Does anyone know what companies will print self-published decks?

I really need help here! I'm going to want maybe 50-100 (very limited) decks of my own, but I'm very worried about how the heck the boxes & the text are supposed to work. I'm going to need some help, I can't do it by myself. Anybody know anything? Thanx ahead of time!

I don't know specific companies but when I worked in the idustry a printing firm I worked for would accasionally be offered bids on jobs they weren't quite equiped to handle... In these cases we bacame professional shoppers. What I'd shop for in your case is printers that specialize in printing cards... check the boxes of playing and especially Tarot cards, because of size and stock differences. Then get on the phone and start shopping price. Allow the printers some input on specific size, unless that is extremely important to you and it might save some cash.

Thanx! I've looked on the web & cannot seem to find anybody who does cards - just books. This is going to be very tough for someone as isolated as I am! I was hoping to find someone online. Well, we'll have to see, I guess - I'll keep looking.

most printers will gladly ship anywhere but if you're isolated it may cost you more. it's important to furnish "camera ready" art and not specify what printers call "perfect color" normal color is usually good enough.

Mine is from digital images.

Danubhe, did you look around at local printers? Not Kinkos or Office Depot, I mean actual printer shops. They can do a single deck on up, and can quote you prices based on what paper you want & how you want it printed (digitally or the regular way).

The printer house Rota used required something like a 2,000 deck minimum, and Carta Mundi (they have an office in Tennessee) doesn't go below that either, but local printers are a lot more flexible. They'd be in the yellow pages. Pennsylvania HAS to have someplace that can help you out, you can do a lot of phone checking by asking if they have the capability of printing up a deck of cards on stiff cardstock - that gives them a good idea of what you want to do, you can fine tune the details if they say they can do the job for you. Many should be able to. It's gotten quite normal for businesses to have specialty card decks printed up with advertising on the card backs, so if the printers can do those, they can certainly do up a tarot deck or 20.

Those job printers you're naming generally run sheet fed presses, Hudson and most people don't like to run stock thicker than CBS 10 through their machines. If they do full-color work at all. Then there's the problem with die-cutting the cards to give them rounded edges. Those cutting dies are pricy and often put a job out of reach. Then, there's the problem of coating the cards with clear lacquer, what a mess that stuff is and plenty of waste too. Now if a company has the equipment and dies already they can be the low bider on a job, which is why I told him to look to a specialist first. Kinkos might be usefull if you want one or two very expensive decks but they won't be die-cut or clear lacquered. If he needs more than a few decks the unit cost goes out of sight fast.

I asked about the laquer at the latest printers (the one who did Julie Cuccia-Watts New Moon deck), the representative said that it gives far less protection than actual 3mm lamination and can be compensated for with a coated card stock they carry. Most printers can feed 90 pound weight paper through the rollers without a problem, it's the 150lb weight stuff that requires special machines. 90 is ok with lamination, that plastic stiffens them up more.

The corner rounding die cutting is expensive! Geez, didn't know how much till one place quoted me $32 for 50 decks, they charge by the 'cut'. It wasn't worth considering, the cost was too high.

A 78 card deck in color would probably cost between $8 and $12 (though I had quotes high as $32 per deck!) if you're getting less than 100 printed up. The cost goes down the more decks you get made.

It pays to ask the questions & see what's covered. Usually the cutting is included in the cost but not corner rounding. Lamination would double the cost of the deck at some places, so it helps to ask for a quote with AND without lamination. Doing the lamination by hand would probably cost around $4 per deck if you had 10 sheets of originals, 8 cards to a sheet. That'd be 20 sheets of laminate but would have to be hand cut by you. It's time consuming and detail work.

None of it would be 'cheap' really, especially if there's color involved. It also helps to watch for specials on either color copies or on bulk photocopying.

danubhe said:

I'm going to need some help, I can't do it by myself. Anybody know anything? Thanx ahead of time!

Click to expand...

I went to a study group on the weekend, and one of the ladies there showed us how she makes her own cards. It was actually much simpler than I expected, and could be done quite easily.

She runs the image (printed of her computer) through a laminate machine and it comes out laminated on top and sticky on the back (like contact paper). Then you can then attach it to whatever backs you want.

The cutting etc. was quick too with a guilotine (sp?) and corner puncher.

She made a deck up very quickly (maybe half an hour, I wasn't watching the clock) and the final result was really nice. You have the advantage then of making them up as needed, and won't end up with too many or not enough.

I don't know how the cost compares. The $8-12 US for a printer sounds really reasonable if someone else is doing the work.

("She", btw, wandking! Danu is a goddess! )

My problem is how do I do the boxes? I also want them all laminated. & I can't go to printers physically - I have no car. I'll check this 1 place I know of in the speck of a town I'm in, I don't know if they'd do something like Tarot cards & a box.