This is not a blank deck. It is an unfinished one.
The Pattern
Four sheets arrive with the sixty-four faces of Wave One already printed, the first of three complete decks in the Arc(k) of Animal Alchemy, sixteen animals to a page, borders trimmed to bleed and bound together for the ritual ahead. The front of the work is done. The back of the work is not, and it was never meant to be done for you.
The Initiation
Lay the sheets flat before you touch a brush. Let the four pages sit together as one surface, the way a mural does before anyone cuts it. Paint across all of it at once rather than card by card. This is the same act the Captain performs before every Commission Deck: one continuous gesture, cut apart only after it's finished. When the paint dries, cut along the printed lines. What you're left with is a deck no one else has, made by hands no one else has.
What Arrives
Four bound sheets, 9" x 12" (shipped in a 10" x 13" mailer), sixty-four printed faces on premium watercolor paper. The same toothy, acid-free archival stock used for your gallery prints and every hand-made deck. It holds paint the way it's meant to. A QR code inside links to the guidebook and simple guidance on paint, palette, and the cut.
