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All of the CFP cards are arranged in 300 dpi so
if you print them as it they will appear to be way too large to play
a card game with unless your hands are about 3 feet wide. This tutorial
will show you how to print cards and how to add backs to them. Of course
you could flip the card and print the backs on the opposite side of the
cards but the method below came up with best results. Anyway before you
begin to print the cards off here is what I suggest.
- If you
want there are professional Print shops that will print the cards for
a fee it will save you some time and it will make this job much easier.
There would be of course some initial set up for the cards that you want
to print. Use the template below to set up your files.
- First download GIMP you'll find the link
for the download in the links section.
- Second buy good paper.
You will want a card stock about 9 mil. thick.
- Also a cutting utensil or cutting
board. (See pictures on the one I use)
- Download the Template.
- Optional... Spray adhesive
like Craft Bond by Elmers Glue & Tape.
- Also optional download the
back of the card.
- Third item that is optional
is protective sleves to make it easier to slide the cards when playing.
Now that you have taken care of that and decided what
kind of deck you want to build it's time to start printing the cards.
As I've mentioned you need to download GIMP if you want to follow
this tutorial. Not only will you be able to print the cards with ease
but you will also have your hands on a great (free I might add) image
manipulation program.
Open GIMP and load up the template. Now open
6 of the cards that you would like to print. On the window with
one of the cards you want printed copy it (ctrl + C) now go to the
template window and paste (ctrl + V). Then go up to the menu at the
top of the template window click on layer then select new layer (this
will add the image to the current layout. Now position the card in one
of the slots available in the template as show below and repeat until
all 6 cards are on one page.
After all the cards have been added to the template
and before you even start to think about printing, if you don't
want to wast a piece of paper make sure you flatten the image. To do
this go over to the window on the right (Layers window) In the picture
above you will see in that right window at the top a highlighted picture
that says Pasted Layer #5 ignore the name of the layer but that top
layer. Put your mouse over it and right click and click Merge Visible
Layers (it's at the botom).
Now we have to set up the printer.
Back in the template window click File / Page Setup.
The first option select letter borderless. Leave Source as automatic.
Orientation select Landscape. Then in every part of the margins section
set them all to Zero. Click ok. Now you may print.
If you
are not going to print the back of the cards you can ignore parts
of this but read through it anyway.
Follow the directions above but instead of using front
of the card use the back of the card (download at the top of this
page).
Put the pages (card fronts and card backs) back to back. Hold
them up to the light and line them up as much as possable. You may
have to make a slight adjustment to to the pages rather than just lining
up the pages by the edges.
Once you have them so they look good to you take 2
tiny pieces of either scotch tape or masking tape and put the
tape on the very edge of the paper to keep the two together. (See the
picture below for an example as to how to tape the pages together). Now
grab your spray adhesive and your card sheets and go outside. As mentioned
above take note as to how I taped the pages
together. It's as if you just laied the pages together and
used tape to just keep them side by side. I actually have the tape on
the front of the pages not the back. It's easier to apply after lining
up the two pages.
Open the pages and open your spray. Hold it up in the
air. (hopfully it's not windy, if it is hold it against something
that you don't mind getting a bit sticky. Of find an area that is
out of the wind). You could always do this in your basement but this
spray is going to get on everything so don't spray in the wind and make
sure you do it in a well ventelated area.
Apply a good cover on both pages. After you have done
that just fold the page again and press it gently making sure you
have sealed the two pages together. Now you can see why I mentioned to
tape the pages together it makes this job so much easier.
Now that the hard part is finished you can start to
he cards out. There are several ways you can do this. Conventional
scissors, exacto knife, or of course I sujest using a cutting board
like the one shown here (Also an example of the spray adhesive I use).
Both of which can be found at any craft store or Wal-Mart.
But I can't express this enough. Do not rely on the straight
edge on the cutting board alone. Use your eyes and line up the crop
marks that are included when you printed off the cards. I suggest
practicing until you get hang of how the blade cuts. Of if your using
an exacto you will still want to get used to it so you don't wreck the
cards you just printed off.
Once your finished with all of that and if you took
your
time you should have 6 great looking cards similar to the picture
of my results below. As you can see I
decided
to to both the front and back of the cards. The main
reason I do both is because it makes the cards look nice and more
official but it also gives a nice thick feeling to them. They end
up being a bit thicker than real cards but they are so much better
to handle.
As I mentioned at the top of the page I also suggest
getting protecive sleves so when your playing the game you can
move the cards with ease. Now go print, cut, play!
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SvC CFP powered by
GIMP see links section for more info
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