Cardstock for printing baseball cards

[evilkev]

Hi folks. Newbie here. I've been trying to do a little research into how printing my own baseball cards. Problem is, I really am not sure how to go about it. I think I know enough to assume I can't just buy some heavy card stock and shove it into my Canon s830d and print away.

So with that said, let me start with what kind of paper should I be looking for? I'm assuming it would be a heavier stock, but I really know nothing about that. My printing experience pretty much ends with printing photos at home. Should I assume this is a 2 part process, printing onto some type of glossy thinner paper and then somehow adhering it to a heavier paper?

Anyway, if anyone has suggestions or experience or interest in this, please let me know.

thx!
kevin

 

[d86cfv]

I would have thought your printer would be able to cope with card up to 270gsm without a problem as thats what photo paper pro is. My mp730 can print over that weight, to about 320 if i feed the sheets singularly. This should be ok for baseball card's?

Sticking two thinner sheets could be a real pain in the backside, you'll also get a white edge around the card. If you were to do it this way then i'd use either two sheets of 160 or 180, no more otherwise the white edge would be very obvious.

Regs,

Dan

 

[drc023]

With the Canon 830d and any other top feed model, the paper weight isn't very critical. The printers can easily handle thick card stock. The real problem with trying to print baseball cards will be finding a waterproof single sheet that can be printed on both sides. Most inkjet photo papers do not have an ink receptive back side. Trying to print on the reverse side produces very poor results. What might work would be finding a thin adhesive sheet that which would be suitable for inkjet printing and could be stuck to the reverse side. Once the cards are printed on the full sheet they could be cut to singles. Two other routes would be using plain paper for the back side and spray mounting it to the photo paper or getting a two sided inkjet paper (which would normally be too thin for cards) and laminating it prior to cutting.

 

[evilkev]

Awesome guys. Thanks. My main goal is just to create some cards for myself. So I'm really only interested in printing on the "glossy" side and will not be doing any printing on the back. I'll probably just end up putting these into some type of display.

I don't quite understand the 270gsm vs 320gsm though. Also, why would I need a waterproof sheet, is that just to protect it or for durability issues?

One more question, can I just walk into a Kinko's or the printing center at an OfficeMax and find the correct paper? The only thing I have to go on is to bring in a baseball card and compare it to what's there, assuming I can buy a few sheets at a time. Are there any industry standards, like paper weight, or anything like that I should look for?

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it. There's a fella on a sports card forum that does his own cards and they are beautiful, but I can't seem to pull the info out of him how he does it. So I've been googling in vain trying to figure out how to document a process for it.

kev

 

[drc023]

If you are only planning for single side prints which will be under glass or in a display, any photo paper would be acceptable. I mentioned waterproof (a.k.a. nanoporous, microporous, instant dry) since I thought the cards would be subject to a lot of handling. The choice to make now is between matte or glossy finish which will be your personal preference. When it comes to producing the cards, you can use most any graphics or DTP application. I use MS Publisher and it's capable of doing anything from the most basic tasks up to professional 4/c layouts. If you don't have a DTP application you can get one for free (Serif Page Plus) from http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/ It's an older version, but the price is right.

 

[evilkev]

Thanks for the suggestion Dr. C! I do want the illusion that the "cards" really are cards. I plan on putting them in a display via matte, but I also have another way of displaying them so they will be position in a way that someone can see them from several sides, and I want them to have the thickness of baseball cards.

I figured I would first use Photoshop to create the images. Maybe Publisher might be easier to arrange for printing, or I'll also check out the website you provided. I like free things!

Thanks!

 

[fotofreek]

I'd print several to a page on good quality inkjet paper, use one of the art spray adhesives to attach it to the thickness of card stock you want, and then use either a high quality paper cutter or, if you are doing a small number of them, a utility knife (sometimes called a sheet rock knife) and a steel straight edge. You will have nice clean edges with the cards printed all the way to the edge. My favorite straight edge is a roofers square. Heavy enough and an accurate right angle if you need it.