The creatrix of the Two-Tone Tarot, Dana Glomski recently gifted me a copy of this beautiful deck! This Two variant deck, she began creating her senior year of college, bringing it completely to life in 2019! She self describes this deck as her personal Frankenstein’s monster, spending hours and hours dedicated to bringing his deck to life.
This deck sells for 55 dollars via her own website twotonetarot.com. This is a complete 78 card deck, with 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana.
The deck comes in two versions, Shadow and Light. The copy as you can see that I got my hands on is the shadow side. Her goal with this deck was a “chose your adventure” type of energy. The backs of both versions are identical, mirroring the “two tone” theme, so that way the user can “build their own deck.” Essentially, its purpose is so that way, if one were to buy both versions of the deck, they could choose between light or shadow, making a deck that is unique to the user’s experience, and can evolve in time. Maybe for you, the Tower, is currently a positive change, although painful, correlating with Light. This may be evolving over time, but it’s a quick visual reminder that not all bad things are that bad. Or maybe in reverse, the Lovers is a reminder that you need to break up with your partner, and keep it that way, so you may choose to make that card Shadow. This is the fun of this deck, its entirely pick your path.
The Court Cards are as follows:
- Page=Page
- Knight=Knight
- Queen=Queen
- King=King
The Suits are as follows:
- Pentacles=Coins
- Cups=Cups
- Wands=Wands
- Swords=Swords
The Card Specs are as follows:
- 78 cards
- 2.75” x 4.75”
- Rigid Two-Piece Box, with Matte art on the outside
My first impressions of this deck!
First and foremost as soon as I saw this deck in person, I texted my best friend, because this is right up her alley. The artwork is stunning. It’s minimal and yet so delicately intricate, you can see how much work and love Dana has put into this. Despite being a digital piece of art, it still retains that hand-drawn feeling, and I really respect that. When I was a youth, going to art university myself, I spent an entire semester doing ballpoint pen ink drawings and color me nostalgic, but this reminded me of that.
The concept of the two tones, pick your own path deck, is absolutely brilliant to me. Especially as someone who is constantly talking about why Shadow work, is not only valid but important, I can see so much value in incorporating both parts of this deck to your own path.
In terms of us usability of this deck, it feels nice in my hands. The deck box has a lovely matte finish, but inside there is a gloss to the cards that makes them slide easily through the hands. Actually, as I was taking the photos for this review, they almost slide TOO well. Which is a problem for taking photos, but perfect for shuffling a deck.
The card stock is flexible without feeling flimsy and is very reminiscent feeling of one of my favorite decks, the Lovely Omens. It’s of high quality, without being so rigid that shuffling such as rifle shuffling, becomes impossible. So that being said, my point is, if you enjoy the feel of the Lovely Omens deck, then you will enjoy this deck as well.
Simple Ratings:
Shuffability
Artwork
Finish
Quality of Card Weight
Suitable for Beginners:
