Has anyone actually gone through the process of making their own Tarot deck?
Did you just print them at home, or did you go fancy with it? I’m torn between thinking it would make the readings more personal versus worrying I’d just end up with a pile of badly glued cardstock that falls apart after two shuffles.
I think it could be an opportunity to make a personal deck that I really resonate with because I made it from scratch, or maybe it just becomes a nightmare and too much work. Would love to hear from anyone who’s actually pulled this off without being a professional artist or something.
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Tried it once, but it didn’t turn out anywhere near what I wanted… so I ended up ditching it.
Design choices affect readability more than I expected. I sketched in pencil and scanned it into Procreate. Then I ordered a tiny proof run, just 10 cards, to check color shift (RGB to CMYK darkened my blues) and whether the borders felt balanced.
Two problems. The back wasn’t symmetrical so reversals were easy to spot, and the sharp corners snagged during shuffles. A small corner rounder and a simple repeating back pattern fixed it. For wear, a light coat of matte fixative kept the graphite from smudging, and a little fanning powder kept the deck from clumping.
If you try it, prototype a couple of types, like a Major and a Court, and use them with another deck for a week to see if you like them before doing the whole deck.
Simple line art works fine on home printers with basic cardstock. But if you’re doing watercolor or anything with lots of detail, you need professional printing. There was a thread about printing your own custom decks that might help.
I used MakePlayingCards for mine. Home printing just can’t capture those gradients. Just avoid anywhere that tries to get you to print a minimum of 100 decks.
I respect folks who spend years on a deck, but I went another way. I made mine in about three months with mixed media collage, and the rough, imperfect feel matches my intuition better than a super polished build.
When I chase perfection too long, I lose the spark.
My deck has a coffee stain on The Hermit and the Death card is a bit crooked. They’re just part of it now. I skipped crowdfunding and pro printing. I used photo paper and self-laminating sheets. The total cost was under $30.
The cards are thick enough to shuffle, and after two years of daily use, they’re still fine. If something changes in my practice, I can remake a card without hassle. What matters to me is spending time with the cards and how they read.
My rough homemade deck gives me clearer readings than the pretty published ones I own.
I sketched my designs by hand and colored them digitally on my tablet. First tried printing on cardstock at home but the cards were way too flimsy and bent during shuffles.
Also used makeplayingcards after that. They have standard tarot sizes and the quality is good. Should’ve checked standard tarot dimensions before starting though. Had to resize everything which was annoying. Took ages, but it’s nice reading with your own artwork.
For that alone, I would suggest everyone at least does it once. The cards feel more personal.
If you do this, makeplayingcards lets you upload different backs for each card. Saved me when I numbered three cards wrong.
Rotary cutter is the way to go. Add a metal ruler for straight edges. My wrists were killing me from using scissors all the time. Corner rounder is nice too if you want rounded edges on your cards.
My DIY tarot deck was falling apart after all that hand gluing. The cards were literally coming undone during readings. I checked out some professional card printers that tarot creators use. Got a few quotes and was surprised, ordering 50 decks made it pretty cheap per deck.
Actually cost less than all the craft supplies I’d already bought. Now I’ve got my personal deck on casino-quality cardstock that can handle endless shuffling.
Back in the early 90s, I made my own deck during a pretty rough time. Used colored pencils and watercolor markers on heavy cardstock, just drew them by hand while sitting in my therapist’s waiting room.
Drew the whole thing over six months while living in this tiny studio in Portland. My Fool card is still shaky as hell, and the Tower has smudges all over it from when I was crying that one session.
They’re messy, but they’re mine.
I went to a tarot art history workshop where they gave us blank cards to create on. I was going through a rough patch at the time and ended up making an oracle deck with self-care affirmations, spiritual guidance from my guides, astrological symbols and moon phases. It took forever.
I’d get intuitive messages and write them down in my phone when I was out, or in my journal when I had more time. I’m actually trying to find more blank cards so I can add to the deck as things change. These cards really helped me get through that dark period and stay balanced when stuff comes up that would normally send me spiraling.
Part of me wants to publish them because maybe they could help someone else, too. But I also like having them just for me. I keep this deck separate from my reading deck. I have one tarot deck for client work, and another I only use for myself and one friend with whom I have a really strong, energetic connection.
I made my own deck recently. Used Canva for the design (the free version works, but it’s limited) and printed it online.
Canva’s pretty easy to use, lots of fonts and symbols to choose from. The paid version has some useful features like batch resizing, but I managed with the free one. The technical side was harder than expected.
Getting the card dimensions and bleed areas right was a pain. Do yourself a favor and make a test card first. Use a template checker for your first card before ordering all 78 cards. My first batch had text too close to the edges, even though I followed their specs.
Turn on the bleed guide in Canva (just Google it). Makes it way easier to see your safe zones. It was a lot of work but shuffling cards you designed yourself feels good. Takes forever, though, and I’m already planning another oracle deck.
I made a photography deck using stuff from around my house - feathers for Swords, teacups for Cups, that sort of thing. Shot everything on dark cloth with window light. Got the photos printed 4x6 at a local lab, trimmed them down to tarot size, and put them in card sleeves.
That way, I could start using them right away without dealing with gluing or laminating.
Are you more into the hands-on crafting aspect or experimenting with the imagery? That might help you decide between making a quick prototype or going for a proper print run.
Started my DIY deck project and learned pretty quickly that you need to do your homework first.
I didn’t research anything, not the cardstock, not the finishes, didn’t even get printing quotes. Just dove right in, thinking it would work out. The first attempt was a disaster. The whole thing fell apart mid-shuffle. Cards everywhere.
Oh my god, this is wild! I was literally just looking at Canva tutorials this morning before opening the forum, and here’s your post about using it for deck creation.
The bleed guide tip is so helpful - I had no idea that was even a thing you could turn on. I’ve been struggling with figuring out safe zones and kept second-guessing where to place my text. It’s like you posted this exactly when I needed to see it.
Thank you!
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Oh my god yes! I tried scissors for my first 20 cards and my hand was cramping so badly! Switched to a rotary cutter with a self-healing mat and it was like night and day. The cuts are also SO much cleaner and straighter? With scissors I kept getting these little jagged bits on the edges that would catch when shuffling.
I have made my own deck (and two others); it is rough, but I love it dearly. I have tons of notebooks, the cheap ones with the thin cardboard covers, some brown, some white, some tan, some slightly thicker, some thinner, but all about the same. I hand-cut 78 cards based on the size I wanted them to be for my hand. They vary in size, and some are really off lol. I went card by card and researched the meaning, every time a reference would pop into my head. Example, my Magician Card reminded me of the Matrix Red and Blue pill, so I drew hands facing one another one with the blue pill and one with the red. Some only I can tell what they are but it’s ok. I hand-drew each one with markers and a ballpoint pen. I did all of them all in about a week (I am aware that’s insane, and I do not recommend that at all I hyper-focused on some and didn’t fully connect with the card(s). I went back later and did some again, which I worked on for about four months extra.) It is lasting very well, and while smudged, bent, and of different sizes and colors it is still my favorite deck. The second deck I did was for my very close friend. They collect different tarot decks so for the holidays and their birthday, I made them a deck. This time, I had all of the designs done (on my deck), so I went and bought two one-dollar playing card decks, tape (five dollars), paper(idk I already had it), and a box(three dollars). I hand-cut each paper (and made them all the same somehow, thank you ruler), then taped said paper on each card. I went through and penciled each drawing, then colored, then did the ink line art, then shadow lines (a second line of marker). Then I (very carefully) taped over each one to waterproof it and trimmed extra tape bits. I’d recommend this one; you get much more consistent cards, and they last. I did it in about five days, but I was also locked in the house with nothing to do. It was all I did for five days lol. The third one is still in the works. I am making each one digitally and trying to make them as perfect and “professional.” I am going to print those on official cards, so wish me luck there… I have spent an average of five hours per card so far and have only done about 10.
So my advice is to go for it! But learn from my mess-ups, spend time on them, and maybe make a cardstock and then laminate… oh, and round the edges or they’ll get stuck all the time.
Some of my cards that I like best have smudges, tears, wonky cuts. The perfectionist in me wanted to redo them right away but I kind of think it adds to the character of the deck.
Hah, I love relying on intuition too for most things, but the artwork style you choose really impacts what kind of research you need to do upfront.
Simple line art or minimalist designs are much more forgiving with home printing - solid blacks, clean lines, and limited color palettes translate well to basic cardstock and don’t show imperfections as obviously. Those styles can handle cheaper materials and simpler finishes.
If you’re planning a highly detailed, polished deck, researching professional printers and their cardstock options is part of the design process.
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Amazon has blank tarot card sets if you want something between DIY and professional. You could get just the cardstock and draw your card art on there by hand if you are artistic.