Plastic Cards?

vodouchild

I am slowly working on creating a tarot deck for my own personal use but i would like a strong card and am curious about the plastic option. Has anyone ever used plastic or created a deck out of plastic? I'm curious if plastic cards can be printed with full color or would they remain primarily white? I'm new to all this so any answers would be greatly appreciated.
 

Ace

Things printed on plastic tend to wear off very quickly.

Also: can these cards be shuffled?
barb
 

reall

I printed my Oracle deck on plastic card stock and you can read all about it on my blog http://creativenlight.blogspot.ba/
I remember I wasn't impressed that much comparing it with standard linen card stock but imo they shuffle perfect and I was surprised colors were perfect! even more vivid than standard?:) and now after a while I can tell you my plastic deck still looks perfect as new!^^
but my mini linen kind of bend slightly?x,x but I mostly use my mini so thats probably reason?!^^ lolz ;))

btw still I would like to hear about GC with UV?:)) imo it should be better than plastic?x,x can anyone confirm that?x,x :))
 

Tanga

I have three plastic decks (waterproof cardstock) - but they're all fairly new, so I wouldn't know about the "tending to wear off quickly" thing that Ace comments on.
(I wouldn't say the images of my decks are 'printed on' the plastic - they're actually inherent to the plastic).


They are, The Ellis Deck:
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/ellis-deck/

The Zirkus Maji travel edition:
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/zirkus-magi/

The Samhain Deck of the Bastard 2nd ed:
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/deck-of-the-bastard/

I prefer them to normal cardstock.
They don't chip or crease like paper.
They shuffle smoothly. And I don't have to worry about getting them wet or
them getting dirt marks on them if I drop them on the floor (easily wiped off).
 

Amsonia

Want to revive this thread

I noticed that the Golden Thread Tarot 2nd edition is on plastic cardstock and there are rave reviews of it on their site, but wanted some AT opinions.

Since it's been a while since this thread was active I thought maybe more people have had experience with plastic (waterproof) cards, maybe from Seven Stars or other decks.

Looking forward to your reviews.
 

Arthurdubya

Printing on plastic, like everything, has pros and cons.

Its biggest pro is that plastic is incredibly resilient and waterproof, so if you're planning on taking these on a trek, plastic makes a lot of sense.

Its biggest con is price. Plastic is simply costlier than paper.

The third factor, which I personally feel is most important, is the feel of the stock. Plastic feels like plastic, and paper feels like paper. Neither pro nor con, but simply "how do you want your deck to feel"?

The Golden Thread tarot did a good job of having a matte/textured surface on their cards so it didn't feel as slick and glossy-plastic as we often think plastic does. The textured surface also does a good job of hiding scratches, which plastic cards are very apt to pick up. However, the Golden Tarot uses gold foil stamp, which is a very different process from your standard CMYK color print.

I'm not sure if you're able to print CMYK and still have that textured/matte surface, as ink itself has its own texture, and if not treated with a second coat of protective film, could easily rub off when applied to a plastic stock.
 
work in progress Gilded cards