You’ve NEVER Seen a Baseball Card Like This Before … Mystery Cabinet FULL of Secrets!

[ahs430]

Your sheer talent and attention to detail is just unreal. Always love reading your posts.

[RW3FAN]

Shoulda asked Canseco for a pair of HIS jeans.

[bryun]

You are an absolute Madman!!!


Love it!

[Hail24]

That is just insane man! I am in awe to see how your mind works! Great post and thanks for sharing! Keep it up!

[mouschi]

Originally Posted by RW3FAN

Shoulda asked Canseco for a pair of HIS jeans.

[PeteD]

Originally Posted by kyle1707

Speechless

Same...you have a god given talent and smart enuff to use it for something spectacular, kudos.

[JeffG1954]

Bump....because this should always be on the front page.....until his next addition.

[mouschi]

Originally Posted by JeffG1954

Bump....because this should always be on the front page.....until his next addition.

Thank you good sir! This thread will be loooong gone by the time I do the next, but that's ok!

[mouschi]

SNEAK PREVIEW of Part Two of the Mystery Cabinet!



This monster booklet spells out Canseco's entire name using letters from player-worn and signed jerseys for each team Jose has ever played for. Check the full video here -> https://youtu.be/zz7aZBFB5b4

Here is a pic of it closed ...



opened ...



and posed with the main attraction booklet!

[nothinbefore]

you killed that last name booklet

[GMRide27]

Love your threads, love your artwork, love your efforts. Honestly.

How did you become a Canseco fan?

[mouschi]

Originally Posted by GMRide27

Love your threads, love your artwork, love your efforts. Honestly.

How did you become a Canseco fan?

Thanks! When I was growing up, he was the best player on the planet. No one could captivate you quite like he could when he was at bat!

[Hunter]

Man, wow. I can't wait to see part 2.

[TawkCards]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing!

[JeffG1954]

Creativity bump

[babyfaceposey]

Your designs beat all the current card maufactuers. They need to higher you to design all products moving forward.

[CubKings]

You are THE mad scientist of cardboard. I even had to show my girlfriend, and she already thinks I’m geeky enough with what I do, and I still had to show her some of those images haha and she doesn’t get it at all. Just makes fun of me. But I’m like this guy is the mad scientist of this kinda stuff. Everything you make is pretty captivating for us card people. Would be so cool if they had you create a 1/1 set of maybe 10 players for a real A&G product. It would definitely be a huge chase in the product. Especially since you kinda have a cult following in the hobby. People round here know what a custom Mouschi card is. It’s like a damn Da Vinci ��

[kyle1707]

Originally Posted by babyfaceposey

Your designs beat all the current card maufactuers. They need to higher you to design all products moving forward.

Agree

Your vision is 10x topps baseball

I have to believe topps does not know you exist

This is a duh comment. But you should be working for a card company

[al3xmac10]

Such incredible creativity & quality - this deserves to be bumped every week, for eternity

[al3xmac10]

Also, have you ever considered creating packs/boxes/sets of your custom cards for sale to the public?
These will be much better quality & value for money than all the high-priced garbage being released nowadays.

We can just hope Fanatics has the foresight to work with you...

[Siberian13]

Originally Posted by mouschi

I LOVE building and hiding easter eggs in this project.

That's not all. Let's build a card together!

You can actually take the proofs out of their sleeves - they are on clear acetate - and place them on top of each other. Watch what happens!





Slide magenta on cyan ...



the colors are starting to pop ...



yellow next ...



If you have ever seen a "blackless" parallel, this is it ... it is simply lacking black ink!



finally, black ...





This is truly a fun way to "play" with baseball cards. I enjoy swapping out colors, seeing what they look like, etc. For now, let's separate them again and display them where the metal, wood, and superfractor were ...



It is amazing to see four seemingly simple colors combine together create a beautiful full color card.

I always wanted to be able to do this "for real" instead of just in photoshop. It is so much fun!

There is still one final piece to reveal: The Main Attraction! (Get it? Since magnets are being used? Attraction? Yeah, I hear my wife's eyes rolling too!)

One day during this project, I was laying on the couch, while Beckett was watching a cartoon. "What if I could stuff a jumbo patch booklet in this somehow?" As with all my previous ideas, I thought "No way, I'm not even gonna try it. It won't fit. It will be too much trouble. It may not even work!" Then I tried it. Guess what - it worked!

The Main Attraction is a jumbo booklet - the biggest booklet I've ever created. It is over two feet long!

The front features some different methods and techniques I hadn't tried before, and they all worked together beautifully (after LOTS of testing, that is!) The embossment of the holographic foil really worked well, and the subtle gear embossments in the background look 3d as you shift the piece in your hands.

Here is a pic of it while I was in the middle of trying things out, and producing it ...



It is really toned down when more color is added, but it gives it a ton of depth (not to mention you can actually read what it says now!)









The back shows 9 pictures of Jose wearing the jerseys the patches are from. I LOVED how cards from the mid 2000s would show pictures of the full jersey/bat/etc. on the back of the cards so you could see what the relic was taken from. I think showing Canseco actually wearing the exact jerseys takes it a step further.



So without further ado, here is the Main Attraction booklet opened in all of its two foot long glory ...











This piece probably makes me the happiest to look at. The 9 jumbo patches are all from jerseys Jose wore in front of me. It spans every team he signed with. The card companies will never do anything like this for him, so that makes it extra special to me.

I finished this project happy and satisfied. Then, I had an idea while I was sitting in the middle of church. What if I could add some more high-end goodness to this thing? So I did.

I installed YET ANOTHER trap door that, when removed, features another secret compartment in the very back. This was behind the first secret compartment we looked at. A false bottom of the false bottom.

Inside of this, you are met with various pieces to build your own cards.





The first one we'll look at is the framed mini. Any mini parallel from the Mystery Cabinet fits nicely in it.













Even a little mirror is fun to put in it for Bart Man to look at himself.



The next two are spicy meatballs ... COAs for a game-used bat knob and barrel.



They mention that they are not redemptions ... but rather the knob and barrel are hidden somewhere in the Mystery Cabinet! Since I'm the creator of this thing, I know exactly where to look

Here's a hint, though ...

If video games have taught us ANYTHING, it's that if you see something like this, you explore. (This was the cavity that the rip card was placed in.)



Just behind the very front of the Mystery Cabinet is a a sliding wall that reveals the knob and barrel pieces.



This is where it gets really fun.

Going back to the last secret compartment, the COAs are accompanied with card fronts for the barrel and knob. The barrel has a sticker autograph - this is an autograph I had Jose sign right in his kitchen so I could create something fun later. Well, now is that time!









We are going to break apart the rip card and transform it into special, one of a kind cards!



Do you see how it looks like an ice cream sandwich? That's because there are two magnetic frames that make the "thickness" of the card. We are going to use those pieces.



Without these frames, the rip card front and back collapse to make a thinner card that is still displayable.



Using one of the frames, let's create a knob card together! The COA is used as the back. The knob sticks to it, as does one of the frames from the rip card.



Stick the front on ...



There it is! A 1/1 knob card that was created by transforming parts of the rip card and COA.



Watch this ...

Taking one of the bindings from the puzzles, (which are now two separate standalone puzzles) we can actually use it to create a booklet card with the knob and mini.







ANY mini can be used. Here are a few I tried - the denim and superfractor parallels.





It is so much fun testing things, placing the knob on the right and the mini on the left, using a base, the x-rayfractor, etc.

But wait, there's more!

Let's use one of the frames for the barrel by using the COA as the back of the card. The barrel sticks to the back of it, and the frame sticks around it.



Then we can quickly place the top over it ...



BAM! A barrel card.



Here are the knob and barrel cards together!



The other binding used for the puzzles can be used for a horizontal booklet. It would be great for the barrel and something else.



Man, if only the knob were a horizontal card....

Cue the Transformers sound... Hidden behind the vertical frame is a horizontal front. With a turn of the knob, now it is!













Now, here it is! A 1/1 game-used bat barrel / bat knob Jose Canseco booklet card! Every piece used was either transformed from previous pieces (COA's, or the rip card) or found hidden inside of secret compartments.



There are so, so, SO many options and combinations that can be created! That's part of what makes this entire thing so much fun. This is no longer just about displaying a card to enjoy, but rather to have the ability to actually play. To try new things, and discover what combinations I like best.

Let's do one final fun thing here.

As I was turning out the lights after filming the video for this piece, (it was SUPER LATE ... errr ... early in the morning) I noticed something glowing that shouldn't be glowing ...



Turning on the lights confirmed that the glasses of the steampunk hat were glowing!



I turned the lights off again, I also noticed there was something glowing on the back of the hat.



A QR code!



Using my wife's phone, I checked, and it brought me to MysteryRedemption.com, which then prompted me to enter a six digit code.



I entered the wrong code, and was met with this:



Based upon what the error said, I looked in the back of the secret compartment trap door...



...and found something quite curious - a jumbled mess of colored pixels:



Nudging it to the right revealed a secret compartment that held a 1/1 mini called "S3CRET D3CODER". The relic area held a red lens! Does this remind you of the backs of the Transformers boxes on the 80s?





Let's see what happens whenever we run over the colored pixel mess with this card ...





Whammo, just like that, we have a six digit code to use!



I guess this is my "not so subtle" way of saying there is going to be a sequel to this! In the coming few-several weeks (depending upon how it goes) I'll show the eXpansion Pack. It'll be a lot of fun to show.

Stay tuned for part two!

This project was by far the most in depth thing I've ever built. It was a lot of hard work, caused me to think outside the box, get creative, and try new things beyond just designing a pretty card in Photoshop. I found myself transforming, and "playing" with the various elements over and over again after I created the pieces.

These pieces are not only enjoyable to look at; they are also entertaining to mess around with. "Playing" is a good word, here. I remember my wife teasing me in the past ... "Are you still playing with your baseball cards?" That has never been more true than now! I'm literally playing with these cards, and am having a blast - from changing up framed combinations, to doing different things with the proofs, to messing around with booklet combinations. I'm literally playing with my baseball cards!

The collector in me wants to have ALL minis framed, and all versions of booklets shown at all times. I guess I could create multiples of these elements to do that, but I am having way more fun playing with them, and switching up combinations to display.

I'd love to hear from you! What is your favorite piece of this project? What was your favorite parallel?

I love knowing all of the fun that is packed inside of this thing that now sits on my shelf. I have several Transformers displayed in my office, and while I never "play with" or "transform" them, for some reason, it is fun being able to look at them and know what all is possible. The Mystery Cabinet is the first "card" that gives me the exact same feeling - that I can take it out of its holder and legitimately have fun playing with it.

It is wild to me that this single piece ...



(or this if you prefer...)



Can be turned into all of this ...



So there it is! The Mystery Cabinet: the wildest, most elaborate project I've ever created. I'm super happy with it, and hope it was entertaining for you to see. In this day and age, there are a billion things calling for our attention, so I'm grateful you have taken the time to read about this journey I've been on!

And as I said, stay tuned for part two of this project that includes the Mystery Redemption: The eXpansion Pack to the Mystery Cabinet! TO BE CONTINUED ....

By the way, please check out the video of this project!

https://tanmanbaseballfan.com/2022/0...surprises.html

That’s a lot of stuff

[mouschi]

Originally Posted by al3xmac10

Also, have you ever considered creating packs/boxes/sets of your custom cards for sale to the public?
These will be much better quality & value for money than all the high-priced garbage being released nowadays.

We can just hope Fanatics has the foresight to work with you...

Originally Posted by al3xmac10

Such incredible creativity & quality - this deserves to be bumped every week, for eternity

Originally Posted by kyle1707

Agree

Your vision is 10x topps baseball

I have to believe topps does not know you exist

This is a duh comment. But you should be working for a card company

Originally Posted by CubKings

You are THE mad scientist of cardboard. I even had to show my girlfriend, and she already thinks I’m geeky enough with what I do, and I still had to show her some of those images haha and she doesn’t get it at all. Just makes fun of me. But I’m like this guy is the mad scientist of this kinda stuff. Everything you make is pretty captivating for us card people. Would be so cool if they had you create a 1/1 set of maybe 10 players for a real A&G product. It would definitely be a huge chase in the product. Especially since you kinda have a cult following in the hobby. People round here know what a custom Mouschi card is. It’s like a damn Da Vinci ��

Originally Posted by babyfaceposey

Your designs beat all the current card maufactuers. They need to higher you to design all products moving forward.

Originally Posted by JeffG1954

Creativity bump

Thank you very much, Guys! I've reached out to Topps in hopes of at least being included in their Project series, but haven't heard back. I'd love to be a part of it!