collection: found playing cards

At the zine fair I went to the other weekend, I met a girl named Kathleen who was selling badges made out of found playing cards on her stall, as well as her zines and prints. We struck up a conversation and I promised that I would send her any swapsies I had in my own collection.

I have been collecting found playing cards for aaaages, and love the fact that I have found someone else who does too, yay! In the few years of collecting I have still never actually completed a deck: it's not like playing cards are the most common thing to find, even on the mean streets of Haringey which are positively littered with social clubs. Having said that, it's not like Kathleen and I are the only people collecting found playing cards - there are loads of us! Who knew?!

Meeting her encouraged me to dig out my old collection (some of which are still missing, probably in one of those boxes from my parents house that I still haven't sorted out) and to display them properly. Some of them used to live on a wall by the window in my front room, but since moving to the bigger flat (like years ago) I haven't ever unpacked the few I had up in the old flat. On my most recent trip to Ikea (I don't go there every week, honestly!) I bought a simple white frame in which to display my scraggy-looking collection (some of the cards were found in the middle of roads, others may or may not have been taken from puddles...)

I was assisted in the delicate operation of presenting the cards by a certain Miss Yoyo Razorclaw, The Helpful Kitty.

In the 40 or so cards that I've found over the years, there were quite a few repeats - some cards have been found twice, some three or more times, weirdly. I only used one of each card in the arrangement, so I have some extra swapsies if anyone else is interested (!) go on, start your own collection!

Kathleen has gone one step further and asked all of her friends to contribute to her collection, so likewise, if any of you happen to find any playing cards lying about the place, do let me know!