The year I went to Burning Man alone and left early, we’d made a full 78-card tarot deck.
I did most of the art in Photoshop Elements. Six or seven people in the camp contributed their likenesses — Meloney became the Empress (also known as Mamacita Chica Cheetah Bonita), Swartie was the Magician. We based the structure on the Albano-Waite and Crowley Thoth decks. Punched the corners so they’d shuffle like a real deck. Printed about a hundred copies. Done the week before the burn.
We handed them out on the playa and they went almost immediately.
I also built a disc golf course that year — the Frisbeetarian Art Project, themed around “what goes around comes around.” I’d printed 100 custom Innova discs with the logo. The propane flames for the tee markers didn’t handle the wind well. The electroluminescent wire on the hole markers didn’t work right either. I gave away most of the discs anyway and called it a success.
The tarot deck worked better.
The burn itself was complicated for me that year. Friday morning I confessed an attraction to Meloney and she declined, friendly and clean about it. Same evening Becke went dancing with someone else.
Late Friday I rode my bike out to some artwork and sat alone in the dark for a while. Saturday morning I packed and drove home. Twelve hours. I stopped at Bridgeport hot springs on the way.
The tarot deck was good though. I kept a copy.