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!
I wrote up a huge guide on the process until my phone crashed and I lost it all. but honestly? Don’t do it. It’s not worth it. Pay whatever it costs to get it professionally printed. I promise you, it’s not as easy as you think, you’ll spend more money getting the tools and materials to create a good final product than you would have done just getting it professionally printed. I can pretty much guarantee that unless you have professional design-grade printing, cutting and gluing equipment that you will not be able to do this as easily as you’re imagining it would be. Please heed my warning, do not make the same mistakes I did.
Yup, just asked my fiancee, as she majored in printing, and said basically exactly this.