#Ashley Molesso

[lgbtqreads]

January 2024 Deal Announcements

Adult Fiction Author of LOVE AT 350 Lisa Peers‘s MOTOR CITY BABY, a sapphic romance about a woman’s efforts to save a club she managed—and where she fell in love—with a Detroit indie rock star in the ’90s, until the rock star dropped out of the industry and the woman’s life; a blowout benefit concert forces her to reckon with her past and find happily ever after where she least expects it,…

[alexesguerra]

Queer Tarot: An Inclusive Deck and Guidebook [With Book(s)] The Queer Tarot: An Inclusive Deck and Guidebook Other – April 19, 2022 by Ashley Molesso (Author), Chess Needham (Author) ---Brand New-- A vibrant, deluxe illustrated tarot deck and guidebook set, centering and celebrating LGBTQ+ identity, created by queer and trans artist team Ash + Chess. AN INCLUSIVE, AFFIRMING DECK: Queer Tarot is a bright, bold interpretation of the tarot that offers inspiration, affirmation, and LGBTQ+ representation. Created by queer and trans artists Ashley Molesso and Chess Needham of Ash + Chess, this reimagining of the classic figures in the Major and Minor Arcana showcases a wide range of gender expressions and sexual orientations, and incorporates queer history and iconography throughout. DELUXE SET: This set includes 78 full-color illustrated tarot cards (3 X 5 inches), shrink wrapped in an interior travel case; a 168-page, full-color illustrated flexibind book (4 3/4 X 6 inches); and a keepsake magnetic closure box with metallic foil accents. Cards and travel case are embedded in an interior flocked tray. FULLY ILLUSTRATED TAROT GUIDEBOOK: The flexibind guidebook provides an illustrated introduction to the tarot, with LGBTQ+ descriptions and suggested interpretations for each card, as well as instructions for sample readings and a brief history of tarot. VIBRANT FULL-COLOR ART FROM ASH + CHESS: Queer Tarot features Ash + Chess's signature colorful, risograph-style illustrations, including retro color palettes and bold, detailed figures. ALL CARDS BASED ON REAL, DIVERSE MODELS: Each card in Queer Tarot is based on real LGBTQ+ folx commissioned for this project by Ash + Chess. The deck celebrates a full range of races, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, sizes, and abilities. A PERFECT GIFT: This joyful, inclusive, and beautiful tarot deck set is an ideal gift for tarot novices, seasoned readers, queer folx of all ages, and their allies. A note on packaging: In order to help honor our planet and reduce waste, we have only shrink wrapped the interior tarot cards, rather than the keepsake box. Please feel confident that your product is not defective or used, but rather represents a step we are taking to protect our collective home. When you open your deck, you will find that the actual cards inside the box are shrink wrapped for protection and to ensure first use by the buyer. About the Author Ash + Chess is a cute stationery company run by queer and trans couple Ashley Molesso (she/her) and Chess Needham (he/him), based out of Richmond, VA. They create greeting cards and art prints that are bold, retro color palettes and they often use their artwork to make a political statement and to uplift the queer community. Their company made its debut at the National Stationery Show in May 2017, and since then over 600+ retailers throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia sell their art and stationery. In the short time they've been in business, Ash + Chess have worked on many collaborations including artwork for Nooworks, a clothing company based out of San Francisco, CA; Belletrist, a book club run by actress Emma Roberts and Karah Preiss; exclusive designs and patterns for Plaza Style, a Japanese retail brand; packaging design for Brooklyn Roasting Co.; Transfigure Print Co., book illustrations for HarperCollins and Workman Publishing; and t-shirt designs for The Style Club x Forever 21. They are the authors of their own illustrated book about LGBTQIA+ history, The Gay Agenda: A Modern Queer History & Handbook, and Queer Tarot: An Inclusive Deck and Guidebook. Publisher ‏ : ‎ RP Studio (April 19, 2022) Language ‏ : ‎ English Misc. Supplies ‏ : ‎ 176 pages ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0762474882 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 9780762474882 Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.63 pounds Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.4 x 2.5 x 6.65 inches

[jasper-tarot-reader]

hi jasper, hope u are well. i'm jonah (he/they) and my question is: what should i keep in mind as i embark on my journey of socially and medically transitioning? for some background, i am out to most of my friends and my therapist as transmasc but have been trying to work through a lot of feelings around it and figuring out how to transition and come out more fully. thank you so much <3

Welcome to the inbox, Jonah!

First thing's first, I want to tell you that I'm proud of you. We don't know each other, but you're doing a wonderful, brave thing. I'm proud of and excited for you.

For this reading, I have chosen the Queer Tarot, a deck by Ashley Molesso and Chess Needham, where every card is modeled on a real queer person. (Fun fact, this is also the deck that helped me get my driver's license!) This deck has given us the 2 of Cups reversed.

Models: Anays Torres | she/her | San Diego, CA | @/anyst Kathryn Frances | they/she | San Francisco, CA | @/kthrynfrncs Two people stand across from each other, holding up cups to cheers. A rainbow in the colors of the Philadelphia flag connects their cups. Above them is a black-and-white cat.

When reversed, this card indicates that you may be feeling out of sync with something. It advises you to prioritize having an intimate relationship with yourself and focus on inner love and care. Take time to communicate your feelings with yourself and think of all the things that bring joy to your life while transitioning. What do you want most out of transitioning? Don't feel bad as it changes over time - instead, revel in the fact that you are learning new facts about yourself!

I wish you the best, Jonah. If you feel so inclined, please feel free to send feedback in my ask box and/or reblog my new reading guidelines!

~Jasper

[stilljumpingback]

ABC - Deconstructing Gender by Ashley Molesso and Chess Needham

Genre | Picture BookPublishing Date | May 2023 Be affectionate, beautiful, courageous, and more in this gender-bending ABC book. Daryl is so affectionate. Alex is gentle with the family cat. Sage and Kaylin are super strong. And Ira yearns to do ballet like their older brother. Demystify gender stereotypes while learning your ABCs in this bright, celebratory debut picture book by stationery…

[kikiskitchenwitchery]

Happy whenever this finds you! I want to get back to sharing my cards of the day with my tumblr loves. I am exploring ways to reenergize my practice with some new thought patterns and I think that this is a good way to approach it . This card is the 7 of Cups from the Queer Tarot by Ashley Molesso and Chess Needham. It has made a couple of appearances in my draws lately and they have always been in reverse. In reverse it is all about feeling overwhelmed with my choices. Seeing all the options and being stuck in that undeciding place. What I find interesting about that in my life these days is that it is sort of the opposite. It isn't that I am overwhelmed with options, it is that there aren't options right now. I suppose that in a hypothetical case all the options are in front of me, if we pretend I live in a different timeline. But there are not options in front of me in this timeline.

When I have asked the cards to clarify that, to help me see where the options are, the cards revert to telling me to deal with my feelings. I am doing that work and would love to see how that affects choices in the future. Sometimes this deck really hits it on the head and gives me the insight that I am missing. Lately, however it really seems to be repeating the same things in the same way over and over. I really need the deck to reframe it for me with additional context. More tomorrow my tumblr loves.

[figdays]

The Gay Agenda: A Modern Queer History & Handbook // ashandchess

Ash + Chess is a cute stationery company run by queer power couple Ashley Molesso and Chessie Needham, based out of Richmond, VA. They create greeting cards and art prints that are bold, retro color palettes and they often use their artwork to make a political statement.

[thenordroom]

A pink apartment in Brooklyn | photos by Ashley Molesso

THENORDROOM.COM - INSTAGRAM - PINTEREST - SUPPORT THE BLOG

[genderqueerpositivity]

#also check out some of the impacted artists and shop directly from them if you can

Absolutely this!

Ash and Chess:

JZD:

Abprallen:

Bird and Marc:

Anjelica Colliard:

Flvant Streetwear:

I can't find a shop for Alice Butts, but this appears to be Alice's professional website; Alice is a graphic designer.

Unfortunately I can't find any details on the designers of the Pride swimwear items that have been removed from the website.

The week before last, a video made the rounds on Twitter, and that video was of the Pride collection at one of the Target stores local to me. As in, the one that I--a visibly trans queer person--shop at somewhat regularly.

Or used to shop at. I'm not boycotting--I just feel like my chances of continuing to breathe might be better if I shop at the Aldi or Walmart instead.

I know that a lot of us are angry that Target chose to remove some of the Pride items. I am disappointed.

But this was also a lose/lose situation for Target and I don't really know why so many folks are surprised that it came down to this.

Rainbow capitalism is never going to save us. Keeping those products on the shelf wouldn't save us from the hate and violence currently being directed at our community--if anything, it would put LGBTQ+ Target employees and customers at even more risk than they're already facing.

And I just don't think that the employees should have to spend the month cleaning up vandalized displays, dealing with angry Christofascists, and having their lives threatened.

At this point, even the artists who created the products and GLSEN are receiving hate and threats for having partnered with Target.

So I think that doing whatever it takes to deescalate this situation was necessary.

However, I don't feel that Target has done enough to make things right. On the short list:

Apologize to the artist whose designs you removed entirely due to the outrage from the anti-Satanist crowd.

Give all of the artists back the rights to their work so that they can sell their designs in their own shops if they so choose.

I assume that these artists were paid fairly for their work, right? If not then pay them.

Donate all of the proceeds earned from the Pride line, not just a percentage, to GLSEN.

Additionally, donate to organizations currently fighting anti-trans laws in red states and donate to trans healthcare emergency funds.

And step up security in stores to protect employees and customers.

For once I'd really like to see something besides the bare minimum in allyship.

[lgbtqreads]

September 2021 Book Deals

September 2021 Book Deals

Adult Fiction R. Lee Fryar’s FLIPPING, pitched as an enemies-to-lovers mash-up of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and The Money Pit, in which a gay ghost and a psychic house flipper duke it out over a haunted house with an agenda of its own, to Lisa Green at Mystic Owl, in a nice deal, for publication in November 2022. Digital artist Ciel Pierlot‘s BLUEBIRD, in which a lesbian gunslinger fights spies in…

[magical-musings-of-morgan]

I love, love, love The Queer Tarot by Ashley Molesso and Chess Needham. I saw them with a “Local artist” sticker in a Barnes & Noble earlier this year and had one of those, “mine now” moments. They’re my main personal deck rn, the cards are a little hard to shuffle but I don’t care. When I saw The Emperor had top surgery scars, my first flip though the cards, I knew this deck was for me.

I also really really really love Tarot Black & Gold Edition, I bought that deck with tip money and OH MY GOD it is THE most objectively gorgeous Raider-Waite deck in the world I s2g. Currently I have him in a little pouch and I think I may dedicate him to the theoi for deity communication on New Year’s.

Two decks I don’t have, but I desire greatly, are the official Binding of Isaac tarot deck (which I cannot find ANYWHERE and the website says is sold out) and the official Homestuck tarot deck (which I can find on ebay, but for hundreds of dollars). These are my “Grail decks”, like holy grail, and mayhap one day I might bring them home to me.

Honorary Mention goes to Tarot of the Divine, my first deck ever, I dearly love the art style and the rich tapestry of mythology pulled for each card. I don’t use her very much but she’s still a personal treasure and I do my best to take good care of her.

to my fellow tarot/oracle deck users and collectors alike:

what is your favorite deck of all time? or your top three? i’m interested in what decks people enjoy!! ((and i also want to add more decks to my wishlist))

[blairwitchapologist]

hey y’all, that card is from a local queer + trans-owned business who’s getting a lot of shit for that card. if you feel so inclined, check out their shop and send them some love!! 🥳

https://ashandchess.com/ ❤️

[ashleymolesso]

mafia the cat

by Ashley Molesso

[keegan-kapugal]

photography // Keegan Kapugal model // Kaleb Kougl illustrations // Ashley Molesso

[ashleymolesso]

martian hotel 2

by ashley molesso

[ashleymolesso]

Pizza Mermaid - Ashley Molesso

[ashleymolesso]

CATS DRUGS PIZZA - ashley molesso