back to the drawing board and chug away at all the details. I also need to finish the notecard and poster designs, and I will hand screenprint the poster. I am hoping to start sending packages near the end of this month, with the goal of having everything delivered by June. Thanks everyone for your patience! And if anyone in Richmond is interested in helping me out with some of these finishing touches, give me a holler. I can compensate your time with food and artwork!

With the extra money I raised from my Kickstarter campaign (I raised $4,800 when the original goal was $4,000) I decided to up the quantity of decks, spread sheets, and handbook from 250 to 300. I was also able to order a larger variety of postcards.

Thanks everyone who cast their vote on the postcard and bookplate designs. If you are a Kickstarter backer, here is the choice you will get if you ordered postcards:

 And here are the bookplate designs:

For those of you who weren't able to get in on the Kickstarter campaign but would like to order a deck or related products, I will be listing them for sale in my etsy shop, Sprout Head, after I have shipped out orders to my Kickstarter backers.

Until then, you'll just have to wait a little longer!

love,
aijung

Oops, last-minute addition

I forgot to add in one more image among the choices for the bookplate designs (see previous post). #20 is the picture of the moth.

Thanks!

Success!

The Golden Moth Illumination Deck was successfully funded by Kickstarter last night at 9:49 pm! As I watched the minutes tick away, I felt a satisfied relief that the campaign was over. Thank you to all the Backers for all that you have done to help create a successful campaign - from pledging to spreading the word, to sending encouragement. It is an amazing experience to know that 127 people have got my back!

While I have enjoyed this campaign and learned a lot from it, it has felt a bit unreal at times since most of my Backers are people I haven't seen in years or never met in person. But come April, it will certainly feel real when I package and ship 127 rewards! And for those of you who live in Richmond, VA I am planning on a special release party so you can pick up your rewards in person if you choose - more details to follow.

The Golden Moth Illumination Deck has been the biggest project I have ever taken on. It has warranted a great deal of work and planning:

• Making the video (it took me a full week to do)
• Promoting the project and sending updates
  
• Figuring out costs of printing, shipping, and the reward tiers
• Figuring out measurements, papers, and inks for printing
• Drawing the artwork, scanning, touching it up, and laying it out (I know those symbols are tiny, but it takes me at least an hour for each one - white-out is a perfectionist's best friend)
• Communicating back and forth with the printer
• Ordering shipping supplies
• Writing and designing the guide booklet (eek!)
• Planning ahead for the release of the deck and how to promote it further
• And finally, packaging the rewards and sending them out to you!

I have been working on the bookplate designs. Here is a sample of what they will look like:

I originally wanted the bookplates to be printed in a brown/vintage red color like the examples to the right. But I wondered if my Backers would prefer the blue/gold color scheme I used for the card design. So I'd love input on which color scheme you like best, since I can only print one.

I'd also like your feedback on which symbols you like best to be the images on the bookplates. I plan on printing 6 - 9 designs, depending on the variety of feedback I get. Please let me know which are your favorites. If you right-click on the images and select "Open Link in New Tab" you can use the magnifying glass tool to get a close-up of the images.

Oh, and I just started a new E-Newsletter service. Please subscribe here. I send out updates once a month, but you can choose to receive updates less frequently. I will send updates about art news, craft shows, and Sprout Head shop sales!

Thank you!

A big THANK YOU! and here is "The Arrow" Card Spread Sheet

Hello!

I'd like to announce that my Kickstarter project "The Golden Moth Illumination Deck" surpassed its $4,000 fundraising goal yesterday! THANK YOU to all who sent their support my way, be it through monetary pledges or spreading the word to other people. It's a great feeling to know that so many people have gone out of their way to support my project. many new and old friends showed me that they care about me and have faith in my abilities, and that means a lot :) I still have a few days left to fundraise more! So please visit my Kickstarter page to check out the card deck and make a pledge.

I just finished up drawing the card spread sheet that will come with The Golden Moth Illumination Deck (it will also come with a guidebook). "The Arrow" card spread sheet is an 11" x 17" sheet of paper with the card positions printed on it so you can lay the cards right on top. The spread is called "The Arrow" because, to me, it resembles an arrow. I made up the spread after looking around www.aeclectictarot.com and combining some of the spreads that I read about into one that I really enjoy using. My favorite part is the "release" and "accept" cards because I think they are quite helpful when trying to figure out the best means of action or a different attitude to take on a situation.

For those unfamiliar with tarot readings, the querent (or person seeking advice through the cards) asks a question to gain insight into a situation, and the cards are shuffled and picked out. the reader will lay the cards into the appropriate positions and then "read" what the cards are saying. Just as important as the cards themselves are the positions they are placed. The placement can change the meaning quite a bit. Say, for example, that this card shows up in the "Accept" position:

Normally, I would look at this card and think it had something to do with the querent feeling trapped, restrained, and possibly unhappy. But if it appeared in the "Accept" position, I would interpret this card as saying that the querent should accept a period of feeling confined or restrained. Perhaps the querent would usually deal with the situation by running away or breaking obligations. This card would advise that it would be beneficial for the querent to remain in the situation. Upon further thought, the querent might also decide to change his or her attitude towards the situation - instead of seeing the restraint as something bad, they could see it as an opportunity to practice their focus and discipline. Perhaps the period of restraint is trying to teach them something important.

That's all for now. More updates to come in the next couple weeks as I continue to finalize the artwork for the project. whew, it's nice to know that the goal has been reached and it can only get better from here!

thank you everyone for your amazing support!

IT'S HERE! The Golden Moth Illumination Deck!

IT'S HERE! a very special project that I am excited to tell you about. For almost 3 years, I have been giving readings to people (similar to tarot) with a deck of symbolic cards that I illustrated. I am now launching a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds to get my card deck printed and available for anyone to use!

You can learn about the project here by watching a video, reading more about it, and deciding if you want to pledge a donation! There are all kinds of neat rewards at different pledge amounts, so check it out. YEAH!!!

The funds I raise will be used to print the deck and a bunch of other reward incentives (such as notecards, bookplates, and posters), as well as covering the cost of shipping for people who pledge to back the project. If you're not familiar with Kickstarter, it is a fundraising platform for creative people. The creator of the project collects pledges from people, and different pledge amounts bring different tangible rewards. But part of the reward is knowing that you are supporting someone in their artistic endeavor and making their dreams come true!

My fundraising goal is to collect $4,000 in 30 days. It is an all-or-nothing deal. I have until March 10th to collect this amount (or more), otherwise I do not receive any of the funds that have been pledged. However, if my project goal is successfully funded, backers of the project will be charged their pledge amount on March 10th and I will receive the funds to finish this project! You will have to register for a Kickstarter account (which is free, and doesn't take long to do), and you will have to go through the Amazon checkout process in order for your pledge to be recorded (but remember that your credit card will not be charged until March 10th if my fundraising goal is successful). 

This project is really important to me. Creating and using the cards has been a great learning experience for me and a way to connect with other people on a deeper level. Your donations are much appreciated - I realize these are tough financial times for most. And if you can't donate personally but still want to support the project, please spread the word!

It's Coming...

whew, i've been hard at work on my Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a very special project called "The Golden Moth Illumination Deck." i am so excited about this! a blog post for the campaign launch will follow shortly (like TODAY!)

for now, here's a teaser: