Hello fellow lemmings! I’m designing a customized deck of cards as a present for a friend of mine. When finished, I’d like to print it by myself, because online print services would cost way too much for a single deck of cards. I’d like the cards to be robust and durable, and to be easy to shuffle. Is there a particular type of paper that you recommend? Or something to apply afterward? I’m thinking of plasticizing the cards after the print process, but I don’t know how well it would come out. Any idea is welcome!
there are some print-on-demand card and game manufacturers that might be less expensive than you think. I’m a hobbyist game designer and I’ve used thegamecrafter.comthegamecrafter.com as well as makeplayingcards.com to have custom cards printed, and it wasn’t particularly costly.
but if those services do charge more than you want to spend, the thing I recommend most strongly is that whatever stock you decide to print on, cut them with one of those sliding-blade paper cutters. don’t try to cut them with scissors. they’ll come out a lot more even.
Wow. Since you didn’t list the prices, I went to the links to check them out. Only $15-$20 to get a fully customized set of playing cards? That’s way less than I expected and I think I came away with some Xmas ideas.
I can recommend makeplayingcards.com as well. Used it several times.
Another endorsement for makeplayingcards. Relatively affordable for a single deck. I know it’s not cheap considering how you can get a deck of Bicycles for 2-8 bucks at Walgreens depending on how fancy they are, but one off custom card making is kind of specialized to a point where your at home results won’t even come close.
The timing of OP’s inquiry couldn’t be more perfect for me. I had this as a gift idea recently as well and was curious on what websites people recommend. Thanks for the links!