Love it! One top tip that I always use is to cut from the back of the cards, so that all the backs look the same. You may consider that worse because you then see any misalignments on the face of the cards, but I think it's better because you can't accidentally mark the back of the cards.
Great advice. As for me, it depends on the game/card design. If the card back design runs to the card edges, then it makes sense to cut from the back, and any misalignment will only be obvious from the card fronts, as you say. But if the card back design is an abstract or repeating image, or if there is white space/border around the card back image, then in those cases it makes more sense to me to cut from the front. Any misalignment on the backs is not obvious -- at least to me, and since I am primarily a solo gamer, I'm the only one that needs to worry about potentially marked cards. ;) So rather than an absolute "always" rule to cut from the backs, I would say, "cut from the back or the front, when it makes sense to do so." :)
Thank you, you clearly are a teacher. One of the best instructional videos I’ve seen! I appreciate that you gave us a detailed rundown of your supplies and equipment up front, and then detailed every step. New subscriber!
I don’t have a corner rounder so what I do is cut a tiny bit of the corners diagonally (about 1mm) and works fine to get rid of the sharp pointy feel of the cards :) Great tutorial, as always!
This saved me some money! I was under the impression that you needed ID card sized laminators to properly make PNP games and that cutting the 3x3 laminated paper would somehow damage them. Looks like you can laminate and cut with no issue. Great, comprehensive review!
Thank you so much, that is exactly what i was looking for! I already learned basically all of this just for searching how do it, each step by step (not necessarily involving cards/tcg). But knowing someone take their time to do a complete video about doing DIY cards, is really awesome. Im thinking in doing a video just like that for the brazilians here in brazil. I love cards, board games and video games in general, and love to do things by myself. Im also planning to do like details with holographic and shiny look papers, and using a cutting plotter to cut the detail and then laminate on it.
A brilliant tutorial as always. Thanks for taking the time to forge ahead in the print-and-play arena, learn, and experiment and then take the time to share your gains with us.
Nice video production Martin and pretty much my method of playing card production too. I thought it helpful to mention that most folk, if not using cards with bleed (I guess part of the content of a future video you mentioned) would advise cutting from the BACK of the cards so that at least the backs of your cards will be uniform and any misalignment will only be visible on the front of the cards. Typically there's enough room for manoeuvre on the fronts that nothing important gets cut off and from the back, especially if playing with others, nobody will be able to tell what's in your hand by cards with standout white stripes down one or more of the edges. Anyway, good job.
Great video as always! Just a quick correction for the Europeans out there: 65lbs equates to 175 gsm. I have not found that to be an available size in stores, but after some trial and error the 160gsm sheets probably come closest and still produce great cards. If they do turn out to flimsy for your taste you can go for 200 as well, but those are definitely thicker and stiffer than most playing cards
I totally agree with the Fiskars and Kadomaru suggestions. Those two changes made a huge difference in the quality of my cards from using the cheaper stuff I'd gotten at Walmart, etc. over the years. Even better, the Fiskars was actually available at my local Michael's craft store in different sizes
Great tutorial. Just want to suggest that for a significant increase in card quality at a significant additional cost, I've tried the epson premium photo paper, luster white. Of course this would only work if you are printing the front side and using sleves, but the cards do come out beautiful. Probably not cost efficient for printing entire card sets - drivethrucards can probably do it cheaper, but for printing proxies it works great !
Thanks for this video! I was researching online to determine in I could trim laminated cards right to the very edge of the card (rather than having a slight "border" of the laminant left around the card to seal it inside the laminated pocket) and LOTS of people kept saying that without leaving a bit of the laminant around the card edges, it would peel off the card. It seems that you have not experienced this problem? I'm very relieved; leaving a laminant border around my cards would just look so sloppy and unprofessional. Thank you for setting my mind at ease! 😁👍
Over time it's possible lamination at the edge of the cards can start to peel especially after a lot of shuffling where the edges can get banged together. You can help alleviate this by running the cards back through the laminator one by one after you've cut them so the laminator can squeeze right along the edges of each card. I've found these cards where I've done this to be more resilient.
Thanks for the tutorial! I was wondering about running the laminator through twice, because when I tried it with regular 24lb paper, the laminating got really warped. Yes this was a test run, but I've found it to be totally fine to do it a single time, at the higher setting (5mil setting using 3mil pouches) I'm going to be using this to make trading cards for local sports teams!
Hi Martin! I use vey similar methods in making my own board game supplementals, including cards, player aids, etc. I believe the 65 lb card stock you use (Neenah brand) equates to 176 GSM. I have experimented w/ heavier weight stock, including 110 lb cover (approx 280-300 GSM) but I have not yet been successful printing on it w/ my humble HP inkjet printer. I also use the Scotch brand 3 mil laminating sheets that you talked about, I find them to be the best I have tried, tho they are a little more expensive. As far as the Kadomaru (sp?) goes, I have them both & use them regularly but I find them lacking in cutting through heavier (laminated) stock. It requires too much effort at times! They are the best I have found so far yet I still wait for the ultimate corner rounder to become available at some point :)
Hi Andrew, thanks for your detailed and thoughtful comment! You are correct, 65 lb card stock equates to 176 gsm. I used to print to 110 lb (300 gsm) card stock on my old HP printer, and that contributed to the early demise of that printer. Nowadays I don't print to anything thicker than 65 lb card stock. If I have to make thicker components, I print to sticker labels and affix the stickers to thicker card stock or chipboard core. As far as corner rounders go, the Kadomaru Pro Neo is my current favorite for rounding corners on my laminated cards. As for rounding corners on thicker materials, I would recommend the Oregon Laminations corner rounder or the We-R-Memory Keepers Crop-A-Dile corner rounder. Hope this helps! :)
Really appreciate you putting your gsm equivalent in the description. Have printed off my first ever pack of print and play cards on some 230gsm paper… now I’m discovering the world of lamination is bizarrely complex ha! Think I may buy the Amazon Basics laminator as you’ve suggested. Just trying to work out what thickness of pouch I should (or even can) use. Looks like we use Microns~ as a measurement here!
Hello Martin! Thank you so much for the great tutorial. I am just now getting into printing my own cards and I've tested quite a few methods and since I'll be playing them inside some sleeves, my last attempt was to print on a pretty thick photographic paper with a laser printer. The quality of the print is really high (although it does exagerate the warm tones and it consistently increased contrast and saturation) but I came across a couple of issues. First, the four streight edges of the card that were formed from cutting are really thick and have this squared off look to them. I tried compressing and rounding them with my nail, by pressing and sliding it on both sides a couple of times, and while this does actually works in creating a taper and rounder feel, it also breaks tiny bits of the paper and removes paint, making the card look damaged. Is there a tool to smooth those edges without ruining the card? I think it would have to look like a small press with a roller of some kind. Would laminating them instead of printing directly into photographic paper solve this issue?
Hi Martin, Ty for the amazing videos! I've been exploring how to make the most professional level cards for prototypes of my games and was interested in two things: For starters, I love that laminator! but does air get into the cards after laminating? I'd imagine that the cuts destroy the seal between the laminate ends and would eventually draw in air. Though they're prototypes, I want them to last as long as possible. What about the cricut for card cutting? why use the roller or the machine you used in this video? Is there a particular reason you stay away from the cutter you have?
Hello, thanks for your comment. 1. Air does not enter my cards. I have not had any delamination issues in nearly 5 years and thousands of laminated PnP cards. The cuts do not destroy the seal because the laminate bonds to the paper. 2. Using the Cricut to cut cards sounds like a great idea to anyone who hasn’t tried it yet. My Cricut is great for tokens and dual-layer boards, which is what I use it for. But to set up the Cricut to cut just one sheet of cards, in that time it takes, I would already have cut and rounded half a dozen sheets manually. So the Cricut is a no-go for cutting full pages of laminated cards (and believe me, I have tried).
Martin, I'm imminently going to be getting a decent printer and supplies to make laminated cards using your method. Do you have any advice for making sure your printer can a) print straight on a sheet of paper, and b) line up the rear cards on the reverse with the front side of the paper. I just tried using my HP Laserjet M110W to do a test print, and no matter what I do with the tray feed adjustment bars, the sheet comes out slightly off-kilter. I haven't even tried printing manually on the reverse yet. I'd love to hear your advice. I also learned something interesting- if I print a PNG or JPG sized US-letter sheet at 300 dpi to the printer, even with scaling to fit disabled, the cards come out slightly smaller than required. If I print the PNG to a PDF without scaling, then print the PDF without scaling, the card prints exactly to the proper size. I can't understand why this is so. My guess is the PDF gives the printer more sizing information. Have you experienced this?
> Do you have any advice for making sure your printer can a) print straight on a sheet of paper, and b) line up the rear cards on the reverse with the front side of the paper. This is one of the toughest challenges in PnP, because precise front-back alignment is not a task that most small home/office level printer were designed to perform. On my current HP Officejet Pro 9018 printer, I am fortunate that manual duplex printing yields good to great front-back alignment most of the time. Things that help me get good front-back alignment are: 1. Manual duplex printing: I print all the front pages first, arrange the stack in the proper order, reinsert into the print tray, and then print all the backs. 2. Ensure the paper tray is ½ to ¾ filled with paper. I have observed that I get much better front-back alignment when the paper tray is full of paper than when it is nearly empty. 3. Stick to thinner card stock. I have observed that the sweet spot of paper thickness for my current printer is 48 lb matte photo paper to 65 lb. card stock. Anything thicker, and front-back alignment goes haywire. > if I print a PNG or JPG sized US-letter sheet at 300 dpi to the printer, even with scaling to fit disabled, the cards come out slightly smaller than required. If I print the PNG to a PDF without scaling, then print the PDF without scaling, the card prints exactly to the proper size. I can't understand why this is so. My guess is the PDF gives the printer more sizing information. Have you experienced this? I always print PDF files, never image files. And I also print from a dedicated PDF viewer such as Preview on Mac, or Adobe Acrobat Reader. I never print from a web browser. PDF's so indeed provide more print and image sizing information, and when well prepared provides the highest level of accurate reproduction of the original. Hope these tips help! :)
Martin, I just tried your method of making laminated cards. It works beautifully. Thank you for your excellent advice. I ended up buying a HP8025e printer, an Amazon Basics 12" wide hot/cold laminator, 3 mil scotch laminator pouches, the 65lb Neenah card stock, the Kadomaru corner rounder, and the Fiskars surecut. I was able to figure out how to get zero left-right offset printing error by aligning the paper to the right side of the tray. Up-down offset is still a problem, but I'll figure out something. I still think that the cards I constructed will need to be sleeved if they require frequent shuffling, but that's fine by me. And, yes, cutting the cards from the back of the sheet is key. So, in a nutshell, I am very happy. Thanks again!
Nice tutorial. Thx. Would it make sense to pass each finished card back through the laminator just to make sure the cut edges are sealed? Or does that not really matter?
Thanks! I used to do two laminating passes for each sheet, but I’ve found over time that it didn’t seem necessary in my case. This depends on your paper, laminating pouches, and laminator. If it makes you feel more secure about your cards being sealed, then you should pass the cards through the laminator a second time. :)
@@PnPHideaway Great advice! I did some laminating myself, but found the corner cutter could barely cut through the cardstock I used, and the laminate was a little loose on the corners of some cards. Should I run the sheets through the laminator twice next time?
That’s a different tutorial video. I use Pixelmator to design the individual graphical elements of my cards, and I use Multideck to compose my card layouts and integrate all the graphical elements. Search my videos for “how to design print and play cards”.
Silly question but I’m imagining that cutting the cards after they’ve been laminated will leave them with “fresh edges”? Or does the laminating pouch kinda press together along the edges when they’re cut? Edit: looks like you’ve addressed this in another comment :)
Yup, as long as your laminator is providing enough heat, when the laminate + card stock pass through, the heat activates the glue inside the laminating pouch and causes it to bond to the card stock within. No delimitation issues or, as you call them, fresh edges. They just feel like plastic-coated playing cards. :)
Great info! If you would be making TCG cards like Magic, Pokemon, Yu-gi-oh or One Piece, would that be a completely different route? Seeing as those cards don't really have that heavy gloss to it and aren't as slippery as with laminating pouches.
Thanks for that, Martin. The printer seems like it has excellent quality. About how many full-page color prints can you get per set of cartridges, if you had to guess? I'm trying to figure out what is more cost-effective: UPS laser printing or home inkjet printing. I'm pretty stoked about trying your lamination method for cards, once I get the proper equipment. I'm currently printing at UPS, cutting out with scissors, then sliding each side of the card into sleeves. It works well enough, but the lamination "twice baked" method seems an order of magnitude better.@@PnPHideaway
I actually don't know, I don't keep track of how much I can print per set of cartridges because I'm on the HP Instant Ink plan, which is like a monthly subscription for ink. I pay $13 a month and I can print up to 300 full color pages per month (a limit I almost never reach nowadays).@@josephlevin
first of all thank you so much for this tutorial :) . Did you try using photo paper ? or can you make a video different from using card stocks and photo paper, which you think will be better.
I don't use photo paper for my laminated cards because I'm pretty happy with the quality of cards stock, and photo paper costs significantly more than card stock. I do use photo paper for my game boards and player boards. :)
@@PnPHideaway thank you so much for your response . you are right i will try to use card stocks later on . Also do you have any suggestions on how to foil or how to make cards like holographic looks ?
Great video and very nice information! I am trying out different techniques including laminating for making my own cards. What do you think about fingerprints being visable on laminated prints? Or does this have to do with the quailty of the laminating pouch?
@@PnPHideaway Ok thanks! I think it has to do with my laminating pouches being glossy and not mat + not great quality. Gonna try different things out! Thanks again for your reactions and looking forward to the alignment video :)
Quick question, in order to make a print and play character card, for a dungeon crawling game, what paper is best to use or better what would you suggest based on your experience that should fit. I like this method that you are using here to make your cards, but I might stick to the previous version, not sure yet. Thanks once more for the information and experience you share in your channel.
@@george_a79 For thicker boards, I tend not to laminate. Instead, I print to matte photo paper (such as HP Everyday Photo Paper), which I mount to 1-2mm cardboard or chipboard, using 3M Super 77 spray glue.
I don't prefer glossy laminating pouches, they are just cheaper and much more readily available than matte pouches. Maybe I'll try matte pouches one day. :)
I find matte pouches whilst they look better (no shine/glare) for me they don't shuffle as well. They are almost "silky smooth" and my thumb doesn't gain enough friction on them so when dealing by pushing cards off the deck with my thumb, my thumb will often slip on the top of the card and nothing will get dealt requiring some manual faffing with the deck to deal a card off the top. With glossy pouches I don't have that problem, they provide a bit of friction and slide off each other really nicely however they suffer from glare under certain lighting conditions. Swings and roundabouts I guess.
I watched the print-and-play cards video from four years ago, in which you used spray glue - Which method is better? Spray glue, or Manual Duplex? And what are the advantages of each? Both videos were great, super informative!
Well, for the last 4+ years I’ve been laminating my PnP cards full time. Does that answer your question about which method I think is better? ;) Spray glue method requires a lot more steps, costs more, takes longer. On the plus side, it yields perfect front-back alignment. Laminated PnP cards are faster to produce and much cheaper. But can be more challenging to align front-back.
Using this cutter I found out that the laminating foil gets a little off on the edges ;/ Not a good look on my cards. I think I need to get the rotary one
Awesome video! Do you think that card stock would be good enough to have minimal printing over the white paper WITHOUT the words being seen from both sides?
Depending on the card back design, what is printed on the other side should not be visible. But if you have a primarily light colored card back with minimalist design, then the card front may be visible.
Would you say this method makes cards that are close to standard playing cards? Would I be better off spending the time to print the cards on linen, spray with the acrylic, and glue with spray adhesive to get cards that feel like professionally made cards? I am looking to build a set of cards for a community made game expansion, and I figure that if I am going to do it, I might as well do it right. So what would give the best results? I assume the linen paper, as it seems a popular option, but I figured I would ask you, since I know you have done both.
Hi there! The method I outline here yields print and play cards that, in my opinion, perform well, shuffle well, are durable, feel good in hand, and are also fairly easy and convenient to produce. They are very close to plastic-coated manufactured playing cards. Which few different from linen-finish playing cards. If linen finish cards that are close to manufactured playing cards is the style you are going for, then you would be better served by following the procedure described by my friend Rachel Bruner in this tutorial video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DgNJmAkO1_M.html Hope this helps! :)
@@PnPHideaway Awesome, thanks for the reply! I had actually just watched that video from Rachel Bruner as well, which was what prompted my question. I think I might use her technique for the expansion I am looking to build, but I will try yours on some other cards that I would like to try out as well. Thanks!
Yes, in the time between the two videos I have found that 65 lb. card stock laminated in 3 mil pouches produces cards that look, feel and play closest to manufactured plastic-coated playing cards. :)
To me they feel exactly like plastic-coated playing cards. Perfect weight and table presence. The only difference is that these laminated cards are more glossy than regular plastic coated cards.
Not quite the same but I got the kickstarter marvel united x-men with only the cardstock dashboards. Unfortunately some of them arrived dented and a little ripped. I was thinking of laminating them, but now I'm thinking of scanning them first and touching up the digital file. This way I have a copy that I can print out and laminate just like your cards here. I will probably still laminate the cardstock but think i shoule have the file first just in case. Does this sound reasonable or am I crazy? I'm not sure anymore.
Is this cold lamination? If it's hot... how do you get the lamination to stick when you cut? My lamination sheets only stick to themselves... but I heard cold lamination is like s sticky film you peel that dosnt require a machine. Let me know!
This is hot lamination. The inside of the laminating pouches is coated with a heat activated adhesive. When you pass the item through the laminator, the heat activates the adhesive and it sticks to the paper inside. If your laminating pouches are not behaving in this way, then switch to a different brand (I use Scotch brand thermal laminating pouches), and make sure that your laminator is generating enough heat to activate the adhesive coating inside the pouch.
Hi Martin, do you still run through the laminator at the 5 mil setting for higher heat? Looking forward to the advanced technique video for back/front alignment :)
Hi Johnny - no longer, now I find it sufficient to use the 3 mil setting and single pass. The key is to use high quality laminating pouches, and I recommend Scotch brand pouches. :)
For a few years I was happy with the HP Officjet Pro 9018 + Instant ink subscription. I just recently moved on to an HP Smart Tank 7301 and it’s been great so far. :)
Don't you have delamination issues when you cut the laminated card stock because you break the vacuum seal and air can get in between the card and the laminate?
No, because the inside of the pouch is coated with heat activated adhesive that sticks to the card stock inside. I’ve never had delamination issues in 5 years of producing cards this way.
@@PnPHideaway Hello Martin, thank you for your speedy reply. I didn't know this lamination pouches also come in an adhesive version, I only knew the regular ones.
@@ToniRios-x6i At this point most laminating pouches I have tried already have this adhesive coating inside. I think the pouches that don’t stick to the material within, and you have to leave a border for the laminate to stick to itself are very old style. Most modern laminating pouches that are commonly available work as I have described, by fusing with the material inside to form a bond.
Hi 👋🏾 love the video! I have a question. I would like to make cards. But my printer can't print on cardstock from what I've seen. Is it possible to make decent cards from photo paper?
I did research and it said my epson et 150000 can handle one sheet of card stock 68lb. But the paper type settings on the printer isn't available so im lost at what to do.
@@IAMARTIST87 Have you tried just inserting sheets of 65 lb card stock and test printing to them, evaluate the result? Also, on some printers the setting isn’t on the printer itself, but in the Print dialog on your computer, tablet or phone. Try to check that.
@Martin Gonzalvez sorry im late! I looked on the computer and tablet. I don't have that setting for this printer 😔 I did order the paper any way and tried it. It looks ok.. but it's probably not at the best quality it could be
@@PnPHideaway wow that's awesome! I didn't k ow the lamination actually adhered to the paper ..I always just assumed it sealed at the edge and if you broke that edge it separated. Maybe I've just had bad laminations in the past.
I want to create my own card game and print it out just like that. Does anyone know a website I can use to design and completely create my own card game? Then print it out with 9 cards to a sheet just like that??
@@PnPHideaway Thanks a lot for replying! :) I really appreciate it. I cant find that printer, in my country, but I saw this: HP OfficeJet Pro 7740 Wide Format All-in-One Printer... will this do?
@@PnPHideaway thank you soo much ive been going back and forth on how to design the cards at the house and this saved the day im already putting all this stuff in my cart. If you have the time what printer would you recommend if you had to pick any other printer or would you keep the same one you have
@@Mpulseieve I was happy with my HP Officejet Pro 9018 for the last 3+ years. I just recently replaced it with the HP Smart Tank 7300. Image quality is great. Front-back alignment is a consistent 2mm offset on the X-axis. I use the web site PnPbuddy.com to adjust the alignment of my PnP PDFs to achieve good front-back alignment.
@@PnPHideaway I looked at that one and it says it only supports up to 28lbs paper weight. You’ve said you’ve had no issues though? I’m assuming you’re still using the 65lb paper. Thank you so much for the replies btw I’ve been doing research for a week on card printing process I have to print 130 cards per deck so I gotta make sure it’s right lol
@@Mpulseieve I’m now using Koala brand 48lb matte presentation paper. Paper weights can be very confusing because the same thickness of paper can have different basis weights. Bottom line, I’m using light cardstock thickness paper in my HP Smart Tank printer.
I have a question. Wouldn't cutting the laminate (especially rounding the corners) show the paper? I don't understand how you wouldn't ruin the seal you just made. I've never laminated before.
I’ve been laminating for nearly four years. As it turns out, the insides of the laminating pouches are coated with heat-activated adhesive. So the laminate bonds to the paper, you don’t need to leave a border of laminate to bond to the laminate on the other side. You can cut the cards right to the edges and the laminate will not peel off. Unless your laminator is not providing enough heat to activate the adhesive. :)
@@PnPHideaway I just finally tried this method making Galdor's Grip and it works great but after all the cuts, the laminate can somewhat be peeled off. Any rec's to fix this other than just sleeving them?
@@PnPHideaway even though they're already cut would they be able to go through the laminator again? The laminate for the most part is stuck in the middle of the card but the edge adhesive has weakened.
I beg to differ. I have been laminating first then cutting for five years. I've made thousands of cards this way. I have never had a problem with delamination or edges peeling.
@@PnPHideaway not trying to be rude, just speaking from my own experience, whenever my kids (at home and work) get a hold of something laminated it always lasts longer when the edges are sealed
@@raragrace5040 We’ll just have to agree to disagree. I have crafted nearly 200 print and play games, the vast majority of my cards produced using the exact procedure that I show in this video. I stand by my personal experience and the procedure that I show in this video. Many other folks have used this method as well, with satisfaction.
@@raragrace5040 I think I know the source of confusion. I use thermal, laminating pouches, which have a thin layer of adhesive on the inside. This adhesive is activated by heat and pressure. The adhesive sticks directly to the paper or card stock being laminated. Thus with thermal, laminating pouches,there is no need to seal the edges. Because the laminate itself sticks to the surface of the item being laminated.
Have you made any foil or holographic cards with this method? If so, do they turn out well? If you have any suggestions for holo/foil card printing I'd love to see a video on it!
