Stuff I Never Made: Custom Playing Cards

*
A while back I thought it would be fun to make some king's cup playing cards. I did all the research. I found all the equipment. And then I got distracted. That happens to me a lot, so I figured I'd share all that work I did so it wouldn't be in vain.

Even if you don't enjoy binge drinking, this could be a fun project for you. You could; make cards with your family crest on the back, make the King, Queen and Jack into family members or characters from your favorite tv show, make Old Maid cards, whatever you want. Anything you decide, here are a few ways to make your custom cards:


Your Options:

1. Buy Printable Playing Cards: This is a bit of an expensive option, but it's also the easiest. I would recommend it only if you wanted to make a one or two decks of cards. You can buy the blank sheets of cards here. They want you to buy and download their card-making software, but I figure it would be much cheaper to buy the cards, measure them, and use a paint program to make them. You just have to be careful to center the cards just right. I'd expect to waste a few sheets.

2. Buy Blank Cards I found a teaching website (here). That sells 50 blank cards for $1.75, way cheaper than the printable cards. I would recommend this option if you wanted to make a bunch of decks, maybe as party favors.

3. Recycle old cards This Instructables tutorial shows you how to blank out an old card and print out your custom one:




DIY Gaff Cards For Magic Tricks - video powered by Metacafe

The printing method would also work with the Teachers playing cards. It allows you to make your cards with much more detailed images. However, if you are making several decks, and you don't care as much about detail, it might be easier to make stamps.

Making Stamps:

What you'll need:

An image; you can find some clipart you like,
or a stencil, or draw your own image.
Carving Blocks OR Art Erasers (I haven't bought anything from any of these sites and can't vouch for them).
A Pencil
Lino Cutters
Stamp Pads

What To Do:

Here is an easy to follow image tutorial on flickr.

This video I found at ThreadBanger shows you how to carve:



I would make all the numbers and symbols into separate stamps, rather than making a stamp for every card, it should save some time.

After that it's a simple matter of stamping your cards.

Finishing

If you play cards, you know that a good deck of cards is easy to shuffle and deal. That's because the cards are covered in a special varnish that makes them slippery. It isn't necessary, but I would suggest it if you're actually intending to play with them.

Useful Links:

Craftster's forum on Image reproduction techniques.

The World of Playing Cards' Guidlines for Producing Small Editions of Hand-Made Playing Cards.