A couple of years ago I designed a deck of cards on the computer, and tried to turn them into a real deck by printing them, glue-sticking the fronts and backs to index cards, and trimming them to size. Unfortunately, these cards didn’t have any of the “snap” of real cards.
I’d like to make another deck, but when I finish it, what’s the best way to turn the soft copy into a physical deck?
-Ben
Repeat your first experiment, then laminate them.
What’s the best way to laminate them?
And what do you think of laminating a single sheet of printer paper, and skipping the index card part? They were a little too thick as is, and laminating would make them thicker.
-Ben
This might be better received in IMHO, as I can only tell you how I would go about it.
All the playing cards I see say “plastic coated” so I think you’ll want to laminate them.
I’d start with a good quality card stock, print the faces, one or two per page, then print the backs (you can try to print fronts and backs on opposite sides of the same sheet, but you’ll have to have pretty accurate registration for them to match up). I’d go with an all-over pattern for the backs, if possible, and print the whole sheet with the pattern, so precise matching isn’t an issue.
Put front and back together and laminate between sheets of adhesive plastic. Use a wallpaper seam roller or similar to get rid of air bubbles, etc., then trim. If you don’t want to attempt the lamination yourself, I think Kinko’s or places like that will do it for you.
If your printer has a separate photo cartridge, use that to print. In my experience, the photo ink doesn’t smudge as easily as regular ink. Experiment a bit with your stock first, though, to see how well it takes the ink.
Sounds like a fun project. Good luck!
On preview, I see tomndebb has beaten me to it. Rats!
I doubt laminating paper would give you the stiffness you require.
I’d print a sample (they no doubt could take an electronic sample) and take it to a place that makes cards. The only drwback is that, unless you need a case or two of decks of cards, it’s outrageously expensive.
My suggestion is that you contact your local Kinkos or other print shop. It may be that they could print these up for you at a price that would be lower than the value of your labor doing it yourself, and you would probably get a much better product.
try asking at a rubber stamp store or specialty paper store for ideas. my mother is a wizard at all sorts of card projects and she says that good stiff paper that can take ink is available at these places! good luck!
As a graghic designer, I’ve done this sort of thing. Kinko’s will print from disk, cut and laminate them for you. But it won’t be cheap. Better to do it yourself. If the design is good and you feel you might be able to sell them go to a place that prints promotional items. You can get a good price and might make a few bucks.
Thanks, guys! I think I’ll get some crack-and-peel and try laminating them first. Having Kinko’s do it for me is too expensive, but tempting if I tried to market any of them and wanted some demos.
-Ben
You can buy decks of blank cards from just about any magic shop; http://www.elmagicshop.com has decks of double blank Aviator stock for $4 and Bicycle stock for $6.
You might be able to print straight to these cards; you could make up a template then attach the cards to a piece of paper somehow to run them through the printer.
You might contact people at a few magic shops about how to go about this; I’ve heard of people doing it before. I was planning to do it with blank-face Bicycles to make business cards for my magic act.
Dr. J
No - don’t run blank cards through a laser printer! The heat from the fuser may melt the laminated layer and this will ruin the card and/or the fuser.
And in general, you have to laminate the card after you print on it… so an ink jet printer may not work either. The ink will not stick and therefore will smear onto the other cards in the deck.
ISTR that before plastic, printers used a hard wax to laminate the cards. So you may want to experiment with melting some canning paraffin and brushing a thin layer of this on each side of the card.
You may be able to print onto photo transfer paper, then transfer your image onto blank playing cards. This usually works something like an iron-on tshirt process. I know of a printer who may be able to do it for you, and they love me, so I might be able to get you a deal.
Also, rather than using wax to seal your cards, try clear spray on acrylic, artists use it to protect their work from smudges. Check your local art store or college bookstore.