We can stop calling this project 20 different things now! Thanks to everyone who participated in the naming brainstorming thread. Every idea sparked other ideas and led to the one that finally made the cut.
Most of the suggestions that came in wanted to get across the idea that it is a group made, community deck. Lots of words were tossed around but the final decision is based on an old folk tale which is, where I come from, called Stone Soup.
This story is told across many countries and cultures and the main ingredient, The Stone, varies from place to place. There is Nail Soup, Axe Soup, and some others, but the one that really had the catchiest sound is....drumroll.....Button Soup...which led us to:A wandering and hungry traveler (The Fool maybe?) arrives in a small village. In the village square he builds a little cooking fire and puts a pot of water on it to which he's added a large stone.
A passing villager asks what he's doing and the traveler replies "I'm making stone soup" and goes on to describe what a delicacy it is and tells the villager if he could spare a little something to add to the soup he'd happily share it.
Long story short (well, it's not that long really) the people of the village, drawn by curiosity, each contribute something, some carrots, a bit of parsley, some potatoes, a soup-bone, an onion, etc etc, until someone has to go get a bigger pot and then the soup keeps growing attracting more people until finally the traveler removes the old stone and serves the beautiful delicious soup they've created together to everyone in the village.
Sort of a "group project." In some of the better versions of the story, spirits rise and someone brings wine and others play music and it turns into a real party.
Button Soup Tarot
Now either you'll like it right away, or you'll need to roll it around for a minute.
Here are some things to think about:
- It's original.
- It's catchy and makes a person wonder "what is it?" Just like in the story, it piques curiosity.
- Button Soup Tarot captures the community spirit that went into creating the deck.
- It captures a spirit of fun.
- It provides a little story to tell (besides just "we made a deck") which helps a lot when we try to promote it.
- It starts with a "B" (do you know how many deck names start with "S"?) B is good letter.
- It's very easy to remember. So many deck names use the same words or are overly complex and hard to remember. Button Soup Tarot is pretty unforgettable.
- It doesn't need a "The" at the beginning, so it looks nicer in print and will never be alphabetised under "T"
When we get our LWB assembled people will really see how all that energy came together to create a truly unique Tarot experience.
I hope you all like it. If you don't, I ask you to please give it a chance to grow on you some.
Naming things is hard. But having a decision made feels pretty good and it feels like this whole project just took a big step forward to becoming a reality.
(The Frame and Font has been chosen: You can see all the cards in their final form here )