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Time Required:  30+ Minutes

• 10 minutes of preparation 
• 20+ minutes for construction (Will be faster the second time you do it!)

Materials

• 12 playing cards (1 deck of cards you are willing to cut up and make incomplete)
• Scissors (If you have the tools, a band saw will make the cuts a little wider which will help put it together. But a pair of scissors will do!)
• Metal rulers or access to desks or other flat surfaces with a crisp edge for folding. 
• Template (print out)

 

Preparation:

You can do this two different ways. The way I go about this is I print out one page of this template and cut out a single square. I then reuse this square for every card that I cut with scissors.

IF you are using a bandsaw, then it would be beneficial to print out two of these sheets and use a new template box for each card you are cutting. If you want to be super-efficient (with proper safety precautions), just hold all the cards together and use the bandsaw that way.

You will cut on the solid black lines. The dotted line is where you will fold after you have cut the card.

**NOTE. If you want to have the BACK of the card shown for your star, have the slits cut on the top right/bottom left corner on the backs. If you want the FRONT of the cards shown on the star, then have the slits be on the top right/bottom left corners of the face of the cards.

Note: The slits need to be consistent in length, otherwise you'll have a difficult time getting some of the cards to get together.

Here is a detailed video of how to actually put it together. Writing it down seemed unreasonable so I made a video.

Have fun!

 

Original instructions found on Makingmathvisible.com

Sinister Squids Cube Art Playing Cards

Sinister Squids has gained a huge following with her incredibly unique cube art! She somehow manages to transform cubes into food-inspired pop-art images. She's constantly cooking up something new in her cube oven, and we're thrilled to announce that she's baking up something special through her collaboration with Magpie Cards!

Cube Mama is currently based out of the NYC, area and has been able evolve her style and craft over the last many years. She is active on all social media platforms, and sells a wide variety of products on Etsy featuring her super unique designs. 

But this will be Cube Mama's playing card debut, and we're confident it's going to hit the sweet spot for fans that want an affordable piece of her art that also provides hours of endless fun. 

Cube Mama goes by the handle @SinisterSquids on Instagram (we're dying to know the backstory on that one!). Her Limited Edition playing cards will be released in either Fall 2022 or early 2023, but for the time being you can follow her on Instagram to see more examples of her tasty illustrations. 

Get ready for the Jor Ros x Magpie Playing Cards, coming March 2022.

Jor Ros is an illustrator whose wide range of interests are clearly visible in his unique design portfolio. He focuses on pop culture, fashion, streetwear and music, while also developing concepts and applications for companies and brands. He has roots in Mexico, but is currently based in Barcelona, Spain. 

Jor describes the vision for his upcoming collaboration with Magpie Cards as being "heavily inspired by tarot cards. Not as a mystic tool for seeing into the future, but as a really effective introspection, narrative, and creative visualization tool. I'd like for my cards to have a hidden symbolic meaning, being able to use them as a regular deck of playing cards, but also as a thinking tool."

Based on the preliminary illustrations we've seen, Jor's custom playing cards will do all those things and more.

His Magpie Playing Card collaboration will be released in March, 2022. But in the meantime, you can check out more of Jor's work on Instagram, @jor.ros. Follow him to get release date updates, and previews of his playing cards that will have you counting down the days until their release!

Carles Dalmau x Magpie Playing Cards - January, 2022 

Born in the costal town of Tossa de Mar, 24-year-old Carles Dalmau is based in Girona Spain. When he was younger, his goal was to win the lottery and become part of the Illuminati. But since that hasn't worked out so far, he instead attended university to study Audiovisual and Multimedia Communication.

We asked Carles to tell us a bit more about himself, here's what he had to say:

What do you hope to do with design in the next 5 years? "I hope I can pitch a cartoon show or a videogame and have it released! That has been one of my dreams since I was little."

What is an interesting fact about you? "Hmmm, I don't know if it's an interesting fact, but I'm autistic. Being like this is an absolute mess for me socially speaking, but I think it helped me a lot to be able to focus this much on my work!"

Why did you agree to this collaboration? "I think it's a fun idea to have a card deck with my drawings! I never played cards and I don't know how to do it, but I remember when I was in elementary school I collected joker cards. I still have a ton of them at home. I really think a card deck is a fun item to have, even if you don't know how to play it!"

Carles is an incredibly popular and busy artist and designer, so we feel extremely fortunate to have him on board as our first artist-collaboration designer!