🌻

🌸

52 cards / poker size / hand drawn or hand painted / ships from the US 🌊

Calypso Star Lenormand

A 52-card Lenormand that deals like a poker deck and reads like a tide chart. Every card has hand drawn or hand painted art on it. No shortcuts. Oils on canvas, hand-drawn digital, mixed media - all made by hand, scanned and printed down to poker size. Fifty-two originals in your pocket.

Back the deck See the art →

The story

The deck I could not stop making.

I have been reading cards since I was old enough to shuffle them. I have run four Kickstarters, shipped five decks, and learned one thing the hard way: a deck only lives if you actually want to pick it up every day.

The Calypso Star Lenormand started the way most of my decks do. I was sitting by the water, shuffling a deck that felt wrong in my hands, and I thought, what if a Lenormand felt like this? Like tide and salt and warm wind. Like the islands. Not the usual old-European Lenormand with its stiff little woodcuts. A Lenormand that smells like plumeria.

So I started making. Some cards are oils on canvas - the big ones, thirty-six inches square, a few four feet across. Others are digital. All of it is hand drawn or hand painted, made by my hand, with, no filters, no speed tricks. Fifty-two originals, each one scanned and printed down to poker size so it still deals like a real deck. You can play a hand of cards with your friends on Friday and read your own fortune with the same deck on Sunday. Two decks in one sleeve. The originals stay in the studio. The deck is the pocket version.

This is the slow one. The hand one. The one I am making for you.

By the numbers

A studio with a track record, not a first-timer.

Original works

4ft

Largest original

Kickstarters shipped

Decks live in the shop

What you are backing

A real deck, in your real hands.

🃏

52 cards, poker size

Standard 2.5 x 3.5 inches. Fits any card sleeve you already own. Shuffles like a deck should.

🎩

Hand drawn or hand painted

Oils on canvas, hand-drawn digital, mixed media - all made by hand, no stock. Fifty-two unique originals.

🎲

Plays as poker, reads as Lenormand

Full 52 with suits and ranks for game night. Every card also carries a Lenormand symbol for readings.

📖

A guidebook that walks you in

New to Lenormand? The guidebook starts at zero and gets you reading three-card spreads in an afternoon.

🌊

A tropical soul

Like no Lenormand you have seen. Tide, coral, warm wind, island light. A Calypso Star deck through and through.

📦

Ships from the US

Packed and posted from home. International shipping at real cost, sorted in the pledge manager after the campaign.

The art

Fifty-two originals. One pocket deck.

Every card has hand drawn or hand painted art on it. The oil pieces start big - thirty-six inches square, a few four feet across - and scan down to poker size. The hand-drawn digital pieces render straight to the card. All of it made by hand. The originals stay in the studio; the deck is the pocket version. The art below is in progress - the finished deck will have a full 52.

Calypso Star Lenormand deck preview — Deck preview, in progress

Ornate card back — Card back (vote on the final back)

Placeholder art shown while the deck is being painted. Backers in the Insider Tide see every finished card before anyone else.

Watch it move

The real pace of a hand-made deck.

This is one of the oil paintings in the Lenormand - oils on canvas, drying on the easel while I talk through it. , no shortcut, no speed trick. Just paint, and the time it takes to dry. This is what you are backing. I will film more of these as the campaign runs - the art coming real, one by one, so you can see exactly what you are ushering in.

Two decks in one

Friday night poker. Sunday morning readings.

Most Lenormand decks are 36 cards and live in a drawer. This one is a full 52, so it never has to.

As a poker deck

Four suits, thirteen ranks, two jokers. Deal a hand, play your game. The art is the only thing that gives away that this is not an ordinary deck.

As a Lenormand

Every card carries a Lenormand symbol and keyword. Lay three cards for past, present, threshold. The images do the talking. The guidebook has your back.

How to read it

Three cards is enough to begin.

Lenormand is the friendly cousin of tarot. No waits, no big spreads required. Shuffle, cut, lay three cards left to right: past, present, threshold. Read the pictures as a sentence. The Ship and the Anchor together? Something is arriving and staying. The Clouds over the Sun? A mood passing through. That is the whole game.

The guidebook expands from there into the Grand Tableau - all 36 classic symbols laid out at once - but you do not need any of that to start. Three cards, one question, a quiet minute. The deck does the rest.

What is in the box

The deck, the book, the box.

The full 52-card Calypso Star Lenormand, printed on smooth card stock with a linen or matte finish (backer's choice at the final stretch goal). A guidebook that walks you from your first three-card pull to a full Grand Tableau. A box that keeps it safe - a tuck box to start, upgrading to a rigid two-piece box when we hit the stretch goal. Every backer at the deck tier and up gets all of it.

From the maker of

Five decks already shipping.

These are not mockups. They are real decks, real guidebooks, really shipping from the US today at calypsostar.com. The Lenormand joins them.

Rewards

Pick your tide.

Every tier helps bring this deck into being and ships it from the US. Higher tiers add the printed guidebook, the credits, the art, and the good stuff.

Be in the current

Insider Tide

Vote on the card back design
Suggest keywords for the cards
Vote on which card I paint next
Behind-the-scenes updates from the studio
See every finished card before the world

No deck - this is the vote-and-watch tier

$28

Early Bird Deck

One Calypso Star Lenormand deck (52 cards)
Digital guidebook
Ships with the campaign wave
All Insider Tide votes

First 200 backers only

$36

The Deck

One Calypso Star Lenormand deck
Digital guidebook
All Insider Tide votes

An ace-of-coins moment.

The Ace of Coins is the card where something precious crosses into the physical world - welcomed in, ushered in, made real because people cared it into being. That is what backing this is. You are not chasing a bargain. You are the reason a hand-made deck leaves the studio and lands in your hands.

You bring it into being

A hand-made deck only exists if people welcome it in. Your pledge is what turns the art into printed cards, a guidebook, a box - a real thing you can shuffle.

Your name in the guidebook

Backers at the guidebook tier and up get printed in the credits. The deck remembers who ushered it in.

You help shape it

Vote on the card back and which card gets painted next, and suggest keywords for the cards. See every finished card first.

The hand-made one

This is the artist-designed deck. Oils, digital, AI-assisted, mixed media - all curated and refined by the artist. Backing it is how the slow, hand-made version gets made at all.

You hold it first

The first decks go to the people who made them possible - before the deck ever reaches the shop.

An edition that won't be reprinted

Gilded edges, the signature card, the credits stay with this campaign. The retail deck will not have them.

The Kickstarter edition will not be reprinted. Once it ships, it is gone.

Stretch goals

The more we fund, the nicer it gets.

Every stretch goal unlocks for every backer at the deck tier and up. No extra pledges, no homework - just a nicer deck showing up at your door.

$10,000

Gilded gold edges on every deck. The whole deck catches the light.

$20,000

Rigid two-piece box upgrade. The tuck box becomes a keepsake box.

$35,000

Guidebook upgraded to full color with extra pages and a Grand Tableau walkthrough.

$50,000

Bonus 53rd Calypso Star signature card plus a fabric pouch for every deck.

$75,000

Backer's choice of finish - matte or linen - on every deck.

Timeline

Honest dates, no surprises.

Now

Painting the deck and forming the Insider Tide. You can vote on the card back today.

Campaign live

A 30-day run. Back your tier, watch the stretch goals climb.

After funding

Finish the remaining cards, then pre-press and printer sampling - the alignment corrections and color proofing that make a deck look right.

Production

About 8 to 10 weeks at the printer once the proof is approved.

Shipping

Decks ship roughly 4 to 5 months after the campaign closes. Packed and posted from the US.

Original art and printing both have real lead times. I would rather give you an honest late date and ship early than promise early and ship late. Four campaigns in, I have learned to say that out loud.

Who I am

Four Kickstarters. Five decks shipped.

I am the deckmaker behind Calypso Star. I have run four Kickstarter campaigns and shipped five decks - including the Mana-Fest Light Weave and Dark Weave tarots. Every deck ships from the US, on time, from my own hands. The Calypso Star shop is live right now at calypsostar.com with five decks, guidebooks, and digital downloads, all shipping today.

I make decks I want to shuffle. The Calypso Star Lenormand is the one I have wanted longest. I would love for you to help me finish it.

Risks and challenges

The honest part.

Making 52 pieces of original art is slow. I started before the campaign so most of it is already in progress, and I will keep working through the run - but art takes the time it takes, and the Insider Tide will see that pace honestly, card by card.

Printing has its own lead time. Sampling, alignment corrections, and color proofing can add weeks. I build that into the timeline above rather than hiding it, and I will use a vetted printer with a proof I approve before any deck is cut.

Because every card is made by hand, tiny variations between the original and the print are part of the charm, not a defect. If you want a factory-perfect identical deck, this is not that deck. This is the one with a person behind it.

Shipping is the last variable. I charge it after the campaign at real cost so no one overpays, and I pack from home so I know what goes in the box. Four campaigns shipped, zero abandoned.

FAQ

Good questions.

Is the art really hand drawn or hand painted? ?

Yes. Every card is hand drawn or hand painted - oils, digital, mixed media - made by me, with generation, no stock. Fifty-two originals.

Can I actually play poker with it?

Yes. It is a full 52-card deck with suits and ranks, plus two jokers. Deal a hand any time. The Lenormand symbols live alongside the suit markings.

Do I need to know Lenormand already?

Nope. The guidebook starts at zero. A three-card past, present, threshold pull is enough to read your first spread the day it arrives.

What size is it?

Poker size, 2.5 x 3.5 inches. It fits standard sleeves and shuffles like a normal deck.

When does it ship?

Roughly 4 to 5 months after the campaign closes. See the Timeline section for the full breakdown.

Will it be sold after Kickstarter?

Yes, on calypsostar.com - but the Kickstarter edition (gilded edges, the signature card, your name in the credits) is the one that ushered it into being, and it will not be reprinted. Backers hold it first.

International shipping?

Yes. It is calculated at real cost in the pledge manager after the campaign, so you pay what the post office charges, not a padded estimate.

Can I get just the digital guidebook?

Yes. There is a digital-only add-on in the pledge manager, and the $1 Insider Tide tier gets you into the votes without buying the deck.

Back the Calypso Star Lenormand.

Join the Insider Tide to vote on the card back, see every finished card first, and get the signal the moment the campaign goes live.