How To Laminate Cards?

krysia322

Thank you, Hudson and Dragon!

Another question:
Would it be better to use cardstock and a thinner laminate over high quality photo paper (matte or glossy) and a thicker laminate? (With regard to shuffling ease, longevity of the cards, etc.)

:)
 

laceybutterfly

I love toys!!

Hi, all! I have a Royal Sovereign heat laminator that has heat settings for laminating pouches 3 mil through 10 mil thick. I quite often do my laminating without using the carrier, so I am sure that you could safely laminate the thinner pouches (1.5 mil) if you use the carrier. I also have a Banner American machine that does hot laminating, cold laminating and thermal binder covers. Additionally, I have a small Xyron cold laminator. Like I said: I love toys!! However, the only "cold laminating" I have ever done was years ago... before I discovered heat lamination....I used clear contact paper!! Using heat laminators, the cards come out quite stiff...including the sealed edges around the cards. Although the cards remain flat... no curling, I have noticed a small amount of separation of the pouch from the slick surface of the cards (on a few of the cards); but the edges are still securely sealed. The next set of cards I heat laminate, I am going to use 1.5 mil pouches (I used 3 mil on my first deck and they are a bit too thick and stiff). You can purchase 1.5 mil pouches on eBay (but only in large sizes so you will have to laminate several cards at a time in each pouch). I am curious, DraagonStorm: using your Xyron cold laminator, what do the cards and the sealed edges around the cards feel like? Have you experienced any difficulties in the laminating process or noticed any undesirable qualities in the end product? In my experiences with clear contact paper, there was no separation of the cardstock from the contact paper and the cards were flexible, but the "soft" sealed borders around the cards tended to get somewhat distorted with use ("ruffly", bending, etc.). OK, I'm done...for now. LOL Cindy
 

Chronata

It's the Xyron 900 for me too. :)

I agonized over the lamination process for about a year....tried the hot lamination pouches but never could find the right size to do the job perfectly (without having to trim the sides in the end)
I also don't really like the curling problems I had either...or the plasticy feel of most hot laminators.

The cold lamination was great for me because it comes double sided.

Originally, I was printing on both sides of the cardstock...but discovered it didn't feel enough like a playing card to me...even with the lamination.

So I print the fronts on photo paper (I believe mine is 10 mil)
then glue them to the backs...which are printed on 110 lb card stock...

then round the corners...then run the whole thing through the Xyron ...then trim to the edges with an abundance of scissors which have to be cleaned after about three cards.

And so far...(crossing fingers) I have not had any problems with peeling.

I wanted to seal the edges somehow...but have yet to find something that doesn't leak through to the images.
 

laceybutterfly

Words to live by: work smarter, not harder!

Hi, Chronata! I appreciate your industriousness, but that just sounds like too much work to me. DraagonStorm has the right idea: keep it simple. Selecting the right cardstock and laminate to achieve the results YOU desire are necessary for the successful completion of your project. I would like to offer a suggestion: if you live in or near a large city, use your phone book to locate stores that specialize in paper products (I go to one called XPedx). These stores carry hundreds, maybe even thousands of papers and cardstocks in a plethora of colors, patterns, textures, densities, thicknesses and finishes. I am confident that you could find something that would serve your purposes without having to resort to the use of two paper products. They are sold by the sheet as well as by the ream, so you could buy several "contenders" and then try them with your laminate "contenders" till you find the combination that is perfect for your requirements. Just a thought. All the best to you. Cindy
 

DraagonStorm

The way I print them out, I print out 6 to 8 cards on one page, backs and fronts, then laminate and then cut the cards out and corner cut. So there is no laminate edge overlapping the card. So far I haven't had any problem with curling, and the cards are sturdy without being to stiff for shuffling. So far so good.

I have a question on the curling, has the curling problem showed up after time or right away?

BB
DraagonStorm
 

Deckster

Cold vs. Hot Laminates

I am utilizing the Xyron (www.xyron.com) cold laminate process as well. It is a sheet of laminate with adhesive on it. It is applied to both sides of the paper using a rolling process. That way you don't have to worry about sealed edges and you get a fairly thin laminate surface. (Think really nice clear tape applied perfectly) They are still thicker than standard Tarot/Oracle cards, but significantly thinner than the 3 mil heat laminate pouches.

To solve the scissor dilemma , after laminating, I have a die cutter and a custom die that I had made by ellison (www.ellison.com) to the specific size of cards I want . I have set up my files in Adobe InDesign to four cards per letter size sheet and have pins to perfectly align the cuts. I punch two 1/8th inch holes that are defined in the files and use the pins on the die face to align it in place. Then using the cutter I am able to cut several sheets at a time and the laminate looks great.

The whole thing is pretty slick though cost wise I am totally upside down. I will ultimately have to get a loan or an investor and utilize a commercial card printer to get it to a managable cost per unit if I want it to be profitable. But for now I am starting by offering limited edition artist sets (probably starting in March) and personal coaching and group classes on how to use the system, ultimately to help start the marketing moving forward.

With the print house I use to publish the 80 page book (LWB), the cardstock, ink, laminating & cutting, plus the packaging I will be using for the book and deck, I am into it around 11-13 dollars a deck or so. That doesn't even begin to recoup the time needed to print and assemble the decks, much less the years of writing, illustrating and designing...but then that part was all for love:)

Sorry to be long winded but I am happy to answer any questions you might have regarding any of this this.

Many Blissings to all,
Deckster
 

strings of life

Bumping this thread. Another was more recent, but this one has the most relevant content.

I did a search on "laminator" and came up with these threads as well:

Anyone laminate their tarot cards?
Laminating cards.....

Does anyone have any recent laminating experience and a preference? Why the interest? My Book of Kaos must be laminated. It's far too thin to use and I see myself using the deck a lot more than I recently thought. Once I decide on which laminator to buy, I'll practice on playing cards first before I laminate the actual deck. I'll get a back-up of it just in case...

So far, it appears that cold lamination seems to be preferred using the Xyron (easily obtainable from Amazon). I'm inclined to buy this once since 2 people have mentioned it already.

I am going to go to Michaels (a craftstore in the US) and see what they have as well; they often have in-store sales.

I guess I should invest in a good corner rounder as well--one that can handle rounding several cards at once.
 

strings of life

I'm leaning towards the Xyron XRN900 cold laminator. For $50, that seems like a great deal for a dependable brand and product.
 

Babalon Jones

thickness of laminate cartridge?

Do you know what the thickness of the laminate cartridge is? I'm looking for one that does thinner as in 1.5 ml, but it does not say what those are...