Local artist and our good friend Shara Ross has created a series of professionally designed & uniquely illustrated Ouija Boards.
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- Portal
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- Carousel
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- Symbols
In 1891, a Pittsburgh toy and novelty shop, started advertising: “Ouija, the Wonderful Talking Board,” which went on to describe a magical device that answered questions “about the past, present and future with marvelous accuracy”, “a link between the known and unknown, the material and immaterial.” Little has changed in the way of design for that board, patented over 120 years ago. A flat wood grain looking board with the letters of the alphabet arrayed in two semi-circles above the numbers 0 through 9 all printed in black which makes it a basic two colour piece; the words “yes” and “no” in the uppermost corners, “goodbye” at the bottom; the planchette is a teardrop-shaped device, comes with it and is used to travel over the board and stopping at a letter or a number, when the connection with a spirit has been made.
I felt inspired to create new boards. I always thought it would end up being a Tarot deck I would do first, a long standing passion of mine as well, but what started out as a pet project grew into the three boards shown here…. as I’ve always thought that the Ouija board deserved more than the very generic design it has displayed almost since it’s inception.
Shara has created 3 unique Ouija boards called Portal, Carousel, and Symbols. Her IndieGogo campaign has a variety of perks, including boards with genuine antique glass eye planchetes!
