How to display playing cards
September 23, 2010 2:35 PM   Subscribe

I bought an artsy deck of playing cards--each card is illustrated by a different artist--and am looking for an interesting/creative way to display them: either the entire deck, or a few cards at a time. Any ideas?
posted by Ideal Impulse to Media & Arts (10 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: coasters! either do a set of a suit, or 4 aces, or a poker hand.

you can either buy a coaster set that you put a picture (or in this case, a playing card) into, like this. OR, you can make them - mount the card to some cork board (you might also want to mount the card to a craft board, then cork board for some stability and thickness), then cover in shellac spray or modge podge or any other sort of glue/waterproof/clear encasing stuff.
posted by nadawi at 2:46 PM on September 23, 2010


My friend framed his vintage hanafuda cards in picture frames and hung them on his wall. He got 12 separate small sized frames and placed each of the twelve suits into each frame. You could try something similar by separating your deck into the four suits.
posted by cazoo at 2:48 PM on September 23, 2010


Best answer: You could frame five at a time--good poker hands--and switch them out periodically.
posted by phunniemee at 3:22 PM on September 23, 2010


Clothesline and pulleys. If you're worried about clothespins dinging your cards, put them in sleeves.

Place pulleys and clothesline in a long box or behind curtains or a screen so that only a few of your cards are on display at any given moment. Give the line a tug to change the display. Add a motor to automate it.
posted by notyou at 3:29 PM on September 23, 2010


Not to hijack, but these cards sound very cool.

Do you have a photo? Where did you get them?

As for an answer -- I'd go with putting the 13 cards of each suit into a frame, probably a big one so you could see the artwork and not just the number in the corner. Then hang the four frames in separate rooms, so you're not assaulted with 52 little artworks all on one wall.
posted by Flying Saucer at 3:43 PM on September 23, 2010


Response by poster: Flying Saucer: I got them at Bumbershoot in Seattle. A company called Gig Posters sold them.
posted by Ideal Impulse at 3:54 PM on September 23, 2010


Automatic card shuffler, face up?
posted by Not Supplied at 4:35 PM on September 23, 2010


i like the display each suit together idea. My first thought was make a little coffee/side table top with them. Either under a glass top or seal with polyurethane. Or you could frame each one individually and put them up in a square formation or even a line across a wall, well spaced out creating a visual effect en masse. I guess it depends on your style and the style of the artwork on the cards. Hope you share with us what you end up doing with them!
posted by abirdinthehand at 5:30 PM on September 23, 2010


This isn't particularly imaginative or creative, but I do think that things-that-are-not-baseball-cards look nice in baseball card display frames.
posted by sawdustbear at 6:08 PM on September 23, 2010


Hanging Photo Mobile?
posted by shannonm at 6:30 PM on September 25, 2010


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