Introducing the Seaborn Kipper
Note. Some of the deck’s colors are rendering strangely on my website for some reason.
The Seaborn Kipper is a whimsical, ocean-inspired take on the 19th Century German game and fortune-telling Kipper system, created by the queerly creative minds of Thomas Witholt (that’s me, Thomas of Hermit’s Mirror) and Siolo Thompson. In this collaboration, I tackled the text, and Siolo worked her watercolor magic for the artwork.
This campaign is for a limited printing of the first and only indie edition of this deck (rights have already been acquired!), along with fun extras.
Catch one of the original copies of this special indie project while you can (now via my site)!
Kipper is a cartomancy system that speaks directly to major life events, as well as the smaller moments of everyday life and our internal workings.
The clarity of card titles, such as Work, Journey, Marriage, Short Illness, and Murky Thoughts, makes it easy to use intuitively, right out of the box. But the power and beauty of this system arises through its fluidity, as events and characters flow from one scene to the next in larger spreads and tableaux. That makes the deck easy for beginners while still providing the layers and depth a more seasoned reader might favor.
If you’re looking for examples of Kipper readings, you can find some on the Seaborn Kipper Instagram (Sample Reading 1 / Sample Reading 2) or Hermit’s Mirror TikTok (Sample Reading 1 / Sample Reading 2). I’ll be posting a pick-a-card on both the Seaborn and Hermit’s Mirror Instagram accounts.
With the Seaborn, this straightforward system gets a creative and colorful, genderqueer refresh, drawing inspiration from the ocean and the magical creatures within.
Last Scorpio season, we started brainstorming a collaboration. With a sea-witch's love of the ocean, we knew we wanted to create an aquatic deck, and a Kipper deck seemed perfect in theme and size. Siolo's recent adventures along the Mexican coast had colorful mermates swimming up from her imagination, and their beautiful, fluid nature made them fitting subjects for the kind of inclusive deck we wanted to create.
The Seaborn Kipper includes two versions of the traditional Principal cards (the main significator cards representing the reader and their counterpart in love, work, or whatever else). These extra cards create more opportunity for finding oneself and one's counterpart in the cards, and it provides the reader with more fluid representations in their readings.
Our interpretation of the deck offers a nautical spin on the classic imagery. It's fresh and modern with a cast of diverse and unconventional characters in a magical world, but all of the traditional icons are still easily identifiable.
Each card is brought to aquatic life with watercolors in illustrator Siolo Thompson’s trademark style.
Cards are bridge-sized (2.25"x3.5") on smooth 330gsm German core card stock.
The guidebook, by me, lovingly delves into each card's meanings, while also offering guidance on layouts and providing affirmations and reflection questions inspired by the cards. These unique features will help you find meaning in the Kipper system, which may be new to even experienced card-readers.
The guidebook is a 144-page tarot-sized (3.5"x4.5") perfect-bound paperback in full color.
The cards and book come in a dual-lid box, with the cards nestled in a paperboard insert.
The primary reward for this campaign is a copy of the very limited first (and only indie) edition of the Seaborn Kipper. There are 450 decks available in total. Of those, 50 are available with an early bird discount.
Those who don't want a deck can still support the project with a set of postcard prints or a signed art print.
And those who want all the things can scoop up a treasure trove of surprises at a discount.
The sea holds some additional treasures to help us meet our goals and brighten your collection:
Postcard prints (sets of 3),
Prints (8x"10") of the Hope | Great Water art, signed by Siolo, with an archival 11"x14" mat,
Sheet of 5 colorful stickers, and
Kipper readings with me.
It's a fluid world, so feel free to customize your rewards with a number of add-ons, including an extra deck for a friend. Because of the limited number of decks, a maximum of two decks can be added on to a pledge.
We are offering only 450 decks through this campaign because our one-and-only print run of 500 is likely to include some damaged decks upon delivery. We want to have enough on-hand to deliver decks by mid-December. This will help us meet the expectations we have set and not run into unexpected and expensive challenges with customs or shipping woes at a stressful time of year.
Decks have already been printed, and they are already on the way to us (by sea of course), so we expect to be able to ship in time to have all decks arrive in time for winter holidays, even for overseas backers.
Our one-and-only indie print run of 500 includes some "extra" copies because some boxes will inevitably be damaged. It's possible that there will be a small number of decks available to purchase after the campaign ends. If we run out of decks or you want to order more than the maximum of three (with two add-ons), please message Thomas via Kickstarter on or after October 1. He will let you know if and when it's possible to purchase one of these copies.
As a reminder, this small print run will be the only indie edition of this deck. The publishing rights have been acquired by a major publisher, so after this run, the deck will only be available through them in the years to come.
International Notes. Backers will be responsible for paying VAT or custom fees upon arrival of your deck, if any. If you are in a country that does not allow the import of esoteric materials and/or playing cards, you may not ever receive the deck. Please know your local import laws before backing this project. We are not responsible for that, and you will not be refunded for your pledge. Shipments to Germany will have to go through a different and more expensive process than other shipments due to their new verpakG rules because we cannot ship commercially to the country.