The Oblique Strategies

[poterat]

Argh! HOw did you manage to cut all the cards the same size. I don't want to use a ruler!

[princess_me]

these cards are inspirational. they seem to help you take your mind off of other things and let your brain relax a little. i have one question though. do they have to be a particular size.

[ForevrBee]

I had an idea to make my own, but instead of words & quotes & such, I used letters from a dingbat font called RQ. Each letter/symbol has its own specific meaning:

RUNE             KEY
      
[td]Air   a   a or A[/td]
[td]Beast   b   b or B[/td]
[td]Chaos   c   c or C[/td]
[td]Cold   k   k[/td]
[td]Darknessd   d or D[/td]
[td]Death   t   t or T[/td]
[td]Disorderj   j or J[/td]
[td]Dragon   N   N[/td]
[td]Dragonewtn   n[/td]
[td]Earth, Lighte   e[/td]
[td]Earth, DarkE   E[/td]
[td]Fate   *   *[/td]
[td]Fertility   x   x or X[/td]
[td]Fire   f   f[/td]
[td]Harmonyh   h or H[/td]
[td]Heat     K         K[/td]
[td]Hunger   g   g or G[/td]
[td]Ice   F   F[/td]
[td]Illusion   i   i or I[/td]
[td]Infinity   8   8[/td]
[td]Law   l   l or L[/td]
[td]Light   o   o[/td]
[td]Luck   !   ![/td]
[td]Magic   r   r or R[/td]
[td]Man   m   m or M[/td]
[td]Masteryw   w or W[/td]
[td]Moon   q   q or Q[/td]
[td]Movementv   v or V[/td]
[td]Pamalt   ^   ^[/td]
[td]Plant   p   p or P[/td]
[td]ShadowO   O[/td]
[td]Spirit   s   s or S[/td]
[td]Stasis   u   u or U[/td]
[td]Trade   #   #[/td]
[td]Truth   y   y or Y[/td]
[td]Water   z   z or Z[/td]

      
[td]Crescent Go Moon   1   1[/td]
[td]Dying Moon   2   2[/td]
[td]Black Moon    3         3[/td]
[td]Crescent Come Moon4   4[/td]
[td]Empty Half Moon   5   5[/td]
[td]Full Moon    6         6[/td]
[td]Full Half Moon   7   7[/td]
      
[td]Empty Bullet   =   =[/td]
[td]Filled Bullet   +         +[/td]
[td]Crossed Out Bullet   -   -[/td][/table]



I'd even made my own giving certain shapes to the signs of the zodiac:
Aries: Diamond
Taurus: Flower
Gemini: Music Note
Cancer: Dewdrop
Leo: Sun
Virgo: Circle
Libra: Heart
Scorpio: Ankh
Sagittarius: Star
Capricorn: Hourglass
Aquarius: Thunderbolt
Pisces: Seashell

[CyndiCat]

Thanks for the wonderful new project!!  I've printed your word doc (changed the script to gothic) and I'm going to make the cards tonight.  I really need these at work...especially the ones advocating more patience...hee hee 

[Steph]

is there a standard set of sayings or did you make up your own?

You can make up your own, but I based my decks on previous editions of the Oblique Strategies.  However, I put in some blank cards so the recipients could make up their own if they wanted to.

Argh! HOw did you manage to cut all the cards the same size. I don't want to use a ruler!

I cut them very carefully with scissors.  When I made the document, I arranged the cards on a table with light gray borders and made sure the lines were all equidistant so that when it printed out all I would have to do was follow the dotted lines as I cut.  The cards weren't perfectly rectangular, but when I stacked the cards they looked handcut in the good way.

these cards are inspirational. they seem to help you take your mind off of other things and let your brain relax a little. i have one question though. do they have to be a particular size.

They can be whatever size you want.  It pretty much depends on the size of your box.

[rmember_myreply]

in drawing 101 we had to sketch in our sketch books every night one olbique strategy

we had the water one! we could either take it literally or figuratively, whichever way you wanted to take it... it was fun!

[kategirl]

those look really nice.

ok, maybe I'm really dense, but I looked at the website and even googled it, but I still can't figure out exactly what you do with them.  anyone want to explain?  please?

[Steph]

The precise function of the Oblique Strategies is nebulous, but in general they are used as creative prompts.

A note about my version of the deck that I have posted up in Word format.  Since none of the recipients were musician types, I culled most of the cards that were applicable to musical processes.  If you download the file, feel free to reinstate those cards in your version.

Also, here's another downloadable and printable version of the Oblique Strategies made by a Matthew Davidson.  His version has smaller cards and entails more paper waste because of the spaces in between the cards, but it's another option.  http://www.stretta.com/~matthew/resources/oblique/oblique.pdf

[Flip Flop]

"I am a banana"...... "My spoon is too big!" Love the quote!! I love those films

[dybbuk]

The title of this topic peaked my interest, but I'd only had heard of Brian Eno through his connection to U2 (My favorite Band!). Those cards are really cool! What a great idea.