It's a great idea. Looks like the second edge of holes is kind of redundant though, as once you've aligned one edge you will already have adhered the paper before you can check the other edge
But to avoid (11:00) accidentally rotating 180degrees, better way is: Punch in one side 3 holes, in the other side 2holes. Or two near corners of the long side, and one in the middle of the opposite long side. [Woodworkers do the same when they line up a set of boards they've chosen for the prettiest pattern to may e.g. a tabletop: Draw in pencil one big freehand zigzag like that, from left edge downwards to middle of right side, then continue downwards back to left edge... Now you can mix all planks up and still find the position back, as all boards have two pieces of line on their top, the lines are slanted with the wider-apart side left, put them in order from widest-apart-marks up to the 'peak' -- now just slide up&down till it's a smooth line.]
Wow, love that corner trimmer gadget. I am going to get one of those for sure. I cut my labels and small signs by hand usually and cutting the small arcs off the corners all evenly with scissors is pretty tough. Lol. That would save so much time and make things look super pro. And since I wanted to start making my own cards finally, it would speedup finishing so much. Maybe I can finally get back to creating my game development work with all the great hints and info you have given. I've had a couple games I'd thought on for probably decades now, which they might have been unique way back in the early 90's but I've procrastinated so long now that other games have already been developed in recent years that are similar to my game, that it is a waste of time now to think it might find interest,but with some of what you are talking about with the "print n play" scene, that I may still be able to do something eventually.
I've been trying to find a way to print and make my own very good Magic the Gathering proxy cards. None of the videos on RU-vid had any tips as good as yours. The use of the crystal clear enamel, spray glue, rotary cutter and the corner cutter will help me make my very own perfect proxys. Thanks a lot.
Have you experimented yet with compressing the cards? I always found hand made cards to be way too thick, and spongey due to the limitations we have at home for making these. One extra step that seemed to really finish the job, was to make a jig out of wood. It is basically a box that is a little larger than the cards. You fill it with a stack of your cards, and then another piece of wood that fits just inside the box sits on the cards. You then compress this wood down on to the stack of cards with a clamp or similar device and leave it for an hour. Come back and tighten it once more, then leave it over night. You can then come back and pull your cards back apart, and give them a final seal with satin clearcoat or a UV spray. They end up much thinner with a good snap back to them, and will no longer be spongey.
May I ask if you have any permanent bending issues while shuffling the cards you made over time using spray coating? I'm going back and forth about using liquid varnish vs laminate because I'd like the cards I'm making to really stand the test of time and be regularly handled. Thank you very much in advance 🙏🏾
I use a similar method to the hole punch I staple them instead. Line them up the same but put 3 staples on one of the long sides. Then you can open it like a book, spray a bit of super77 on the cardstock, and when you smooth it out the pages will have no chance to slip or become misaligned and you only need to focus on avoiding wrinkles.
Martin, your hole puncher trick has definitely leveled up my PnP crafting. i had been cutting out the fronts and backs separately, gluing them (just enough to hold them together), then micro-trimming them to be the same sizes before sleeving them. (i always sleeve - can't *NOT* sleeve.) On my current professionally-printed PnP batch (296 pages from 7 or 8 different games) i've been using your hole puncher trick to line up the backs and fronts and it's not only saved me tons of cutting but has also produced far superior results than my previous efforts.
hey i got the crystal clear enamal and yours says for a glossy finish but mine says superior coverage and durability, didn't realize until I got home but will this work the same?
Should be fine, just not as glossy finish. Best bet, try it out on a dummy card first and check if you like it, before you use it on your actual cards.
Take a 8.5/11 board and drill 6 holes (4 will do, tho) same size as punch holes, and put dowels in the holes. Drop back sheet, face down. Spray, drop in center, spray, then top. Or just spray both sides of center sheet.
Great suggestion, Nate! since making this video I have since moved on to double-sided printing + laminating the cards. But if ever I have occasion to construct cards using this method again, I will certainly keep your suggestion in mind. :)
But hey look what he made... I’m pretty sure we’ve all wasted thousands of hours doing inane pointless stuff. This is so freakin cool!! But expensive if you aren’t doing it as an everyday business venture. Although I’m sure you could use basic tools to do most of this, you don’t have to have all his fancy gadgets and machines. The quality may not be as high but I reckon a good outcome is still probable.
What I would recommend for avoiding the white lines from off-cutting the lines is to expand the card backs to be border-to-border without the space between the cards. That way, you base your cutting off of the fronts of the cards and end up with perfect lines.
Alberto Roche Thanks for the suggestion! Since I made this video, I have in fact started editing PnP files to make the backs full bleed with no white space between them. However, I now recommend cutting from the back than the front. The reason is that alignment imperfections will not be visible from the back of the card. Which makes the cards still playable. If I cut from the front and there are alignment issues, if it’s obvious from the back then the cards are marked/recognizable and thus unplayable. :)
You could put the holes at different counts or locations to enable to you line up the top better, you'd need to double before punching, but after your punch, it would be good to go. The blip, blip, blip when you were cutting made me wonder if you need a new blade in your cutter or your mat is damaged. When cutting fabric, I associate that sound with a dull blade. (A quilting ruler is a bit wider if you ever worry about cutting your fingers.) And $2 for that mat was an absolute steal!
That's a good tutorial. The hole punch registration is interesting. I see you flipped the fronts over though but they still seemed to align. They also sell Crystal Clear in Matte if anyone doesn't want a sheen. good point about not spraying heavy. Scotch Super 77 Multi-purpose adhesive spray glue in the arts & crafts orange can with purple cap is a finer spray than doesn't splotch and clog the nozzle like the classic heavy-duty Super 77. wearing a mask isn't a bad idea even outdoors. it's nice you showed the cover stock you use. what printer paper do you use? some like linen finishes which are like business letterhead or resume paper but those usually have the paper company watermarks. I don't need to riffle shuffle cards so I've been using Staples Premium 8.5" x 11" Multipurpose Paper, 24 lbs., 98 Bright White, 500/Ream Purple Package. It's got a nice sort of satin finish feel to them but not linen. I can do low ink on both sides without the triple layering for small decks of solo AI cards. I don't make a ton of cards now. I have a large paper cutter or x-acto knife on the cutting mat. but if I make more I might invest in the rotary cutter or a small Friskars 12" Side Ruler paper cutter. How long does the Rotary Cutter blade last?
There are binder made hole punchers that use elevated circles. When the paper is pressed down the circles punch through and the paper almost always gets held in place by the elevated circles. If you could punch all 3 at once they might automatically be aligned and held together. From there you can probably peel aside each sheet to spray them.
Love it, a nice overview of higher quality prototyping process for game cards. Regarding materials of mass produced cards, the core of MTG cards is a thin layer of plastic which is what gives them their spring. I expect most mass manufactured cards are like that. I don’t even know where we’d start to look for that sort of thing for print-and-play use, though it’s not really needed unless you want the prototypes to stand up to abuse.
Thanks for your kind words! My PnP colleague Rachel Bruner has a similar card-making video in which she uses 24 lb. linen paper for front and back, and a sheet of laminating pouch as the core. Run the three-layer sheet through a laminator, and presto! You have a linen finish pnp card with a springy center layer. :)
The alignment technique is clever, it never occurred to me. Thank you. When cutting, I'd suggest a couple of changes. First, cut from the back side rather than the front side. The side you cut from will generally cut more cleanly than the other side. Artifacts on the front of the card are visible to the card holder, but artifacts (such as the white edges you had) are visible to the other players and can be tells, letting the other players know what the card is. Second, keep the part you want to keep under the ruler, in case you slip. If you run over the margin and make that crooked, it's mildly annoying. If you run it across the card face you'll probably want to redo the card. Thank you! Good tutorial.
Why don't you just print directly on both sides of the cardstock? Then you don't need the spray glue and all that lining up nonsense? Probably a total noob question, but figured I'd ask. Thanks for the great video! I need one of those corner cutters!
Thanks for your reply, Mike. For this technique, a minimum of three layers is required to get nice-feeling cards: a front layer (I use plain paper here but you can sub that for linen paper for a more premium feel), a back layer, and a card stock core. You can also consider using a laminate core for more “snap” to your cards. Another technique I use that involves double-sided printing is the lamination technique. The laminate on both sides makes the cards feel and behave almost like plasticized retail cards, except for the overly glossy finish. That’s my preferred method nowadays - good balance of nice cards with ease of production.
The video is so informative, but I need to know is there any card template I can use to insert my design to be ready to print like the one at @5:30 please?
Yes, here is a 9-card grid, US Letter size, Photoshop format. Should work in most any image editing application. app.box.com/s/lz65ng7weuqvbzq2kwe05a1sojma0ayv
lemonhead94133 In this video I print to regular paper. I only used photo paper once, hated it. The images look good but the cards stick together and do not slide against each other at all.
In this method, printing to plain paper provides the most vibrant and clear artwork and color to the printout. In general, the thicker the paper you print to, the more the paper absorbs the ink and makes your printout look less clear, the colors less vivid, more “muddy”. These effects can be mitigated by choosing print settings to match the paper to which you are printing, and also the type of thick paper you use (whether matte or glossy surface).
Thank you so much! I can't wait to buy materials I need to print Solo variants for Parks following your technique. 🥰 I wish you didn't fast forward while cutting I was very interested in what you're saying about cutting and your experience. I tried to turn on auto-caption but it doesn't register 😂😂😂.
I have a newer video about laminating cards, which is the technique that I use now. I find laminating faster and easier than this method, while still yielding good quality cards. :)
This tutorial was absolutely wonderful! Thanks for sharing. I have one question, have you ever put something along the edges to seal them to prevent peeling? Does peeling ever occur?
Nor should you. But I have made 300+ card games using the lamination method, which is my current default method: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8M1gfxdglas.html
Good question! For the technique I describe here, I found better print and image quality by printing to better (whiter, clearer) paper for the fronts and backs, then adding a slightly thicker card stock as the “core” of the cards. If had printed directly to the core, then image quality wouldn’t be as nice, and the card would be too thin/flimsy. Since I made this video, I’ve moved on to the lamination method to produce my print and play cards. Check my other videos for a tutorial of that method. I like it better now. :)
This was an amazing video, If possible can you make a video on how to set everything up on the computer so I can see a step-by-step process on how to form a profile of cards that I can print, thank you Mr. Martin.
Hi Martin, just found this video. I'm making preparations to sell personalized Pokemon card commissions. So I'm looking around the internet for alternatives to getting them printed through a company (such as MakePlayingCards). I'd rather do them at home to cut down on the turn around time for customers. I was wondering if you've ever used holographic sheets to add some holofoiling to your cards, and how you'd recommend doing that. Thank you!
Hi Samuel, in this case a fellow member of the Solo Board Gamers group put me in touch with the designer. In general, I am subscribed to the work-in-progress and play testing forums on Boardgamegeek.com, that's where I get my leads. :)
Try Krylon triple thick glaze it really coats cards well, I use a lot to really seal the paper and add snap to the cards. When aligning backs to front I mount the front then trim 2 of the sides, like the top and the right, then you trim the left and top of the backs and can align them with the cut edges and it's fewer steps. Cutting cards to make them look really professional you need something like a "plow" used by book binders. A couple of boards clamps and a chisel is all you need, clamp the cards between the boards with the front board on the line you want to trim and the back board higher to provide a surface to cut against, then using the front board as a guide for the flat edge of the chisel and only slicing a few cards at a time you can get a nice straight clean cut (good for making rules books look professional too).
The true snap of a playing card is due to the glue the paper is held together with. White glue is a plastic and works well, if you mix in graphite and glue just 2 sheets of good printer paper together it makes pretty much the same stuff. The problem is getting 2 sheets to glue together without warping, lots of weights work. If you have a printer that has a back-loading straight paper path you can run that directly though. If you want a coating for paper that is very similar to what is used by printers and card makers then a very thin layer of Minwax Polycrylic (applied with a printer's brayer roller or a very smooth edged scraper).
Sorry, as someone completely new to card making this may come over as extremely obvious but.. what is the rationale behind the hole puncher exactly? I mean, if your card stock and printing paper have the same dimensions, isn't it simply a matter of aligning the edges of the paper as you would with any stack of paper? Or is a hole just easier to gauge alignment with than the edges?
Good question. The issue is that most home printers do not print an image exactly in the center of a page, there is going to be some level of misalignment. So if you want perfect front-back alignment, you’ll need some way to manually align the images. After I published this video, I started aligning then stapling the front-back sheets together. Nowadays I no longer use this method shown here, I print front and back to a single sheet of card stock and laminate to produce PnP cards. I have a couple of tutorials on that technique as well. :)
@@PnPHideaway Okay that makes much more sense haha, I hadn't considered that side of printing. Thanks for explaining! I will take a look at your more recent tutorial videos to make up my mind which technique suits me best. For personal reasons I prefer ones that use little or no plastic, but I might still give lamination a consideration.
I need specifics about the printing. What colour profile, what paper, what printer? I can't get my colours to work on standard 80g/m2 paper with my new EcoTank, red i very dull for example
Adding in a single layer of the heated laminating pouches to the center works pretty well get a snap. My next experiment is to use a laminate center, paper on with side and then laminate on the front and back. It might get a little thick, but I want to see how it holds up. Keeps it water proof and bendy without creases.
A really wonderful result. Looking forward to practicing it since I want to print some custom cards for a board game that community made, and really well done designed, and didn't know how to approach it. Your tut saved the day. Kudos and keep it up. 👍👌
This is fantastic! Thank you SO much! Your video was extremely informative, that hole punch technique for the alignment is pure genius. You did every step slowly enough to make it easy to understand, while not just dragging on making us want to skip parts of the video. This video is going in my favorites and I’m off to make some token cards for my hubby. Thank you!
First of all thank you for this excellent tutorial about making pnp cards. It answers a lot of questions that I hadabout making cards. However, I would like to ask you a question. Why do you make the cards in three layers and not in just one? If what you want is the alignment of back with front side, why don't you print in a 260gr/m2 paper the back side and then glue just with one sheet of front side?
Mike K Great question, Mike! Rest assured that I have experimented with all different manner of card production techniques over my 90+ PnP builds. Certainly there are easier methods than what I outline here. When I was just starting out in late 2017, I duplex printed front and back images on a single sheet of card stock. That was easy, but the cards felt too thin and flimsy for me. So I then moved on to a series of builds in which I used two layers of 110lb. card stock glued back-to-back. That technique was a little more complex, and yielded cards that looked and felt too thick, thicker than normal playing cards. Eventually I settled on the three-layer card production technique I demonstrate in this video. Plain paper front and back, one layer of card stock core. This method yields a PnP playing card that looks and feels closest to a retail-produced playing card, which is the usual goal of most PnP builders. But certainly I present the method that works best for me. There are other methods and if those work for you, I recommend you do what works best for you. :)
@@PnPHideaway Thank you for your answer. Have you tried two layer cards with more lbs than the three layers? Do they still feel thinner than the three-layer cards?
Mike K Hi Mike, three layers is what I have landed on, works best for me. You should experiment with what works for you, if two layers is your preference. Also there is another great video on making PnP cards by Dining Table PnP (Jake Staines) that you should check out. :)
I'm developing a educational medical board game. It will have 500 individual questions/scenarios. Similar to the old game trivial pursuit. Question on the front answer on the back. Who prints cards like that?
If you are looking for a company to print cards such was what you describe, you can try companies like the Gamecrafter dot com. For prototyping your game, you can do it yourself.
WOW I am mind-blown. all the details, tools, handling, steps. I can now see how Martin you are serious on your Print and Play. No wonder you defend anything opposite against PnP community. Full respect.
Thanks! I know it was 4 years ago, but still find this tutorial interesting ) About the cutting and white lines on perimeter - even professional cutting machines have some slack. To avoid this you have to print with additional safe zone padding, like 0.5cm on side (just expand your background graphics) so when you cut - you won't have whites. Mark your points for cutting as + on corners, as you actually don't need lines to align the ruler for the cut. And those + even if they'll be visible after cutting will go away when you round the corners.
H D At the time I made this video, this was my preferred method of making PnP cards, as they seemed to be of best quality. Nowadays, I print double-sided to card stock and laminate. I have another, newer video that describes the lamination method.
Great video, with a lot of great tips! Have you considered using a guillotine trimmer to cut the cards? I use one to make long, narrow (11” X 0.25”) strips of cards stock for some other projects I do, so I bet one could make long straight cuts along the cards, and even cut that thin white space between cards! You could also probably make a few jigs to position sheet after sheet in the same location so you know you are getting consistent sizes for all your cards.
Hi there, thanks for your comment! I have tried many different methods and tools to cut cards since I have been doing PnP (started January 2018). I find guillotine cutters to lack accuracy, especially when cutting multiple sheets. I prefer either a straight blade paper trimmer with a guide wire, or the rotary cutter with ruler that you see in this video. :)
Have you tried printing on photo paper and using a color backed card sleeve? If so, is it better to use glossy or matte photo paper?, or maybe using a printable sticker paper + cardstock + color backed card sleeve?
I have never found photo paper to be a good material for pnp cards. I do however like making thick game boards by mounting photo paper to heavy card stock. Check my other tutorial videos for different techniques. Nowadays my favored method for making PnP cards is printing double-sided to card stock and laminating.
How do you print your cards? Like for me i can only print 1 card at a time cause i cant figure out how to print them to where they are perfectly lined up on the paper, i can only get it to print one picture right in the middle of the paper
Martin I have been learning from you in our facebook group for sometime and so know and appreciate your mad skills there. I think this RU-vid gig could really be a thing, you do a great job looking into the camera and you are enjoyable to listen to (I am selective about the reviewers on BGG I will watch). Put up a screen patterned cloth sheet behind you to up the professional grade. And then please go for it. I really think you have something.
Nowadays I print directly to Neenah brand 65 pound card stock. Then I laminate in 3mil pouches. Check out my other tutorial video on how to make laminated print and play cards. That is a newer video and still my current/favored technique. :)
@@PnPHideaway I planned on checking that vid out, will do so soon as I haven't committed to a solution yet :-) How do the laminated cards feel in your hands (+ shuffling) compared to the linen stock?
@@arthurfranklin9315 They feel great, play great, riffle shuffle well, and feel the closest to manufactured cards. The only small issue is the extra glossiness, which I have gotten used to.
Great question, Jared! This video showed my old process. If you search through my other videos, you’ll find a newer video that describes my current process of printing double-sided to card stock then laminating.
Yes, I have much newer videos, where I demonstrate my current procedure, which is to laminate print and play cards. I wouldn’t say “exactly like factory-made ones”. But very close. :)
