[Tutorial] Idomeneas' Card Printing
Posted: September 20th, 2010, 3:57 pmOk let me put my 2 cents
The original paper must be something between 260 grm, plain paper coated with mat varnish (for waterproofing). They are quite light thought they did their job, since they lasted 20 years (oh, my Goddess we are getting old!
). Now if you want new cards there are 2 ways. The professional which costs and the homemade which is fun 
.
The professional way. You get to a printing shop. It would be good to have a card with you cause there are many similar papers and each printer might use different brand. The original cards were printed through offset method. Its the traditional method used in most prints BUT you must print a lot of card decks in order to be economic. You cannot print just 1 or 2 decks unless you are filthy rich or your best friend is a printer, he is printing with the exact paper and coating for somebody else and there is room to smuggle your cards on his project. In that case buy him a case of beers. He will appreciate it
The other way is to go ''digital''. Its something like printing on a very advanced home printer (but very advanced and diverse). There are less rules about the CMYK and RGB profiles in the files (and it rhymes), you can do nowadays almost everything you could with Offset, in any quantity. Its just more expensive per unit if you compare it with Offset, but you don't have to print a truckload. In any case you will pay a bit extra for the round edges.
Now there is the homemade way. And its my preferred way. I know you may think I'm cheap, but i really like to get involved with my gaming stuff. Also in a digital world I work today, a little ''Art Attack'' good old days are more that welcome. I like my cards heavier than the original. So here is what you'll need:
Believe me its very simple, the only tricky part is the front-back mounting but after one time you wont worry about it. The result is very very good. Some friends didn't believe I made those myself.
The original paper must be something between 260 grm, plain paper coated with mat varnish (for waterproofing). They are quite light thought they did their job, since they lasted 20 years (oh, my Goddess we are getting old!
). Now if you want new cards there are 2 ways. The professional which costs and the homemade which is fun .The professional way. You get to a printing shop. It would be good to have a card with you cause there are many similar papers and each printer might use different brand. The original cards were printed through offset method. Its the traditional method used in most prints BUT you must print a lot of card decks in order to be economic. You cannot print just 1 or 2 decks unless you are filthy rich or your best friend is a printer, he is printing with the exact paper and coating for somebody else and there is room to smuggle your cards on his project. In that case buy him a case of beers. He will appreciate it
The other way is to go ''digital''. Its something like printing on a very advanced home printer (but very advanced and diverse). There are less rules about the CMYK and RGB profiles in the files (and it rhymes), you can do nowadays almost everything you could with Offset, in any quantity. Its just more expensive per unit if you compare it with Offset, but you don't have to print a truckload. In any case you will pay a bit extra for the round edges.
Now there is the homemade way. And its my preferred way. I know you may think I'm cheap, but i really like to get involved with my gaming stuff. Also in a digital world I work today, a little ''Art Attack'' good old days are more that welcome. I like my cards heavier than the original. So here is what you'll need:
- Materials List
- Home printer. I got a Canon Pixma that really kicks ass for 100 Euro (happy customer
) - A4 (or whatever odd dimension Americans have) Canon photo paper plus Glossy II (yes my cards are glossy got a problem?)
- A4 (or whatever odd dimension Americans have) plain paper
- Spray Glue (ok i can smell your fear
) - Cutter
- Round corner cutter. Those little things do miracles. I got mine from eBay in a set with a blue (large) and pink (small) ones.
The small is exactly the original HQ cards radius. - Layout design software. I use Adobe Indesign. You can also use Quark express (if you live in a cave since the 90's), Corel Draw
(if you are a secretary and love huge files), Adobe Illustrator (if you like to complicate things), or whatever program you feel comfortable with.
- Instructions
- I start by defining the place of the cards with rectangular boxes in Indesign. On the 4 corners i put crosses. The program has registration marks but i need something bolder. Once i define the ''front'' i copy the file and rename it ''back''. The pages must be identical. Then i import the cards (ctrl+d) i created in Photoshop. The front side and the back side on assigned files. Centre the files within the container box and print.
- Now that i have printed the 2 sides i must combine them in one solid card. IF you have a lightbox (of course if you have a lightbox you don't need my rant) you will need it now. Spray with glue the back of the A (or B) page. Mount it on the plain paper white page. We do this for extra weight and because the glue sticks better on rough surface. Now the tricky part. You put the page with the glue down, carefully get the other page touch the top corner very lightly (you don't want it to stick wrong) and try to match the crosses together. You have to be light-handed. This is no work for Barbarians
. Don't just match the pages. The printer might slightly move the page while it takes it in position. In the way i tell you you wont have mismatch. If you don't have a lightbox you can put the papers against a window. After that you ll get extra XP for your dungeon crawling, Graphic Designer character. Trust me its not that hard. - Put the matched card pages under an encyclopedia or any heavy large book and press. Now take a metal ruler (No its not a band) and the cutter. Cut the cards out. Don't use scissors. You wont manage to cut the cards straight, plus the pressure of the cutter will seal the edges of the sandwiched pages furthermore. Once you have the cards use the round cutter to round the corners. Leave them to rest for an hour and you are set!
Believe me its very simple, the only tricky part is the front-back mounting but after one time you wont worry about it. The result is very very good. Some friends didn't believe I made those myself.
), thanks for posting it.