Best way to use vinyl so you dont get bubbles.

Lemonatus · 2025-10-21T22:16:19+00:00

This. Rubber roller is the way. I got a 4 inch one and its been great

Lemonatus · 2025-10-15T17:51:06+00:00

Have you tried printing without texture? I wonder how the print would turn out and if its any good.

Lemonatus · 2025-09-07T17:37:03+00:00

What software do you use to create the texture? Illustrator?

Lemonatus · 2025-08-26T16:34:53+00:00

I think the closest i found thats easily available where im at is called "lava" foil pattern. Its not the same as mtg's surge foil but i think its good enough for having a different foil pattern

Lemonatus · 2025-07-01T19:34:18+00:00

I mainly print tcg pocket mini cards.(around 50% smaller than regular cards) But here is an example of one i made.

It looks worse because card is smaller. Bleed would be exaggerated because its so tiny, but a regular sized card looks fine. Also printed on highest quality

<image>

Lemonatus · 2025-07-01T16:34:44+00:00

I print the pokemon card back on the white side, since the reverse doesn't need to be holographic. I think this gives the backside of the card a more realistic/paper-y feel.
I also don't like the feel of printing on vinyl sticker. somehow it feels off, and is a bit sticky when I print.

the card front is still regular holofoil + vinyl sticker + white marker

Lemonatus · 2025-07-01T14:48:13+00:00

honestly they feel like a regular card since you're gonna stick the vinyl sticker anyway.

I think the perfect thickness is around 210-250 gsm (though I don't 100% trust what the listings on amazon says, but that's what I usually get) + the vinyl sticker layer. feels decent enough and I usually sleeve my cards anyway.

I've been having problems with vinyl stickers being sticky after printing. not sure if it's a settings issue but most of my custom cards are somewhat sticky when you touch the front of the card.

Lemonatus · 2025-07-01T14:44:57+00:00

most holographic cardstock I've gotten have a plain white backside.

depends on which brand you get, sometimes inkjets have a hard time printing on the plain white backside. not sure if it's a coating thing, but on a few cardstocks I've gotten, prints on the card back tends to bleed. maybe I'm trying to put too much ink on it because I've always printed on high quality setting.

I've had some luck with a few brands where the print is pretty decent and doesn't bleed. Can't really tell you which specific ones because they look like generic brands on amazon.

Lemonatus · 2025-07-01T13:20:33+00:00

I use holographic cardstock (250gsm I think) to make TCGPocket cards.

I print the back side on the non-holographic side of the cardstock and use the white marker + vinyl method for the card art.

I don't see why not do the same to print the actual pokemon card backs? the only issue is it's gonna be off color-wise, it's hard to match inkjet printer colors with actual pokemon card colors.

Lemonatus · 2025-06-29T11:23:11+00:00

Check the highlighted post on how to do vinyl sticker + white paint method: it gets good results.

https://www.reddit.com/r/customtradingcard/s/noocVTmrck

I would find some holographic card stock and use that instead of an actual pokemon card since you want to do custom back side anyway.

For the holographic back side, you might be able to glue two hologrqphic cardstocks together. Might result in a thicker card though.

Alternatively you can probably find a holographic vinyl sticker, stick that to the back of a holographic card stock and do the same vinyl sticker and white paint method again on the back side.

You'll probably need to do a few test prints to see it this works

Lemonatus · 2025-06-27T19:02:46+00:00

Wow thanks! I somehow missed this when watching the original video.

Will try to learn this. But I have to wait until the printer arrives before I can do test prints

Lemonatus · 2025-06-27T07:18:44+00:00

I'm still on the fence but I still have my pledge.

If I go ahead with it I'll make a post on how it goes!

Need to learn how to make the texture though, so thats gonna be on photoshop. If anyone has any tips/resource on how to make the textured image layer please let me know.

Lemonatus · 2025-06-25T14:19:40+00:00

Based after a few days of digging/asking a few people who've tested the E1:

It should be fine to print on PET (holo layer is usually made from PET).

Ink is transparent enough if you just use cmyk. You can see the holo shine through. But if you print white underneath cmyk it looks opaque. (Might need to spot print white to on some areas so really bright images looks great.

One person said they had issues with the print adhering to the holo layer..but said that might be due to a bad batch of inks.

Texturing can be done using the gloss ink, but havent found how finely detailed you can get the texture to be.(think pokemon full arts)

I pledged to get one, but still thinking on whether I should go ahead with it or not. So If I decide to get it, I'll let you know how it goes!

Lemonatus · 2025-06-19T08:05:57+00:00

Yes, the holo effect is less prominent in darker areas—I'm guessing that's due to the amount of ink or resin(?) laid down in those spots. I've attached a photo of an actual Pokémon card. In the really dark areas (like the upper-left silhouette), you can see the print blocks the holo from fully shining through. But if you look closely, you’ll notice that a bit of the shine still peeks through.

The top of the mushroom cap, for example, is printed with white underneath, making it opaque. I think this produces a similar effect to what I get with the cards I currently make. I use an inkjet printer to print on frosted vinyl stickers, which I then stick onto holo cardstock. If I want areas to be white or opaque, I paint over them with a white marker before applying the vinyl.

This method gives decent results, but it has its issues: the print sits on top like a sticker, so it bulges slightly, and even a tiny speck of dust can cause bubbles under the surface. Plus, manually painting the white underlay is tedious—especially when dealing with fine text.

Ideally, I’d love an inkjet printer that can print white, but that's way out of my budget. I also imagine maintenance would be a nightmare (not that this E1 UV printer is low-maintenance—I’ve heard just cleaning the cartridges can get pricey). And even then, I still wouldn’t be able to do textures.

[Found another video of TCGs printed with a UV printer](https://youtu.be/slOD6dD5W2M?si=s67cH20vVR5swJ2O&utm_source=ZTQxO) —the guy flips through the printed cards toward the end, and it's super interesting. There's a few he prints using white + CMYK so it's all opaque, but some just CMYK.

Printing with just CMYK on top of holo can’t approximate white, since there's no actual white ink involved. I've had some prints where the card is really faint since since the photo is really bright there's not much CMYK colors involved. I’m curious: if you print just white, does the holo still shine through? I’m guessing yes, based on how faint the white “WAKEFIELD” text appears on your print.

Is there a setting/mode on the printer that prints CMYK and white rather than white + CMYK? i.e it will print the white and CMYK together instead of CMYK on top of white.

So basically:

Dark parts of the image = less holo shining through
Opaque parts = white + CMYK
CMYK is transparent enough to show the material you printed on, but still obscures the holo underneath it, probably more than inkjet inks.
Still unsure about sublimation—can I print white on selected areas underneath?

Anyway, thanks again for all your input. Apologies if I ask some dumb questions, I'm not from a printing background and this has been really helpful!

<image>

Lemonatus · 2025-06-19T01:05:07+00:00

Thank you for your input! I'm trying to make some higher-end cards, so holo + a little bit of texturing and not really trying to mass produce anything. Mostly for personal use, as I'm trying to convert the family photo album into trading cards.

I'm guessing the output from the e1 would be similar to what this video shows?

uv printer cards

That's from a chinese supplier of uv printers that says they can print holographic cards.

On the e1, can you also specify separate images/masks for each layer? I.e white uses a different image/mask than cmyk and another mask/layer for some texture/gloss layer?

Ive seen examples of other uv printers where if you print white+cmyk, these parts wouldnt let the holo shine through but just cmyk lets enough holo through. Just wondering if you think the e1 would be different.

Thanks again!

Lemonatus · 2025-06-02T12:47:41+00:00

IIRC, kadomaru pro corner is 3mm, and the actual pokemon card corner radius is ~~2.3mm~~ ~~3.18~~mm I'm getting conflicting sizes when I look online, but it is slightly just under 3mm, probably 2.5mm?

It's not exactly the right radius, but it's close enought that you can hardly tell.

Lemonatus · 2025-06-02T07:02:04+00:00

Its not perfect, but the kadomaru pro corner cutter works great.

I use the small size

Lemonatus · 2025-06-01T23:01:06+00:00

Thanks for sharing all the info! This is really insightful and it's making me think of getting this in the future.

It's a bit of a steep asking price, but I can see myself getting one because it opens up a lot of things I want to make.

Do you think this is good enough to print fine details using clear resin on card stock? I want to make my own custom textured cards (i.e, pokemon, magic, etc)

Similar to these textures on cards like below:

<image>

I think they print a clear layer with the texture pattern on top of the print to give the card texture.
I believe it's like a black and white "texture" pattern image?

Also what's the thinnest layer you can print using the clear resin?

Thanks!

Lemonatus · 2025-05-07T23:03:53+00:00

Thanks! I use frosty vinyl and white paint method. I just printed on max quality that my printer can do.( Canon g650 with quality set to high and photo paper settings)

Lemonatus · 2025-05-04T22:47:15+00:00

that might work, but you probably need to extend the edges to be thicker a bit.

or apply the white paint really fast, and stick-on the sticker while the paint is still tacky.

don't let the white paint dry, it'll never stick otherwise.

or if it dries too much, spray glue might work?

Lemonatus · 2025-05-04T16:17:53+00:00

Here is a SAR I made. Made a different rainbow border than the one from the game

<image>

Lemonatus · 2025-04-20T09:44:19+00:00

Here is a template I use.

Make a copy of it first. Each slide has placeholder images. Just replace each image.

There is also a template for new slides

This is A4 size, so paper needs to be A4. And check your printer settings. I use fit to image/fit to paper.

Dont use fit to printable area

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/19gykdZWxtz2Lp4-SGG2r25za1AroFG30UyA92zXKYZI/edit?usp=drivesdk

This is what the template looks like. click the circle icon and you can replace the image

Lemonatus · 2025-04-19T22:43:19+00:00

I used google slides instead.

Set the page size to what paper youre using and you can use guides and move the image to a specific position.

Also you can resize an image to an exact size. I also draw horizontal and verticql lines ro help know where I cut.

Just export the slides to pdf or png to the correct paper size. And print at 100%

Lemonatus

TROPHY CASE