How to Edge a Tarot (or Oracle) Deck with Markers 

I am so glad!! I love edging with them. Most of the time they work out perfectly (except for those pesky blues and blacks but I've found a way around that now too!) 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

That's a good idea as well, thank you for sharing. 🙂 Thank you for watching as well! ❤️

Sharpies are alcohol markers and you can use a light amount of rubbing alcohol to remove it as long as the cards are glossy.

I've heard that bit haven't tried it yet, my biggest problem with sharpies is the smell give me a headache. But I will for sure try the alcohol tip on other markers. Thank you for sharing!

How exciting! I'm glad you enjoyed it. 🙂 Thank you for watching. ❤️

That’s crazy because I just bought that deck yesterday and I was planning on edging it in baby blue as well!

Just an FYI that the Native American use of "Spirit Animals" is a closed practice, anyone who isn't initiated into a tribe and hasn't had a ceremonial introduction to a Spirit Animal, is unintentionally appropriating a culture. I have always had a huge problem with tarot creators that constantly capitalize & profit off cultures, simply bc they view them as "exotic" or "edgy". Usually it's a lack of self-awareness, but in some cases it's due to intentional indifference & the privilege of feeling untouchable enough to get away with it. Unsurprisingly, they are often upper class caucasian women who are celebrities in the Spiritual business industry. For instance, Colette Baron-Reid and Alana Fairchild are notorious for co-opting customs & traditions that don't belong to them into alot of their decks' artworks. Aesthetic fetishization of cultures reduces customs into nothing more than superficial fads. It's important that we respect these traditions. There are plenty of decks that use animals with proper titles such as "Animal Spirit", "Animal Kingdom", "Familiars", "Forest Creatures", "Spirits of the Animals", "Wild Unknown", etc. I know many of you didn't know, but that's why it's important that people like myself who become aware, will be responsible enough to educate and inform others. Hopefully in the future, you'll be more conscious of the kinds of decks you purchase.

@@YourMajesty143 I've had this deck for 5 years. One of many I had gotten when I was younger. To this day I still use it. But thanks for the information, I was not aware of it, but I am still going to use my deck considering I've used it since I've gotten it for my own readings.

@@YourMajesty143 can u explain a lil I didn't understand this

I've never had much success with doing them all at once, I feel like I have better control one at a time. But I bet your way is much faster! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

I was wondering why this was not mentioned. I wanted to edge my cards but I don't have the attention span to do one at a time 😂 so I thought, why not clamp them together and do the whole deck at once? It makes better sense and would ensure less bleeding for sure if clamped right. Will test it on my Temu decks. I'm pretty sure I'd rather walk on hot coals before doing this to my genuine decks 😂❤

How wonderful! I agree, I think it really makes the deck unique. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

I am so glad you found it helpful! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

How wonderful, I am so glad you enjoy my videos and find them helpful. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

I agree, there is a great variety of color and it's so much fun! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

How fun!! Good luck with your projects. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

I am so glad you found it helpful! Good luck with your mod! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

How wonderful, I am so glad that you found me and that you were inspired to mod your deck. It is one of my favorite parts of my practice. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

Oh, that sounds like so much fun. Thank you for the mica and gum arabic idea.

I am so glad you found it helpful! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

Thank you so much, I am so happy that you found them helpful!

I am so glad you enjoyed it and found it helpful! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

Oh good I'm so glad to hear that!! 🙂👍

Thank you so much, I am so glad you are enjoying them! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

Oh good, I'm glad to hear it was helpful. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

I am so glad you enjoyed it. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

Thank you so much, I am so glad you enjoyed it! 😊

Aw thank you so much, I am so glad you enjoyed the video (and my channel!) 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

I am glad you found it helpful! 🙂 Thank you for watching. ❤️

I am so glad you found it helpful! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

How wonderful, I am so glad you enjoyed it! Keep an eye on those dark red and blues ones, sometimes they like to come off on your hands. Good luck with your mods! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

Sounds like a good plan, wait until it feels right for you! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

Great tip, I'll have to try that! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

Thank you so much, I have really just learned through trial and error. :) Thank you for watching!

I am so glad you enjoyed it. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

Thank you for the tip, I will give that a try (although the smell is still an issues for me lol) 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

I like having an excuse to use multiple colors, so giving each suit it's own is fun. :) Also makes it easy to resort your cards lol. Thank you for watching!

I hope you find the crayolas as useful as I do. I love edging decks with them. Thank you for watching!

I hope you find it helpful and good luck with your own projects! 🥰

You are so very welcome, I hope they work well for you! 🙂 Thank you for watching. ❤️

I am so glad you found the video helpful! I wish you much success in your edging adventures. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

I am so glad that you found the tutorial helpful! Edging is a fun process as well as a wonderful bonding experience with your deck. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

How fun! Watching videos while edging decks is one of my favorite things to do. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

I am so glad you enjoyed it and found it helpful. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

The ones in the beginning are Darkness of Light Tarot, Dreaming Way Tarot, Crystal Tarot and Cosmic Tarot. I hope that helps! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

That sounds like a great way to do it! It can be a really time consuming process so taking your time is fantastic. Sometimes the bleed can be cool, I intentionally bled some pink sharpie onto my Nicoletta deck. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

I am so glad you enjoyed it! My favorite for gold is actually the Dew Drop Brilliance ink pad in galaxy fold. That's my go-to color any time I want to use gold. I haven't found a marker in gold yet that I like as well so I just use my ink pad. Hope that helps! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

@@DawnMichelleTarot Omg Thank you sooo much & yes that helps more than you know! Now to order me some dew drops since my local stores can't be bothered to carry any lolololol😊😂💜

Yeah the older decks do that after a time. I’m glad you found the video helpful. 💚

​@@DawnMichelleTarotDid a trial run on a playing cards. Not too happy with the sharpie. 😅

I don't know that I've edges a true plastic deck so I'm not sure how it would do in the long run. I think you would almost assume have to use Sharpies or paint pen for that because I'm not sure if it would stay long term. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

The prismacolor is my favorite black but it can be sometimes hard for me to find. I am using the regular washable Crayolas most of the time. I do have a pack that is "ultra clean" but I've always used those underneath the distressed stamps. I suspect that the ultra clean on their own has some transfer but I haven't confirmed it yet. 🙂 Thank you for watching. ❤️

The drying time depends largely on the cardstock and how well it absorbs the ink. I generally leave them overnight before handling them too much. You can also try giving the edges a rub with a paper towel, that tends to help take off any of the excess that didn't soak in. Most of the time it eventually stops, they only really big I had was with a dark navy blue that refused to dry properly so I sealed that in with mod podge to fix it. I hope that helps! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

It's so frustrating when they don't dry! My favorite is ink stamps I think as they dry well, don't generally bleed and stay put, but they don't have near as many colors. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

Yes it is, and it smells awful! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

@@DawnMichelleTarot I actually like the smell of markers, but I don't know how this specific one smells tho 😂 Love your videos!

It smells like a sharpie (which gives me a headache so I try to avoid them lol) So glad you enjoy my videos! 🥰

I am so glad you enjoyed it. I try to get the basic big box of 48 colors (preferably the regular ones, not the "ultra clean" if I can find it.) Do keep in mind that some colors (particularly the darker ones) can have a bit of transfer on your hands for a bit. It usually quits after while, but I've had blues and blacks that seem to never dry. It largely depends on the cardstock and how well it absorbs the ink. It kinda depends on if you have a certain color in mind... If you're going for black, I recommend either stamp or art marker over the Crayola black (it isn't very dark and it has a tendency to transfer for a long time.) Hope that helps! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

@@DawnMichelleTarot Those are excellent tips. I couldn't get the 48 deck on Amazon, so I got the 10 color and a bunch of stamps and two chisel tip black sharpies for black on black edging. Have you worked with the Crayola metallic markers before?

Yes, I edged my Modern Spellcasters with a Crayola metallic and I do like the color (there was no transfer either) however I had to do 2 coats to get it to cover nicely and the market barley made it through the second coat. Considering they were like $5 or something, probably not too bad but I was hoping to get more than one deck out if each marker. 🙂 I think I used the gold and it came out like an antiqued matte which looked pretty cool.

So far it looks pretty good on most cardstock I've found. With the linen stock, I do notice that the marker tends to bleed a bit more (doesn't seem to matter which marker I use.) I tend to use stamps more with the linen cardstock, but the marker seems to work really well on all card types. I hope that helps. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

You are so very welcome, I am glad you found this video useful. :) What color are you thinking of doing your Druidcraft in? That would determine what my recommendation would be. If you are using flat colors like a brown or a yellow I would recommend either the mildliners or the crayolas, as I get less bleed with those. You may need more than one coat as compared to a sharpie, but it's less mess I think. If you want metallics, I actually prefer stamps for those type of colors. I have a stamping video coming soon as well which will go over those options in more detail.

Boho Tarot I might go for a Golden color not sure yet.

@@carmmen1384 For a golden color, I use the brilliance stamps. They give a wonderful sheen to the edges. Pretty much any time I want to do a golden/metallic color, I go for my stamps. :)

Thank you for sharing, those are some great tips. I'll have to give them a try. 🙂 Thank you for watching. ❤️

Regular if you can find them, but they are all considered washable so that’s something to keep in mind.

I think teal would be a great match for that deck. I do believe if you go over the green with the blue it should change the color tone of the edging. However, before you do that, I'd recommend testing it because I've never done it myself. I would suggest taking a playing card (I keep a cheap pack on hand for mod testing) and edge one card on the green, let it dry and then go over it with the blue. While the cardstock won't be exact and the color may be slightly different than what you see on your tarot, it should give you a rough idea. Let me know how it turns out! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

The Mildliners don't actually have names for the colors, it's the only green one in the pack. I hope that helps! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

Sometimes I have to do coats to get a nice solid color. Some cardstock soaks up the color more than others. 😀

Nope, you are correct, we are neighbors! I'm on the west coast. 🙂

Unfortunately the mildliners don't have names or numbers on them, but in the pack they call it Mild Gold. There is a couple of packs on amazon that have that color listed on them. I hope that helps! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

@@DawnMichelleTarot they do actually 😊on the side in tiny print on the left of the AP logo and bar code, on the pens themselves ( I'm looking at my Lavender now that came in a 5 set)

I am so glad you enjoyed it. For the Robin Wood, I didn't end up edging mine because of the white border, but if I was to edge it I would probably go with a dark blue or the teal color to match the backs. Although something more natural like a brown would match the earthy energy of the deck as well too I think. I hope that helps! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

Woww! Thanks so so much! I will definitely try one of the edging colours you mentioned. I was banging my head on this! Keep bringing your content! Your videos are my favourite! Love them. Wish you the best

I've heard paint markers work well for writing on cards but I haven't actually tried it myself. Might be worth a test run. I hope that helps! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

Thank you so much, and yes, give those mildliners a try, they are fantastic!

It depends on what medium in using. If I'm using markers I usually stack them after about 10 minutes or so. You can usually use them pretty quickly with marker, but I tend to wait a few hours. With stamps, I leave them out separate and let them dry overnight before I stack them or use them. I don't think it takes quite that long, but I like to be sure. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

@@DawnMichelleTarot Thank you so much!

If you go through my mod with me playlist there's a couple of videos in there where I do the multicolored edging. That might help! 🙂 Thank you for watching. ❤️

Copics are wonderful, we have a collection of them here but we keep them just for art projects. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

Sharpies give me a headache so I avoid them whenever I can lol. I'm glad you found the video helpful. I love crayola, they work great and you can get them in a ton of colors. Let me know how they work out for you!

Oh no! I would take those three colors, mark up a few practices cards and then try some options over it. Would a lighter green overlay maybe get it a little closer to the turquoise color? There is also always the option of covering up the two lighter colors with the dark navy to get them all closer to the same color.. I'd probably do some test color overlays to see if I can get closer to the colors I wanted, if not, I'd probably just cover them all up with the darkest of the 3. And of course, there is always the option of trimming and starting over! Let me know how it goes! 🙂

@@DawnMichelleTarot awesome. Thank you, I will give it a shot.😁

I don't generally use alcohol markers on my decks, so unfortunately I can't really offer any assistance with this. Perhaps another coat might even it out? There is a group on facebook called Tarot with Scissors for deck mods, they might be able to add some insight on that issue. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

I also found it comes off with rubbing alcohol. Also, I’ve used just a regular eraser to get it off the front of cards. 😊

I haven't used Copics on my decks myself, but I generally leave any deck I edge out overnight to dry. How long has it been since you did it?

Thank you so much, that is good to know. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

I think I have heard people do that but I've never done it myself. 🙂

I use the brilliance stamps for metallic edges, they work great and I can usually do a couple of decks per pad. I hope that helps. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

Thank you so much! I've heard plenty of great things about those but I wanted your opinion before trying. Much love and peace to you!

@@AllBlackBeauty How do you use brilliance stamps to edge a card?

@@pepperypepper8321 it's actually pretty easy! They're a little wider than a marker, which can be good or bad if you have tiny hands, but I just run the stamp across the edges. Some people will run the edges across the stamp (hold the stamp still and move the card) but I make more mistakes that way so I do the opposite (hold the card still and move the stamp). Just make sure to have tissues or napkins nearby so you can wipe away any bleed onto the card. They're pretty inky when you first get them. They definitely give the best metallic finish I've seen thus far

I haven't used those exact ones, but I have occasionally used a Prismacolor, Copics and Tombows one my decks. However, we do a lot of art journal and projects and around here so I'm usually try to avoid them on my decks because it ruins the marker. I tend to stick to ink pads or cheaper markers for edging. I've never tried paint pens as I've heard some people say they make a huge mess. For metallics I like the little dew drop Brilliance line, they are affordable, edge well and are easy to clean up any overflow. I hope that helps! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

Thank you for sharing, that's a great tip! 🙂 Thank you for watching. ❤️

I haven't had a Crayola transfer yet, but I'd be curious to see how they work for you. I slip on my cards all the time too, that's how I discovered the eraser trick! :)

I am so glad you enjoyed it. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

Generally it's not a good idea to edge all the cards as once as the ink will bleed between the cards and onto the fronts and backs (unless that's the look you want!) O recommend doing one card at a time to get the best results. 🙂 Hope that helps!

My question exactly, so you know what I did? I did 10 cards at a time!!! Held them together tightly, swiped with the marker, them let them dry for about 10 seconds, turyn them and repeat. Guess what? Absolutely no smudging..♠️♣️♥️♦️

That's wonderful, what marker did you use?

I have seen lots of beautiful edgings done with sharpie. They give me a headache, but the look of them is really nice. 🙂 Thank you for watching. ❤️

I've edged the majority of my decks at this point. 🙂 Was there a particular one you were looking for in this video? If you can give me a timestamp, I can look. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

Boho Tarot the ones in the video, the black with grey in the center and the ones with the colorful face. ;-)

If I'm looking at the right ones, the black deck with the grey center is Darkness of Light and the colorful one is the Crystal Tarot. Let me know if those were the ones you were looking at. 🙂

I think they are moving away from the regular to the ultra, it's hard to find the regulars in the broad tips. I find the ultras tend to have more transfer than the regulars (although keeping in mind both are "washable" markers.) They still have the regular ones in the thinner size and those are the ones I've been using mostly now. They work just as well as the broad tip I think. I hope that helps! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

@@DawnMichelleTarotok I see, thank you so much,🙂 I will definitely try out the regular thinner size.

One more question for you lol cause your the deck mod PRO!! Seriously 😁 So after edging with crayola markers is there anything you can put over it as a sealant so the color doesn't transfer to your fingers when shuffling? I just edged my wildwood tarot with the crayola and I love it but it does get on my fingers.

I used mod podge to seal mine when that happens. If you check out my Mythical Goddess mod, I used that to seal that deck. I'm sure there are other sealants you can use but that's the only one I have experience with. 🙂

@@DawnMichelleTarot Thank you Thank you! Yes last night I actually watched that video of yours lol so I will try it out, does it take long to dry or how long should I leave each card apart so they do not get stuck together? Thank you for your responses. I have the mythical goddess as well so I will definitely have to edge that one! 🤗

Maybe I should to leave it to dry longer? I just did it one hour ago..

Linen card stock tends to bleed a bit more and I tend to use Tombows with mine. Crayola will transfer off for a while (how long seems to depend on the colors, red, black and blue seem to take the longest to stop.) It also depends on the cardstock itself and how much it "soaks up" the color. Do keep in mind that Crayola (and Tombow) are a water-based ink so they can have a higher tendency to transfer off onto your hands. I generally leave mine to dry overnight before I handle them too much and that seems to work well. Although I did have an awful experience with the Crayola blue and it transferred for weeks. I finally ended up putting a coat of an archival stamp over the top of it to sort of seal it in. I hope that help!

@@DawnMichelleTarot Thank you very much. It was purple. I wiped it with the wet napkin. Now it looks pale but the color is uneven...Maybe I should buy Tombows markers and color it againm

I have not, but that is a good idea... Hmm I might have to put my husband on coming up with something for that. Great suggestion, thank you!! 🙂

@@DawnMichelleTarot Tell your husband to think big when he makes your "Jig". You might be able to paint an entire side of the full deck at a time. There might even be a RU-vid video of machines painting or gilding decks where they are made. This might give you some good inspiration. 😉

Yeah I think it would be a hard one if you are just starting out. It is beautiful tho. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

The first deck in the video or ever? My first deck I ever purchased was the Legacy of the Divine. I hope that was the one you meant! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

I haven't personally tried that brand of highlighter, but I've had much success using other highlighters to edge my decks. Good luck with it!

@@DawnMichelleTarot Thank you .

Black and darker colors sometimes have a tendency to transfer for much longer. You can try rubbing the excess off on a paper towel and see if that helps. In my experience they do eventually stop, but it can take a bit and it’s certainly frustrating. It depends on the cardstock too sometimes the same black marker will transfer off one deck and not another. It’s a common issue, you likely didn’t do anything wrong. 😀

Oh no, so sorry to hear that! I haven't had any issues with the blue rubbing off, but with the blue, blacks and reds I wipe them off pretty good, give them a little scrub with a paper towel. I have noticed that if I don't do that, they do rub off slightly for a day or two. Blue and red color in general is notorious for that. Did you try running the excess color off yet?

Thank you for your response! Yeah i tried the paper towel, i hope it will stop rubbing of, i have hope now!

@@ellenarentsen are you by chance using the "ultra clean" Crayolas?

No just the normal supertips, or what are the called. The box is long gone😃 but it is getting a little better I think.

@@ellenarentsen I am glad to hear that, I'll try to keep an eye out next time I use blue and see if I notice anything in particular.

How wonderful, thats what I do while I edge my decks! 🙂 Thank you for watching. ❤️

I think it depends on what type of medium you use but I imagine most markers would cover it up. I hope that helps. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

@@DawnMichelleTarot inktpad it will be. If i will take the risk… 🌺

I tend to prefer stamps as they are more forgiving, generally don't leave a border and the color tends to stay richer longer. There isn't near the variety of color as marker, but I do tend to use stamps more. I hope that helps! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

@@DawnMichelleTarot thanks so much for taking your time to reply! I’ll be shopping for stamps tmrw. Love your channel!!

I almost always have to do two coats with every medium I use. The paper/cardstock tends to soak up a little of the first application and so you usually need a second to cover fully. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

@@DawnMichelleTarot This actually makes sense. Just finished my 2nd layer and love it, much better, so thank you for your guidance and encouragement! There is still a chunk that's lighter and with a different shade (even though it got 3 coats), but I believe that's because it's lighter/yellower cardstock/borders for that part of the deck, so I'm going to leave it at that. I feel braver now and know I can fix my mistakes 🥰🌈🐞🍀

Different cardstock takes to the Crayola differently and depending on where you live, maybe they just aren't getting a change to dry? If Crayolas are causing you an issue, maybe try the art markers instead (alot of people love to use Tombow for that) or stamps. Look for something that's archival instead, maybe the washable markers aren't a good fit for your area. I've heard places with higher humidity can have issue with the markers not drying properly. Good luck with it! 🙂

@@DawnMichelleTarot I live in the Middle East, where there is very low humidity most of the year, so it's not humidity. What do you think if I go over them with a different type of black marker? I got a black Prisma marker i could use.

You could certainly give that a try. I know I've done that myself a few times to help "seal" in other colors. Let me know how it goes!

There are, I think they come in a pack of 8 or so. I have used them and they work well however, I found that 2 coats on a single deck is about all each marker to do (and it did need two coats to cover well.) By the last few cards the marker was about out. However, for the price point, one deck per marker didn't seem too bad to me. Hope that helps! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

Boho Tarot Thank you for your answer ☺️

I think there are some things you can do to remove the bleed. Have you checked out the Tarot with Scissors facebook group? There are a lot of knowledgeable people in there that have solved all sorts of mod problems. You might check that out and ask for advice there. I know I've seen several posts of people being able to successfully clean up bleeds. I hope that helps! 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

@@DawnMichelleTarot thanks so much, that helps a lot 😊

Good to know, I'll have to try that! Thank you for watching.

I have not personally done that, but I think I have seen others use nail polish. If you're interested, check out the Tarot with Scissors Facebook group. They talk about and show all kinds of deck mods there. 🙂 Thank you for watching! ❤️

I have some of the supplies in the description box, but I have to be careful about which brands I included due to new video regulations. I will note the ones I can! 🙂 Thank you for watching. ❤️