Introducing Italia Magica + Surveys smoke test
over 4 years ago – Mon, Apr 27, 2020 at 02:35:35 AM

Ciao Backers!

Today I am revealing Italia Magica, the last deck of Italia Divina series. 

It will have a black tuckbox with 2 metallic inks, and the same cards of Italia Divina (Metalluxe on backs). It will be a rare limited edition, available ONLY on BackerKit.

Some Important things about Italia Magica:

• HERE AND NOW - Magica is special and rare deck - it's available for preorder on BackerKit with a great launch price, but after the preorder, it WON'T be available for direct purchase ever again. Yes, even for retail.
•  GIFT FOR BOXES! Every Bellezza Box / Italia MonsterBox will include 1 Italia Magica for free. Read below if you want to get more :-)
• BRICK & BOX SWAP! If you have a Brick or Box, you can swap some Radiosa, Segreta and Divina with Magica decks at no cost. You'll find more details and the conditions on BackerKit (just pick your favourite option).  Read Below for details.

Other items & Gift for Boxes!

In BackerKit there will be some new items: the Italia Pin and few copies of Italia Divina without seal. Those are already included in every Box, but you can add-on them if you want to. Italia Divina no seal are very few and won't be sold after the campaign as well.

BackerKit Smoke test

I've just sent the surveys to 5% of the Backers. If you'll receive it, please complete it asap. This is my first time on BackerKit, so I might have done mistakes - if you see something silly, let me know!

The rest of the surveys will be send during the next days!

Italia Magica notes

• Magica is a backup plan I have made for prevent unavoidable production issues.
• There will be very few units (I guestimate 500)
• Italia Magica won't be available for direct purchase. Never. After the preorder, it will be available only in certain bundles, promotions or as a gift.
• Magica don't have a real retail value since it won't be sold again: the final value will be determined by the market. I will keep € 39 as indication value for now.
• You can preorder as many Magica as you wish, but the reward on BackerKit is limited!

Brick and Box swap details

• All Brick Backers can change from [4xRadiosa+4xSegreta+4xDivina] to [3xRadiosa+3xSegreta+3xDivina+3xMagica] at no cost.
• All Box/Monsterbox backers can change from [5xRadiosa+5xSegreta+5xDivina+1xMagica] to [4xRadiosa+ 4xSegreta+4xDivina+4xMagica] at no cost.

You must do this choice on BackerKit reward.

Grazie a tutti and hopefully good news soon!

Giovanni

Coins and Pins are ready!
over 4 years ago – Sat, Apr 25, 2020 at 11:30:38 AM

Ciao Backers!

I finally have some good news - Coins and Pins arrived in Italy few hours ago, and they're amazing! 

Here are some pictures:

I hope you love them as I do!

How can I add more coins or pins?

Both coins and pins will be available through BackerKit. Remember that a coin and a pin are included for free in every Bellezza Box / Italia Monsterbox.

Cards production update

I am in contact with USPCC team and I write them weekly, but for now there are no news on the factory reopen. In Italy we're going to open some businesses from 4th May, so I hope also United States will be able to do the same during the next month.

I am planning to send surveys anyways in the next days.

Now a couple of shoutouts:

Florentia Playing Cards by Passione

My friends at Passione playing cards made this awesome project about one of the most popular city of Italy: Firenze. This is probably the "perfect shoutout", since our themes are very similar, but stylistically different.

This project focus on the history of the Reinassance Capital. The project is really deep - it's so detailed that could teach something even to citizens of Florence. 

Here is one of my favourite characters of the deck, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere. I always loved him because 1) we share the same name 2) he was a strong and reckless warrior, always in trouble.

So, if you wish to know more about Florence, here is the link of the project > https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/passione/florentia-playing-cards

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Cotta's Almanac #1 Transformation Playing Cards Reproduction

A project by our friend and supporter Will Roya, closing in few days!

This deck is a reproduction of the first transformation deck, Cotta's Almanac, from 1805. This deck is probably the most famous of all six, and is incredibly scarce. Here is a picture of the cards:

Here is the link of the project >>  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/playingcarddecks/cottas-almanac-1-transformation-playing-cards-reproduction

Thank you very much and have a great day!

Giovanni

A quick update about production
over 4 years ago – Sat, Apr 11, 2020 at 08:54:06 PM

Hello Backers,

Sorry for the long silence - I was waiting to have something valuable to share.

Some of you may be already aware that USPCC is temporarily closed for the Coronavirus outbreak. This means that Italia Divina decks production is suspended until they will reopen - they don't have a date, but my feeling is that they might reopen in May.

They already have my files and production was started in february. Unfortunately, we'll have a delay almost for sure - however, don't worry, I am doing all in my power to made things as fast and as smooth as possible.

Anyways, I also have some good news:

- Italia Divina coins are READY, already in the fulfillment center and I asked them to send me some. They will likely arrive to me in a week (and I will post pics).

- Despite the virus, my fulfillment center is active and we shipped, yesterday, all the Modern Idols Kickstarter rewards. If you missed the campaign, the decks are available here

Here is a code for Italia Divina backers >>> praytheidols17 - 7% off + free shipping (limited to some countries, details here) - You can use this code on the new releases or other stuff.

I have some surprises to reveal about Italia Divina campaign, hopefully soon :-)

Thank you for your patience and stay safe!

Giovanni

We're FUNDED! Grazie mille :-)
almost 5 years ago – Sat, Mar 07, 2020 at 06:03:26 PM

Ciao Backers! We're funded!

I'e sent the files for production yesterday, so the decks are "in production" already. The project will be printed in the USA by USPCC, so Italia Divina LE will have Metalluxe on back.

There will be a lot of cool secrets I haven't revealed yet (especially for Box Backers) ;-)

An important news - I'll use BackerKit for Italia Divina. I am a bit new to this, so I'm starting to figure out what to do. Hopefully all will go smooth - I am doing this mainly to made the shipping process easier for my fulfillment center.  Anyways, this should be a good news if you missed some add-on.

2020 Spring Sale!

Meanwhile, I have published a simple spring sale on my website. Unfortunately, Modern Idols and Eva Noire/Paradis are not available yet, so I've focused it on some of my previous decks. I have made few Gold Monoliths available for the occasion, if you missed it, now it's the chance :)

Extra discount for Italia backers!

All Italia Divina backers can use this code for have 10% off on top of this sale, valid for 5 days from now: italianspring20 - Remember that USA Backers have Free shipping above $50 and "Zone1" backers over $99 (you have to pick "free shipping" option manually). I can't apply discounts later or refund orders, so don't miss it please :-)

Here is the link for the sale >> https://www.thirdwayindustries.com/product-category/springsale2020/?product_count=48&product_orderby=price&product_order=desc

Keymaster Tarot by Lorenzo Gaggiotti

I wanted to share with you the project of my friend Lorenzo, a Tarot deck from the World of The House of the Rising Spade. 

He made an awesome presentation video in collaboration with the Gentleman Wake, if you haven't already, take a look:

The project is simply stunning, and the Ultimate Version have an incredible "sarcophagus" box.

Here is the link of the project >> https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/requiemcards/keymaster-tarot

Don't miss it!

What happens now?

Kickstarter should have collected money from your credit cards already. If not, it means that the payment failed for some reasons. You have time to fix payments within one week, Kickstarter should send you reminders every 48 hours. The backers that could not pay will be kicked out by Kickstarter,and won't recieve the reward (oh no!).

There is some time to fix it, so if you have problems, please ask Kickstarter, credit card company or Bank. If you think you can't fix the Credit Card payment, no problem. Contact me, I will assist you to fix with PayPal.

Grazie a tutti!

Giovanni

Coin "Moneta Italia" unlocked!
almost 5 years ago – Mon, Feb 24, 2020 at 09:50:16 PM

Buongiorno, Backers!

Today I'll unlock the coin of Italia Divina Project: Moneta Italia. It was supposed to be at 37k but I didn't want to wait :)

This coin represent the Italia Goddess on one side, and the "Italian" Ace of Spades on the other.

The coin is available as add-on, but if you have a Bellezza Box/Monsterbox, you already have one coin included for free. This is the first (but absolutely not the last) extras included into the boxes ;-) The best has yet to come.

>>> If you want a coin, just add +16€ to your pledge.

Important notes:

• On Kickstarter campaign, the coins are free shipping worldwide.
• You can add as many coins as you wish.
• Please send me a message with the number of coins you've pledged for, so I can keep track.
• I can offer bulk discounts if you wish 6+ coins. Contact me via PM
• If you need assistance on add-ons, send me a pm or mail (giovanni-at-thirdway.it)

Coins features

Both coins will be heavy, big (2") and detailed, made by Coins for Anything - they made all my coins so far with awesome results. You can see some examples here:

I made relatively few coins, usually 200, and post Kickstarter those will be rare and more expensive. As you see clicking the link above, many are sold out. Get them while you can!

Courts Explained: Napoli

Napoli is the capital of Campania. It's one of my favourite cities of Italy and I've tried to portray her as a colorful, passionate, beautiful and mysterious woman. I've checked a lot of pictures of famous italian actresses to get inspiration ;-)

Napoli's main landmark is not a building: is the popular vulcan Vesuvio, symbol of the city.

I've included in both versions the popular Maschio Angioino, the main building of Piazza del Plebiscito and, in the "Divina" version, a coloumn from the "Complesso Monumentale di Santa Chiara", which is not super-famous but really touched me somehow, so I wanted to include it.

Napoli Segreta is "Veiled", like the amazing sculpture of "Cristo Velato" of the "Cappella Sansevero" - made by Giuseppe Sanmartino. This is, in my opinion, one of the wonders of the modern World and absolutely a must see if you're in Napoli.

Italia Segreta is dedicated to the Moon, but I had to put the Sun (Sol) Symbol in Napoli, together with the Sea (Mar) and the Heart (Cor).

As said before, 1 coin is included in every Bellezza Box (or MonsterBox); Of course if you wish more, you can add them.  If, after this improvement, you decided to grab a Box - you still can do it. Few are available when I'm writing ;-)

Circus Playing Cards by Marianne Larsen

"Venghino Signori e Signore, il Circo è in città!"

I wanted to shoutout a project of my friend Marianne, Circus Playing cards - Fully custom deck with a vintage circus theme. The court cards feature many iconic artists of historic circus archetypes. 

My favourite is the Snake Charmer, as you can probably imagine if you know my previous works :-)

Here is the link of the project > https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1265596936/circus-playing-cards

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p.s.  You may have saw the news about the virus spreading in Italy today. Since some asked (thank you btw, really appreciate it) I wanted to reassure everyone: I don't live in the quarantine zone and I am fine, just worried and currently working from home as a precaution. Hopefully all will be back to normal soon. 

Grazie a tutti!

Giovanni