Production Status Update and Layout design phase
over 2 years ago – Thu, Aug 19, 2021 at 06:48:46 PM

Hi all!

Today I want to show you a quick video of the layout design about the book that does not spoils too much. But before that here is the usual production update overview.

I do not have pictures of the completed items, especially the seals, but they will arrive soon.

Layout Phase

As wrote before I received the master manuscript (= final version with common typos) and I started to lay it out with Adobe InDesign. At the moment I am at chapter 14 of 20, but I can show you only a part of the layout so I do not spoil the whole book.

I am picking old high res images from the Creative Common library, as they are free to use without copyright infringement of any sort. The maps you see are from there. 

I decided that each chapter starts with one of the court cards  or aces from the deck.

Page size: 110x175mm, which is a standard format in the world of publishing.

The steps of this part of the project are the following

• 1. Layout design, illustrations, and typos correction (95% of the workload)
• 2.Puzzle check (because you need the book) (1%)
• 3.Final proofreading and final typos correction (5%)
• 4.Order 

That's all for now, I keep on working on the layout and hopefully be ready in a week or max 10 days.

Stay tuned!

Lorenzo

Production Status
over 2 years ago – Sun, Aug 08, 2021 at 04:40:34 AM

Hi all!

I hope you are spending a nice summertime for those in the northern hemisphere. Here in Sweden I can say summer is already over... meh!

This is a quick update about the production status of the Eye of the Ocean, which looks like this:

Wildfires in Greece

Since we humans broke the planet, now we have to deal with natural disasters that are affecting our plans of any kind. One of these is happening now in Greece, near Athens, where the tuckboxes are printed.

Wildfires are raging near Athens; smoke and power outages in the city paused the production. The printshop is now closed and I think the production will be resumed at the beginning of september because on top of the wildfires there are summer vacations.

Cards

So far so good. But assembly can be done only when the tuckboxes arrive at Cartamundi. The delay of the tuckboxes might affect this.

However, the decks need to be gilded and I think it will be done at the end of August. Gilding takes time because it is made by hand+machine.

Book Design & Puzzle

I am preparing the layout, but I am waiting for the final manuscript which has been proofread 200 times. Tomorrow I have a meeting with the co-authors and I should get the final version.

Meanwhile I am preparing all you need to solve the puzzle in a visually cool way.

The following picture shows a rendering of the leather cover.

The debossed (opposite of embossed) graphics on the leather cover are needed to solve the puzzle. The astrolabe is attached on the center and can spin. How to solve it is something that you will figure it out. Instructions will be found in the first pages of the book.

As you can see the design resembles central American ancient civilizations, which fits the theme.

I might tweak the design a bit during the design phase. Just stay tuned :)

That's all for now.

As soon as I have news I post another update :)

Stay tuned!

Lorenzo

Back from vacation / production update
almost 3 years ago – Mon, Jul 26, 2021 at 10:22:52 PM

Hi all!

sorry for the silence, but as written in the previous update I've been away for 3 weeks and to recharge and get some Italian sun :)

I am back in Stockholm and ready to restart fully recharged, so first thing first: kickstarter update.

In this update:

• Production Status
• Color proofs from Cartamundi: approved
• Backerkit: charging cards the 26th of July.

Production Status

As you can see there are plenty of changes. I did some work while I was away, and it was just production management.

A couple of notes:

Books

The very final version of the manuscript will be delivered at the end of the month. The writers want to be 100% sure and they are proof-reading the book over and over. Once I get it, I will start to put together the layout. I think I will need 15 days of work and then I can order the books.

Tuckboxes

Lotrek (Oath Playing Cards) started to print. Expect delays because in August the printshop will close for vacation and the foil application will be made at the beginning of September.

Color proofs from Cartamundi

Cartamundi shipped the color proofs to me even if I was on vacation in another town. These are prints that are only made to approve the colors. And they are great.

Proofs approved and the cards are in production.

Be aware that the foil (silver and gold) is not supposed to be printed on the color proofs.

Backerkit

Tomorrow the credit cards will be charged (26th of July, Swedish time).

Only the backers that added extra items will get a notification about the payment via email.

Backer that did not add extra items during the survey will not be charged of course.

That's all for now :)

I will write another update probably in a week, or when I have news about the production.

Thank you for the patience and stay tuned!

Lorenzo

--

Follow up Stockholm17 Playing Cards on social media:

• Follow Stockholm17 on INSTAGRAM 
• Like&Follow the FACEBOOK page
• Subscribe to the Newsletter on www.stockholm17.com 
• Or become a patron on PATREON 

Orders and Production
almost 3 years ago – Tue, Jun 29, 2021 at 10:11:13 PM

Hi all!

First of all, thank you so much for completing the survey. 90% of the backers did it, and this gave me a realistic count of the items I have to produce. I placed the order at Cartamundi and my spot in their production roadmap is booked for mid July. 

Here is a quick overview of the major items

• 1000 books 
• Solis: 2400 Solis Regular, 1600 gilded and numbered
• Lunæ: 2400 regular, 1600 gilded and numbered
• Astra Polaris: 3450 regular (yes they are gilded of course), 555 Signature Edition
• Quartermaster mini: 1200
• 500 wooden boxes 
• etc etc

Now the surveys are locked and the credit cards will be charged at the end of July if you added extra items. 

Incomplete Surveys

Remaining backers, please complete the survey as soon as possible.
Survey e-mail not found/missing/lost?  Click here: https://the-eye-of-the-ocean.backerkit.com/

Production Plan

The following updates will be based on the following production plan. 

Vacation

As you can see there are a lot of items in "stand by". It is like this because from the 1st of July I will be on vacation for 3 weeks and I will not be able to manage the project. I focused on the items that took long time to be produced such as decks and wooden boxes. Also, in July-August people take vacation (at least in Europe) so everything slows down... and me too.

Expect delays in my replies if you inquire.

Books

Once I am back I will receive the final manuscript and I will need a couple of weeks to make the final layout. I think the order can be done in the first week of August. It will probably take a month to be produced, but first I need to get another sample prototype for approval before the whole production starts. This might take some extra time. Let's see.

What's next

Not much, almost all the final files are ready and the remaining orders will be initiated once I am back. We just wait and the backers in the northern hemisphere will enjoy the summertime.

I will write a short update probably in a couple of weeks, or when I am back.

The Italian Jobs: Cammeo Playing Cards and Galaxia Playing Cards

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Cammeo

Vincenzo wanted to create a deck of cards, which could represent himself. Telling about his work as a craftsman handed down from generations took several months of graphic work to best represent this art.

The cammeo (or cameo) is a jewel made through the engraving of a stratified stone (usually onyx) or a shell, in particular the Cypraecassis rufa, Cassis madascarensis and Cassis cornuta. These shells of the family of Cassis have the surface formed by two layers of different colors, which allows to isolate clearly from the bottom the figure in relief.

KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN: here

Galaxia

Galaxia is a series of playing cards by Thirdway Industries, inspired by dystopian Sci-Fi novels of the 1950s and 60s. Designed by the Italian designer Giovanni Meroni. 

There are three decks in the Galaxia series: Galaxia Promessa, Galaxia Altezza and Galaxia Domina. Domina is a limited edition; only 1777 decks will be produced.

KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN: HERE

That's all for now, I wish you a great vacation if you are planning one. :)

Remember I will be away for 3 weeks in July for a deserved vacation in my hometown.

Thank you so much for completing the surveys, more reminders will be sent to backers that did not complete it. I will be quite annoying until the surveys are complete. Sorry for that, but I need them done.

Thank you!

Lorenzo

-

Follow up Stockholm17 Playing Cards on social media:

• Follow Stockholm17 on INSTAGRAM 
• Like&Follow the FACEBOOK page
• Subscribe to the Newsletter on www.stockholm17.com 
• Or become a patron on PATREON 

Surveys!
almost 3 years ago – Thu, Jun 17, 2021 at 02:19:44 AM

Hello! All surveys sent!

The smoke test went well, no issues reported.

I pushed the button and you should have received the survey email, this one:

The email address the survey is sent matches the one of your kickstarter account. You do not need to create an account on Backerkit, just pretend you are on Kickstarter.

Always check spam/junk/promo folders

•  From:The Eye of the Ocean 
•  Subject:Response Needed -- Get your reward for The Eye Of The Ocean 

E-mail not received or lost? click here 

Or just a couple of hours, backerkit is sending 2200 emails and it might take some time.

What you can do

• upgrade your reward tier (be aware, if you do this you cannot go back)
• answer to a question
• specify if your Solis and/or Lunæ decks are gilded and numbered (for any reward tier)
• specify the configuration of the added decks in bundles (trio, half brick, brick) and decide if you want the Lunæ and Solis decks all regular, all gilded, or half and half.
• specify what uncut sheet you want (if you have/added one or more)
• Add extra items at kickstarter prices
• Fix the payment if it did not work through kickstarter
• Enter the shipping address, which can be updated later just before shipping time

A note about the shipping address

You will enter your shipping address and it can be modified/updated any time before shipping.

The shipping address is not locked at the moment, so you can come back and change it if you need to.

A few days before shipping you will get another email as reminder and you will be able to update the address or just leave it as it is.

Do not get confused with the pre-order page

The pre-order page is created for late backers, meaning that they are not backers of the kickstarter campaign, just people who missed the campaign.

NOT for you if you are reading this. The price structure is different, there are not the same bundles as Kickstarter, no gifts assigned, etc.

If Kickstarter kicked you out, DO NOT pre-order from there, stick to the survey you received.

Please complete the survey ASAP

I just want to get started as soon as possible and I need a realistic count of the decks and the items. 

The count of the items depends by the % of completed surveys. 

If I do not have a realistic count I cannot place the order = project delayed.

Credit Cards charged in July

If you add extra items, be aware that the cards will be charged around the end of July.

It works like kickstarter: you enter your credit card credentials and the card is charged later.

I do not have access to credit cards info, it is something managed by the platform. I just push a button when the time comes.

What's next

I am working on the final files and I would like to place the order by the end of the month.

That's all for now, I hope everything is clear.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to complete the survey

have a great day

Lorenzo