Bicycle Golden Spike by Jody Eklund -- Now live

[nECr0MaNCeD]

I voted B but agree no title would be better

Simple, i made the changes to the poll, you can revote, the votes would change accordingly

You are a prince among men.....

[Bikefanatic]

My idea for the no title option D really took off. I think most people know Chinese were involved with building railroads or can tell that guy is some kind of laborer. Like with most decks with people as courts, there's cards to tell us the name of them so with this one, it could also list the people that are on the aces as a Celestial, etc.

[ryzellon]

I have no idea why "celestial" is in there. To me (and I suspect a lot of others too) that has an astronomical meaning, which was supported by my recent googling of the term.

As for the other two, all I ask is that it "fits" with the text on the other aces. Consistency, consistency, consistency

"[Charles] Crocker . . . rode the line urging the Irish and his 'Celestial' laborers, as he called his Chinese Workers, to lay more track."
Page 12, River in Ruin: The Story of the Carmel River, Ray A. March

"The quality of the Cantonese--they were often called 'Celestials' for their belief in a celestial kingdom--was exemplary."
Page 222, Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad, David Haward Bain

"San Francisco newspapers referred to them as 'The Celestials' (because they were immigrants from the Celestial Kingdom, as China called itself) . . . ."
Page 59, A Multicultural Portrait of Immigration, Petra Press

"Denigrated as 'Celestial monkeys' and 'heathens,' they were held in abject contempt by Europeans . . . ."
Page 271, Winning the Wild West: The Epic Saga of the American Frontier, Page Stegner

"So convinced were the white railroad men that these 'celestial monkeys' could not do the work of white men that when James Strobridge, the tough-minded Irish work boss of the Central Pacific, was ordered to hire Chinese men, he exploded with rage[.]"
Page 129, Fusang, the Chinese who built America, Stan Steiner

"The rugged mountains looked like stupendous ant-hills. They swarmed with Celestials, shovelling, wheeling, carting, drilling and blasting rocks and earth, while their dull moony eyes stared out from under immense basket hats, like umbrellas."
Page 278, Building the Pacific Railway, Edwin L. Sabin

[sprouts1115]

Yep, these cards are pretty much good to go. I like the elongated rank of the card and font in the index. It's different. You also have the large suit in the courts so I can't bitch about knowing what the card is at a distance. Show your pips....

[jodyeklund]

So, I want to apologize. I know I was shooting for this upcoming Monday for the launch date for the Golden Spike project on Kickstarter. Unfortunately, I am not quite ready. I still need to finish my video and some of the numbers are not in yet.

I will for sure be launching Golden Spike on the 23rd of June (10 days from now). So mark your calendars.

Thank you all for your feedback regarding the Ace of Diamonds. It looks like we got a little history lesson going on, which is pretty cool. I've learned a lot of history that I didn't know before by doing this project and It looks like you guys have too.

It looks like the "no title" wins. I will not be doing a title for who is on the card any longer. I agree, I'm not about to create something that will potentially offend someone. I will be putting something there, just not the title of who's on the card, so stay tuned, I will post all of my aces to show you what I am trying to accomplish. And, of course, I would love to hear what you guys think.

Thanks guys! Looking forward to the 23rd!

Jody

[MagikFingerz]

Take your time, Jody. A deck as nice as this needs to be done right

[nECr0MaNCeD]

Agreed. Take your time good sir. Rushing is for chores and driving, not art!

[jodyeklund]

So, this week has been a good week so far. I only have one more Heart court to do, the "Jack of Heart". I was able to get all of the Aces done. I am submitting them to you guys for review. These are pretty close to final, so give me your best critique.

Last thing, and very important, I've decided to push my launch one more week to June 30th. This is because, I still have some things I need to get done and I am feeling too rushed. Thank you for being patient with me and I promise the wait will be worth it

[Mike Ratledge]

So, this week has been a good week so far. I only have one more Heart court to do, the "Jack of Heart". I was able to get all of the Aces done. I am submitting them to you guys for review. These are pretty close to final, so give me your best critique.

Last thing, and very important, I've decided to push my launch one more week to June 30th. This is because, I still have some things I need to get done and I am feeling too rushed. Thank you for being patient with me and I promise the wait will be worth it

Nice, Jody! "Mikey likes it!" (them)

I'll change the thread title to "Coming to KS 30-June".

[TGunitedcardists]

Good job. The Ace of Diamonds has improved a lot! Bring on the court cards!

[Widdee]

Well done, Jody!

[MagikFingerz]

Not a fan of the "name of the card on a banner" thing. I'd honestly prefer anything but that. It's an unnecessary label that adds nothing to the card.

[bamabenz]

I agree with MagikFingerz.

[Bikefanatic]

I 3rd Magik's comment. If this is only a same deck with 2 different tucks, I'll get the white one.

[markjanderson]

I was going to say at least take out the word "THE" from all of the banners.
If anything it shortens the "THE ACE OF SPADES" so it doesn't crowd the index (right word?) as much as the others

[Mike Ratledge]

Correct. Plural is "indices" technically but I have heard people use "indexes"...

[MagikFingerz]

Correct. Plural is "indices" technically but I have heard people use "indexes"...

I think both can be used, but indices just looks and sounds better

[TGunitedcardists]

I was going to say at least take out the word "THE" from all of the banners.
If anything it shortens the "THE ACE OF SPADES" so it doesn't crowd the index (right word?) as much as the others

Put me down in the "get rid of the THE" crowd too.

I'd like to see bigger indicies and bigger pips.

This is all minor, as images for the deck look great.

[ecNate]

I was going to say at least take out the word "THE" from all of the banners.
If anything it shortens the "THE ACE OF SPADES" so it doesn't crowd the index (right word?) as much as the others

Put me down in the "get rid of the THE" crowd too.

I'd like to see bigger indicies and bigger pips.

This is all minor, as images for the deck look great.

Agree - it's not needed and just looks weird, plus takes up extra space. If I think about it I guess it makes it more official, almost like a title, but then all it's really doing is being distracting. I think I get what you were going for, but just keep it simple so we can focus on the awesome artwork. Love the choo choos.

[DukeBoy]

Not a fan of the "name of the card on a banner" thing. I'd honestly prefer anything but that. It's an unnecessary label that adds nothing to the card.

agreeded

[sprouts1115]

I think MagikFingerz has a valid point. You don't need the banner on the aces. I would value the art behind the banner more. After that fix your ok to go just like the movie Contact. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUw13iIrKN0

[jodyeklund]

I need your help! There is less than a week left for the launch and I want to make sure that there isn't anything I am missing. I have been poring over everything for the past month, so I am pretty close to the action and I might miss something. I am providing you all a link to my Kickstarter page before the launch next Monday to catch anything that will be a problem before I launch. Please let me know any issues you might see so I can take care of them before next Monday. Thank you for your help.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/91 ... n=06c81691" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Bikefanatic]

Jody you done the two decks very well! The Bike version has the aged look to it while the Gold Edition looks cleaner with metallic pips. Both have different colored backs. I'll pledge for both for sure.

[SBurk49]

I need your help! There is less than a week left for the launch and I want to make sure that there isn't anything I am missing. I have been poring over everything for the past month, so I am pretty close to the action and I might miss something. I am providing you all a link to my Kickstarter page before the launch next Monday to catch anything that will be a problem before I launch. Please let me know any issues you might see so I can take care of them before next Monday. Thank you for your help.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/91 ... n=06c81691" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hurry up and LAUNCH ALREADY!!!

Oh and tell me exactly when you do so I can get an EB duo.

Unless its possible to call dibs...

Wait...

Is that possible?

Can I call dibs?!?!?

[snsdmonkey]

Looks fantastic! Congratulations and can't wait for it to be launched.

[rjtomlinson1977]

I've been looking forward for this one for awhile now.

[Verloren]

So some international early backers will receive discounted shipping?

[Yashi]

Is there a time and date for the launch? I'd love to jump in on the international early bird (which is a great idea by the way).

[rjtomlinson1977]

Is there a time and date for the launch? I'd love to jump in on the international early bird (which is a great idea by the way).

On facebook I think I saw June 30th but I don't remember if it said a time.

[jodyeklund]

Is there a time and date for the launch? I'd love to jump in on the international early bird (which is a great idea by the way).

I am launching it on Monday morning, June 30th at 10am (Mountain Time). The International rewards will just be for all my international backers and gives a discounted shipping price. I will be limiting the backers on these, but I will be opening these up at different times throughout the campaign.

Oh...just so you know, I am making it my mission to give my backers the better price. I came up with this idea this morning (about 4am) that will do just that.

There will be the "Early Birds!" that will be the lowest price you can get; there will be the base price; and then there will be a prices that are only for the loyal backers. These rewards will be opening up for a limited time for a limited amount of backers. I will send out a backer update letting the backers know the time that I will open up the special price. The times will be strategic, in that, depending on the time zone a backer is in.

There will be times when I wake up at 4am just to open the reward up for those on the east coast to get it by 6am and other times when I open it up at midnight for the benefit of the west coast. It should be fun and I am calling this the "Gold Backer" and will have that name in all caps in front of the reward so that backers can recognized them easily.

You won't see the "Gold Backer" rewards at first, but I will be opening them up within a day or two after the launch.

Let me know if this makes sense or if you have any questions. Your feedback helps me flush out any problems that might arise.

Thanks guys!