Custom made cards with autograph cuts
 

Wasn’t there someone who was designing their own cards and inserting a cut autograph in to that card? I remember seeing at least one thread a while back, but I can’t seem to find it. Looking for more info and possibly to have some made. Thanks, Jason

Tanner is probably the best custom guy out there. I think he made some do it your self cut auto kits that are cheaper than having him design a special card. He is a great guy that I personally have dealt with a few times.

I PMed you his email.:)

EDIT: This is a link to the do it your self kit cards. http://net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=232061

Leaf will even do it for you now:


https://leaftradingcards.com/leaf-cu...ve-collection/

I enjoy making these and might could help if you need. This was a set that I made from a rodent eaten yearbook.

What kind of cardstock is best to use and where can you buy it?

I was recently told by someone who uses them that they'll be discontinuing that service in 2019

It mainly depends on your printer. Most printers will not feed card stock through them. Plus it depends on what year card you are trying to make a custom of. Personally for most plain cards I use a glossy front and matte back. The really cool shiny cards are several layers thick.

If you want to PM me what exactly you are thinking about making I can offer suggestions.

I buy most of my materials off eBay because I live out in the middle of nowhere.:)

Thanks for the info guys.

Just to clarify, I am looking to use a photo of a vintage player and insert a cut within that photo, not necessarily a frame for a cut or something. Wasn’t someone else doing something with a photo front? Thanks, Jason

Maybe something along the lines of this.

Do you want to use the actual photo or resize it to card size with a copy? Also do you need the fancy cut out or would a plain rectangle work?

If it is just a resized copy and a rectangle cutout with a blank back I can easily walk you through doing it yourself.

I haven’t given it that much thought. The glossy front isn’t really what I had in mind, but it does look pretty nice on the Broda card. Didn’t give much thought to the back, but a small stats back would be pretty cool. That Broda style card is about exactly what I was thinking. I assume I would have to custom cut around the shape of the autograph cut with a knife. Do you just use some spray adhesive to mold the two pieces together then trim to size?

Usually I use a high quality shipping label for the front layer. Then use greeting card stock for the center layer. Then use a shipping label for the back layer for a plain card like you described.

The shipping labels already have adhesive on them and you can get them in matte or glossy so you can have the finish you want.

Spray adhesive sucks in my experience. If I need adhesive I use 3M optical clear double sided adhesive.

Ok. Thanks much. I assume you buy them on eBay and set your printer preferences for the size of the label? PM me if you have a style or seller you normally go through.

Cooper,
Those are nice and I like the backs on them. I would probably use a different front to utilize a photo of the player if I can find one.

Ben,
Thanks for all the suggestions. Can you post some of the ones you made? I am interested to see some different styling ideas.

Thanks guys.

Here are a few pics I found on my computer. At the time I did not have the Clemens sweet spot auto pasted down. I was trying to decide if I liked the gold or silver version better. About half the Jay North cards are mine. I also like the Randy Johnson clear Marlboro sign superfractor I made.

I will PM you my email if you have any more questions.

It really depends on the quality you want to do. You can pay $$$ for someone with all the expensive materials to make one close to that the professional companies make. Or if you're like me, I use Gimp to design my template, an inkjet printer set at the highest print quality settings, high gloss photo paper and put together each piece with cardboard backing (like you'd use for a magazine/program/comic book sleeve) in the middle to thicken it up like card stock. I tried spray adhesive for awhile but it comes out better for me personally when I use a very thin layer of Gorilla Glue type stuff. I use a little 1x1 square lever punch to cut the signature frame.

The Cecil Cooper card photo was taken before I glued it together, just showing it as an example of the front/back design for the 1975 Red Sox set I've been working on.

It really just depends on what makes you happy and it's all trial and error. I've been doing these for the last 6 months and still working on improving my photoshop skills and process.

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I like it. Those are cool. I’m afraid to ask what Gimp is other than the scene from Pulp Fiction. Can you use that program to move all those borders and photos within the template? I think those designs turned out really good.

GIMP is basically a free editing platform akin to Photoshop. You can manipulate photos, create designs and stack layers just like Photoshop and you won't even have to deal with Marsellus Wallace! :D

I’ll have to take a look at it later.