This was a joint Fantasy card project by the Russian Playing Card Society and Jokercards, 2018. The suit of clubs are Water World; diamonds are the World of Nature; hearts are Sky World and spades are Mountain World.

Palekh is a type of Russian lacquer art. The name comes from the village of Palekh, situated in the Ivanovo Region, Russia. It first appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. The creation of this handicraft style of painting was based on local icon painting and its main features were landscapes and figures reflecting the traditions of the time.

Historically, Palekh was known in Russia as one of the great centers of icon painting. Icon painting was a family occupation and the craft was passed on from generation to generation.

Each playing card went through the press three times, for the character in one of the four suit colors, the card identification, and the Ferris Wheel on the back of each card. The paper is 100% cotton and the letterpress printing leaves a "bite" in the paper. It took me about 14,000 pulls on the printing press handle and three months to print the one hundred decks.

These cards were printed by me on a hand operated letterpress printing press, an Old Style Pilot Press made around 1920. I still have some of the limited edition of one hundred decks available here.

KickStarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/americanindiancards/1893-chicago-midway-playing-cards-and-companion-book