not Everything You Need to Know Before Proxying
Proxying comes in many forms and sometimes is even confused with bootlegging/counterfeit cards. This article is about Proxys and producing very high quality proxies that pass across-the-table sniff test. You can of course use low quality proxies like printing at your library with sites like https://mtgprint.net/ where you will get low resolution, but identifiable prints for cheap. Or go to the bottom of the barrel and just use a sharpie and basic land and write the card you want. This article is not about that kind of proxying, although I just did you give an exhaustive how-to on that method.
Instead the objective is to present 2 ways to proxy and the process I have personally used where I have found success. I will also include at the end resources I used to help me make decisions when I decided to only print from home. This is obviously based on my own subjectivity and you should still seek out other opinions by reading the existing the posts found on sites and subreddits like /r/magicproxies. I am also based out of the USA, so pricing, availability of resources, supplies, etc, may not match what you have around you and would require you to do some of your own research to fill in those gaps.
So, the two ways you can make high quality proxies and avoid waiting for mail and paying a premium for others to print proxies for you?
- Use Fedex Office (or an office printing store near you, ymmv). This method has an initial investment of about 80-100$ and after that it costs about 15-18 cents a card.
- Print from home using an ecotank inkjet printer. This has the same initial investment above, but also requires you to buy a printer which can be as cheap as ~250$ and with the common goal of the 8500/8550 which sells for ~600$, but these go on sale time to time. The cost of a card becomes ~4-6c a card.
Before you choose your method, an abstract on the hobby
It is important that one treats proxying, no matter which method you choose, as a hobby adjacent to MTG (or whatever you're proxying). This will require learning things you maybe had no intention of learning. Bookmarking a couple websites. Maybe joining a discord. And if you're really nuts, getting into creating your own proxies. While this hobby isn't difficult, it is time consuming and requires an enjoyment via the act of creation (printing, laminating, cutting, cornering, showing off your print). If you believe you would not be interested in having an arts and crafts hobby this will feel like a chore and I would imagine maybe even hinder your enjoyment of your original hobby of slinging cardboard.
There is no perfect proxy method out there unless you own an industrial printer and have a decent amount of funds behind that. While you can almost always make a great looking proxy with a printer from FedEx or one of the Epson Ecotanks, getting that feel of a real card just right is where people (myself included) really get into the weeds. You must be able to understand you must sacrifice one of the fidelities in card feel: Either Thickness or Rigidity, and find that goldilocks zone that YOU are comfortable with.
Getting Ready to Print
A big gap I have noticed in people messaging me on here and discord (which is partly what has inspired me to just make a tl;wr article like this) is they use sites which do not offer them the best quality. In this section we will go through the process of how to create your PDF for print.
- Bookmark these two sites:
- https://mpcfill.com/editor - Where you can source the majority if not all of your card images.
- https://proxyprint.taxiera.net/ - The place you will upload images/xml file(s) to create your PDF.
- a: Optionally, use sites like archidekt or moxfield to create your card list.
- Go to MPCFill and click the green button Add Cards and using text is what I usually use, but if your decklist is not set to private you can use URL as well.
Protip As you get more comfortable with MPCFill you may find that you like certain proxy-artists than others, you can make them priority by going to Search Settings and using ctrl+f to find and move that artist to the top of the list. This will make more sense the more you use this site - The left container will populate with all of your cards, but you should probably inspect every single card to make sure it has the art, design, and stamps you want. Click on the center button below the card image (1/##) and you will see all available art available.
Protip Pay attention to what you like, as I discovered this late. This includes frames, set symbol, artist's stamps, etc. Take your time here and select a design that you enjoy every aspect of. - Once all of your cards are the way you want them we can download the XML file under the gray button aptly named Download (if you are not familiar with this type of file, it is just a text-based file that is very small and can be used on the next site to import the cards you want instead of having to download each card individually).
Protip To be most cost effective print in multiples of 9 so you fill an entire page of cards. When in doubt, print another Delney. - a: If you ever want to come back to this card list with MPCFill you can use that same XML file with the Add Cards button.
- Now we go to ProxyPrint. I believe there are other sites 'like' this one. But I know and love this one.
- Click Add Images and select to open your XML file. Then wait as the site pulls each image over.
- Use the settings you see in the image on the right.
Method 1: FedEx Office
I have a couple reviews on my experience of using Office Depot and FedEx Office in my post history on reddit. My review of Office Depot is they are hot garbage, but this is a localized issue and ymmv between office printing stores. It is best you go physically visit them and ask about what they have to offer. FedEx Office is nice in my opinion because their site is very straight forward and they have a good turn around time and quality control. I believe FedEx Office simply has better consistency across county lines because of how enormously rich they are and they do spend money on technology and probably pay a little better than others (I am sure it is still garbage).
Most FedEx Office's also have giant rotary cutters, so if you wanted to save even more money, you can use their rotary cutters. With that said, you must invest some money at this point. Here is what you will need to create high quality proxies at FedEx (and at home). I have linked directly to the one's I bought, but do your own shopping around.
- 50$: 12" Rotary Cutter (Dahle is the most common brand associated with our hobby, I bought the 18" because it was cheaper, but this thing is annoyingly big. Shop around, these prices fluctuate a decent amount).
- 12$: Corner Punch (Do not budget on this, get the Kadomaru puncher, the cheaper ones will not punch through properly).
- 20$: Lamintor Laminator (Any machine will honestly do, I use maybe the cheapest crappiest one and it does the job well. Get one that accepts your size of paper and preferably has an on and off switch, mine does not).
- 12$: Lamination Sheets (Amazon Basics is more than good enough).
The American Economic Landscape is wild, so these prices may not reflect accurately depending on when you decide to jump in.
Now that everything you need is in the mail, we can go to FedEx's website to begin. Bookmark this because it can sometimes be a pain in the ass to find via their portal.
I have experience printing on 60lb and 80lb. After initial testing I preferred 60lb as it was perfect thickness after laminating, but now with a few months feet wet in the hobby I recommend sacrificing that thickness fidelity for better rigidity and go for 80lbs. You can also just experiment with other available options. FedEx Office also has unadvertised sizes at the shop, so visit them and they can give you samples to check out. You will have to ask them how to order them, as it usually requires you to email them instead of using the site.
Select the settings you see to the right (you do not need to adjust the quantity unless you want multiple copies of your cards). Otherwise click Upload File.
Here you will upload your PDF, this can take a minute depending on how big your PDF is. It will show you a print preview and offer some finishing touches at cost, ignore all those. You don't need to touch anything here just Add to Cart.
That's basically it. You will get an email when it is ready and if they're as clutch as mine a sweet elderly lady will call you telling you your prints are ready. Go up to the front desk and just tell them you're there to pick up your prints and you're good to go!
An Intermission on Success and Expectations
You may be wondering now, "wait, all my backs are just white!" Yes, I do not print backs on my cards, for me it is a waste of money and all my decks are sleeved so the only purpose I can surmise as to wanting a back are these three:
- You're a stud and just want custom backs.
- You want to make counterfeits.
- You are selling your proxy services (not same as 2).
These are all acceptable reasons, with 2 having a shade of moral dilemma, but I am neither of 1 or 3. Printing backs just costs extra and you have to really ask yourself how much is a back worth to you. Using FedEx the cost for a card jumps to about 30c a card and at that point you may want to look into using MakePlayingCards.com and making a large order and getting whatever back you want with high quality card stock.
This is one of many examples of measuring your expectations and understanding that you need to be playing these cards in sleeves. The sleeve does a magical job of really cleaning up any imperfections you may feel for a proxy. Think the lamination finish looks off? Sleeve it and magically it's gone (it's magic, I looked it up). That white back looks horrendous? Wow, Dragon Shield sleeves never felt better. Is the feel a little off? Sleeve that bad boy and it suddenly blends in with every card.
I run decks that are 10%-50% proxies and while my stack may look a CM taller or so than my opponents it really doesn't flash itself and no amount of DIY David Blanery has allowed me to force a card to the top because I can tell one card (during a shuffle) is 0.04mm thicker amongst the 99. Also, are people not cutting your deck?
I say all this to bring us back to reality that we are not here creating counterfeits, just amazing proxies that ya, some of you may feel compelled to sell and why not, you made some great looking proxies and people want them. No shame in any of that.
I Have the Prints, Now What?
This will go the same for Method 2 and I honestly forgot to include this section originally, but I realized having this as a safety net for future questions could be useful. And that is the question of "I have the prints, now what do I do to make them high quality proxies?" There are several methods out there, mine goes for a middle of the road easiest route and that's laminate and cut. You will see folks who use spray, immersion, single sided proxying, vinyl stickers, etc. I am a smooth brained individual and I don't want those variables and set ups so here is my process to get what I think are perfectly playable and show-offy proxies:
- Warm up your laminator and wait for the indicator light (or whatever system it has to let you know it is ready) to let you know when you can use it.
Do not use it before then (covered below in the FAQ).
Protip I recommend putting your paper in the pouch only when you are ready to laminate. I don't do a bunch and let them sit around. They will collect dust and can cause minor imperfections. The more TLC you give this step the more you get back in return. - Line up the pouch (closed end of the pouch going into the slot) and slowly slide it in until the rollers catch it. Now let go.
Protip If you can, let the paper come out of the laminator as parralel as possible with the table so it gets cooked evenly and do not let it sit in the lamintor. Mine will let the last centimeter or so sit inside the laminator and slow cook it.
2.a: Let them bad boys cool for a minute or so. - Make sure you have a comfortable amount of space for your rotary cutter. I first like to cut all 4 edges off so all the white of the paper is gone. Use the guide lines to assist.
If you are using the Dahle, line up the guide line so it is above the silver edge. You will want to make sure both sides (left and right) are lined up appropriately. This can take practice to get used to to find where you like to make your cuts.
Protip Dahle is super sharp and stable, you do not need to move the shuttle across at light speed. You can move slowly if you want, but I find that encourages you making self-doubting adjustments which give bad cuts. Instead cut at an even and brisk swipe so that the shuttle lands against the opposite edge firmly. - Now cut the 3x3 across horizontally in the same manner using the guidelines. Remember you have a gutter, so between cards you will cut twice.
You should now have 3 strips that are 3 cards each. - Next cut them vertically now, so as you cut them they should be sideways to your perspective, following the same pattern of following the guidelines and remembering you have to cut twice between cards.
- You now should have 9 very pointy cornered cards. Use your corner punch/cutter to soften them up and you are done. If you feel like you want to, you can shove each card individually back through your laminator, but I've never felt the need to do this unless I am making foils in which case I think you should always run it through the laminator once more.
Protip Sometimes you get an errant lamination-hair hanging off the edge due to a bad cut or maybe the card is pringling? This isn't common, but it happens. Send it through your hot laminator and let it rest underneath a stack of cards or a book. If you are pringling every time you may not be letting ink dry or the laminator heat up enough.
Method 2: I'm Rich! (EcoTanking)
Let me be straight up here and maybe catch some naysayers, but if you chose Method 2 with the argument you are gonna save so much more money than option 1 and get way better prints than FedEx. You're mostly wrong. Method 2 is an investment into becoming a full hobby-nerd in not just MTG but also proxying. You choose Method 1 because you like MTG and want nice looking proxies. You choose Method 2 because you like the idea of printing anything and everything that you want and instantly playing them. All the fan art, all the dumb deck ideas, whatever. You wanna stay at home and just do the damned thing with or without realizing this is an actual hobby on its own. That is what buying a 500-700 dollar printer is.
If you go the budget route and get the ET-2850, you can make a long-game argument that you are saving money. The ROI is a much shorter road than getting the ET-8500/8550.
This section won't be so much a walkthrough like above, but more of a Question and Answer since you already have the manual for your printer, read that to figure out how to print. Here we get into the weeds of home printing.
Answering those Frequently Addressed Posts:
Q: Which printer should I get?
A: The answer you will almost always hear is the ET8500/8550. The budget option is popularly the ET-2850. All other printers are super tertiary to the conversation and mostly ignored save the random wild encounter on Reddit where someone can answer questions about your Canon or HP. (This is not shade, just what I have witnessed lurking the reddits).
Q: What is the difference between the ET8500 and ET8550?
A: They are essentially the same, using the same technology to create the same high quality prints. ET8550 has a larger bed and I believe can handle thicker paper, even foamboard. Since this is never in my equation it was never something I considered. Unless you have more Arts and Crafts in your future outside of Proxying, ET8500 is the best bet. Even then, do your due diligence and read about each of their specs to make a true decision.
Q: Why is ET-2850 the budget option? How much worst is it actually?
A: I cannot speak to this personally, only from what I have learned from reading articles, posts, and reviews. Let's talk about my own subjectivity. The 2850 creates brilliant prints and honestly, I'd be hard tasked to tell you which of the two is which once sleeved. Here is a big fact though: 2850 cannot print black on glossy/foil paper properly. Instead of using your in-abundance black pigment ink, it will instead combine your CMY colors to create a bluish black (think 1990's venom art). /u/vexanix has provided the example to the right to show the difference.
So is it a bad printer? Not at all. It just has that limitation and is older technology. I am sure more experts can fill us in more on the subject, but from what I have seen posted online, the 2850 is a budget printer that meets the demand of quality we want when we talk about high quality proxies at home.
Edit/Addendum: There are other ecotank options made by Epson, but 2850 is sort of the catch-all printer compared to the others. But again, do your own research at looking at what suits you. This is a big investment and if this article isn't making you feel warm and fuzzy about your choice seek other opinions and articles.
Q: What other budget options exist? Comparing the 2850 to the 2800
A: Thank you to /u/vexanix once again for pointing out that the ET-2800 is another great alternative. So let's talk about the differences.
- 2800 uses Black Photo Ink, allowing more paper options which the 2850 is limited by. Which means glossy and foils.
- 2850 Has auto double-sided printing. Not a huge deal, some say you get double-sided cards better. I don't see it, I have done both, double-sided cards is worthy of its own section.
- 2850 has a much better scanner where it reaches resolutions of 2400 dpi where as the 2800 is only 1200
- They both have the same print resolution capabilities at 5760 x 1440 dpi.
- They thankfully both are compatible with the ever GOATed Windows 8.1 32bit.
- 2800 is compatible with Windows 2003, wtf is going on.
- 2800 Describes a sleep mode, but 2850 does not which makes me think 2800 has an auto-sleep mode, which I do appreciate.
- They are nearly the same size with the 2850 being 3 lbs heavier.
- 2850 has a larger reservoir for the black ink which is your most common use ink. The black ink the 2850 is also about half the price. But again, you are limited to paper options for true black prints.
The good news is these are both great printers that are capable of more than just proxying. They also both often go on sale. As of writing this 2800 is on sale on the Epson store right now. Amazon is often our go to for purchasing, but be sure to shop around.
Q: What is the cost of printing per card?
A: This has a lot of variables involved and even Epson doesn't really get into it when they say their ink lasts for 1000 prints (or in our terms, 9k cards). This is no where close to being accurate. I will say using only the Inks, I have gone through about 1/3 or more of my ink (The black drains the fastest for me) and I have printed close to 1k cards.
- So if we take my imaginary metric and do the cost of ink (110$) to a card, at an estimated 3k cards, it comes to about 0.04$ a card for the ink.
- Include the paper for ~334 sheets (to make 9k cards) at ~0.20$ a sheet of paper = 66 bucks comes out to 0.02$ a card for the paper. That puts us at 6 cents total now.
- We still have the lamination sheet which mathing it out comes to 0.01$ a card. So the grand total for materials (not operational equipment) the cost of a card is about 7 cents. So half the price of a card from FedEx, but with a much higher investment.
If you bought the ET- 2850 for 250 dollars, you'd need to print ~3570 cards to start saving money versus using FedEx. That number obviously is substantially higher if you bought the 8500. So again, are we getting the printer to "save money"? You can tell that lie to your life-partner, but I instead told my wife, "Hey we can print pictures of our son" and that was way more honest with myself and her than lying to myself saying I am saving money. But my god is it fun to print these cards.
Q: What Printer Settings Should I use?
A: This really is a you question and experimenting, but I will give you the same starting point I was given:
I do not use these settings any longer. I use (from top to bottom) 3,2,1,0. This gives me exactly what I want. I have never found a need to increase density. But as always, YMMV and you are encouraged to experiment. Remember, we were never saving money to begin with so just be willing to fail.
Q: How do I print on [Insert Color]-Core cardstock?
A: I won't even broach this conversation as someone that knows, but what I do know is that if you are asking this question then you have not done any fundamental research before deciding to spew that question out into a public forum. Read a lot if you are exploring non-traditional/over-the-counter cardstock.
Q: What is the difference between all of these printers and why is 8500/8550 always the top pick?
A: The reason the 8500 gets all the love is because it is the only eco-tank (that I have found at least at this consumer level) that includes both pigment and photo inks. This gives the 8500 a flexibility no other ET has which is to print successfully on luster, satin, matte, and glossy finishes without skipping a beat. The other ET's you find all use pigment black which means it will not adhere to those glossy finishes. This isn't inherently restrictive to the overall objective of making great proxies, but if you had a desire to make foils or have access to making other photo prints you may find it will come at a cost.
Then in the vein of Laserjet options it is really the conversation of the spectrum of quality you will get across all the models. Epson's ecotanks are made for photos so they want to give great quality. Laserjets range from making text documents to making impressive posters. They also are not eco-friendly to your wallet when it comes to inks. With Ecotanks you fill as you go, which ever ink you need. Where as Laserjets you need to replace the whole ink cartridge, even if your magenta is still going strong.
Q: What paper has best thickness/rigidity?
A: Remember, you need to sacrifice one or the other and I recommend you sacrifice thickness fidelity for better rigidity. A vanilla MTG card is ~0.30mm±1. I use cards that are between 0.33-0.37mm±1 and prefer them at that 0.37 mark. Not too thick, but has perfect rigidity. But before I tell you what I use, many redditors have put in a lot of time, effort, and money into researching this question so you can make not only more informed decisions, but more informed questions, /u/danyearman's research not only includes his own research including metrics, but also links directly to many other contributors and their findings/opinions. Honestly, this post should be the wiki on the magicproxies subreddit.
But you want to know what I use? I bounce between two photopapers. Koala's Photo 160gsm and Koala's Photo 180gsm. 160gsm comes out to ~0.33mm. Great thickness, but a tiny bit flimsy. I have, for the past month, decided to use 180gsm which is that 0.37mm, but has incredibly accurate rigidity. Honeslty, both are good and I could just be playing tricks on myself.
Q: Which has better results, Glossy or Matte?
A: I had the same questions so I bought Koala's photo paper 180gsm, matte and glossy, and printed some of my favorite lands and they were exactly the same once I laminated them. I literally lost track of which was which as I compared them so I don't have a great photo to share because I did a terrible job on that experiement in marking which was which. So I apologize for having 0 proof, but honestly, they both looked the same. The detail was the same. I always like to use the mana symbols (especially the Green mana tree) to see how much detail is blotted out. But they both had the same amount of detail at that micro level. Fun fact: Laser Jets usually get better detail, so FedEx actually produces sharper detail than the Ecotanks.
Q: I can't find [New Card/SLD], where do I go?
A: The best way to first see if cards are available is using the magic proxies discord. You can search a card there easily and see all the contributors and the raw images for your own use. If you cannot find it on there or on MPCFill, then you can use the channel on said discord called requests and ask for it. You will be surprised how many people are willing to get you what you want. New cards, especially Secret Lairs can take a while to get to MPCFill, so do not be surprised if you need to end up using the discord for cards like these.
Q: I want to make my own custom cards and proxies, how do I do it?
A: You will want to use the free to use CardConjurer. It has all the tools to make or replicate almost any card. It has a few limitations, but your own imagination is your only real barrier. Using other tools like Photoshop or even out/inpainting via AI can really open up avenues to explore your own creativity. But, CardConjurer is definitely a great place to start. I will not be providing a tutorial on how to use it, but look at that, they have a tutorial on the site itself.
Q: Where do I find full original art from cards?
A: If you are lucky the artist will have their own insta, or tumblr, or artstation, or DA, or personal site where they host those images. A simple google search of that artist will be the best place to start. Secret Lair artists, especially the Japanese, are hard to find the full original art for and will require some know how using AI or good old fashioned Photoshop brush skills. I will not be exploring that here as if you are not familiar with the basic then you are probably punching above your weight limit right now. If you do find said art, you probably will want to upscale it. I personally do all my AI business locally, but this site seems like it fits the bill pretty well.
Q: My laminations are blotchy/bad/streaking
A: Many operators like to blame the equipment, but as someone with maybe the worst laminator on Earth, the problem is probably your process. Most issues with finishes via lamination are due to not waiting long enough for 2 things: Your laminator needs to warm up, you should have some kind of indicator on the device to let you know. And you need to let your ink completely dry. I have heard some crazy stuff like wait 24 hours, I would never prescribe that, but maybe Koala is such shit paper is just drys ink faster. But just give it like 10-20 minutes to rest, you will know when it is dry. Most paper will look a little wrinkle-wet when it comes out and it will slowly dry relieving that sort of look letting you know when it is ready to laminate. If you are getting what looks like fogginess or 2D bubbles, that is usually due to the laminator not being hot enough. I do not have settings on my laminator it just behaves like a proper fire hazard and laminates whatever goes in. But I have heard people suggest setting the device to 5mil when laminating 3mil. But usually, you just need to let it warm up.
Q: What about poundage and gsm? Which is best?
A: This really goes back to What paper has best thickness/rigidity, but let's talk about the two metrics because it's very interesting stuff to me. Pounds is, from what I can tell, an American thing. Which means it's quite innane and is at best nebulous. What do you think it means? Maybe how much each ream weighs? You'd think that wouldn't you? But then you must not be very American. Instead it means how much a ream weighs before it is cut to that health 8.5x11 size no one else uses but us. So that poundage is directly related to nothing you're actually buying, or more accurately, related to what is left of what you are buying. And because each manufacturer's stinky paper plant does things differently, wouldn't you know it, but each uncut ream is also a different size not just between vendors, but between factories, and between materials/skus. So, Poundage should be the last thing you try to leverage for understanding the thickness and rigidity of paper since it can and probably will be different across brands and same brands depending on the sku and which factory it is rolled out of.
So GSM is surely the way to go? Not really, but it is infinitely better imo. This metric is an actual scientific metric that establishes its boundaries and properties within the measurement name: Grams per Square Meter. So no matter the paper, this is how many grams the weight of that paper is at a square meter. So does that mean hammermills 180gsm and Koala's 180gsm is the same? No, simply because of the materials they use will make rigidity and thickness varied between them. But I will go out on a limb and argue that 180gsm across brands is a helluva lot more suitable to making decisions than comparing 42lb to another 42lb card stock. Unfortunately, unless your brand has really good released data on material and thickness, the only real way to find out is through testing. Again, /u/danyearman and others have gone through a lot of the headache to at least get you started. Remember, no one on this side of the tracks is saving money.
Appendix A: How to Print Foils
Printing foils is always a sort of right of passage in proxying it seems. I know I really enjoyed it, but once I burned through my 20 foil sheets I have very little desire to return to it. It's a tiny bit of extra effort and costs substantially more (About 0.05$ a card, more than 2x the cost for a regular card, olawd muh moniez). Why do we foil? For the prestige of course and sometimes they come out great. Foils tend to be dark and I have found the more negative space you have the worst it looks. Negative space being blacks and whites. Light Blues and the whole spectrum of reds look gorgeous though.
You can check out my foil journey here and here
I have 2 methods (of course two) for making foils, but they are basically identical in the process. The only difference is what paper I use to stick the foils onto. You can use text paper (the printer paper you have used all your life). It is 0.35mm±1 and lacks the snap, but has good rigidity. If you plan on loading up on proxy foils in a single deck this is the way in my opinion. Or you can use 160gsm which goes to 0.41mm±1, which is noticeably thicker, but has such an incredible snap to it. 130gsm is also good I would imagine, but I have not tested it.
- Get Foil paper, I used this one, but whatever you find fun will be basically the same, just make sure it is inkjet compatible.
- Make sure you print on the correct side of the foil, orientation/flip matters, I made this mistake before.
2.a: If you want to know my settings look above, my paper-type is: UItra Premium Photo Paper Glossy set to High. (I noticed no difference with best).
Protip Foil paper can bend depending on how you store it. make sure the paper is completely flat before printing otherwise your printer head can catch onto the sticker paper and mess up your print. I also always use the tray over the manual feeder for foils. - Print out your PDF as normal.
- Let it dry, because of the finish actually give it a while to dry, like watch an episode of Golden Girls and return to it just to be safe. Or 10 minutes is actually probably enough.
- Next get some decent clean working space. Clean off your desk or kitchen table and make sure you have some room so you don't feel cloistered and so debris doesn't get onto the sticker side as you do this.
- Select the paper you want to use (regular printing paper, 160 gsm, whatever) and prepare it by making sure it's clean and on a clean surface.
- Peel the bottom short edge of the foil so about 4-6 inches is exposed, basically just enough so you can line up the 2 bottom corners onto the 2 bottom corners of the sheet of paper. Take your time, but also don't over think it. Make sure your pinching fingers and keeping the stick paper taut so that when you apply it to the paper that you don't have a slack in the middle of the sticker side and create a hump/crease.
Once you are sure commit and place the bottom edge down firly and slide your finger and hand across. You should only have about an inch of the bottom of the stick actually applied with the wax vellum still hanging onto the unapplied foil sticker.
(God I hope this makes sense) - Now slowly and confidently begin sweeping the broad part of your hand across inch by inch, back and forth applying more and more of the sticker to the paper.
Peeling slowly as you go so not create any airpockets or creases. This is actually easy, but I also get how it can be nerve wracking. - Understand it will never be perfect, your sticker may be off by a mm on an edge or two, who cares, so long as you don't have any creases or airpockets you did fine.
- Prepare your lamination pouch and grab your foil applied paper and find the short edge that has no sticker-side sticking out, that should go into the pouch first. If you do it with the side that has that imperfect alignment with stick side out it will catch onto the lamination pouch and just be a headache.
- Remember, it will not be perfect, but get it into the pouch firmly into the wedged part as much as possible, and laminate as normal.
- Cutting foil is a little harder than normal because your guide lines will probably not be close to parrallel with the pouch and rotary cutter edge. So take your time on your first cuts as the better you do on removing the edges, the better the rest of the cuts will turn out.
- Proceed as normal. Cutting the 9 cards out and then corner punching them.
- Seal the deal by running it through the laminator again. Since these are individual cards make sure they don't overlap if you decide to do 2-3 at a time, let them have space and exit before putting more in as you don't wanna create a card-centipede.
- And you're done. You have some shiny new foils.
Making MDFC/Double Sided Cards
Nah. Maybe later. For now check out all the Subject Matter Experts on the forums that shout how you are doing it wrong and providing 0.5% metrics.