Custom Cards

[brewing]

I've always been a fan of the cards that never were concept. There's a bunch of people that create them on blogs, but the majority just create photos of the front. Bob Lemke goes through the effort of creating the entire card under the famous Bobbs logo. He has done some great work. There are also some that create truly custom cards with autos and memorabilia incorporated in their cards.

I see this as a huge missed opportunity by Topps. They've dabbled in it, but have made some gross mistakes.

Mistakes include the black and white photos in the 1953 Archives set of cards that never were. Another is when they re-create solo rookie cards of players originally on multiple player cards. Instead of creating a card true to the set, they just eliminate the other player.

I have decided to join the fray of actually creating the cards. I'm still in the training/developmental stages. I am open to tips and/or suggestions for gluing the fronts to the backs. Paper type and adhesive.

My goal is to make cards that match the original series as much as possible. To me the card should look like it belongs in the set.

My focus will be on rookie cards, final career cards (that include lifetime stats), and cards that were not made for various reasons. I'll also make some cards to send off for autographs.

I've included the fronts of a 1941 Play Ball Musial rookie and 1948 Bowman Greenberg career caper.

[pokerplyr80]

I remember seeing one, I believe on PSA's website, of a 1914 CJ Babe Ruth. I wonder what that would be worth if they included him in the set.

[bnorth]

If you want to make a new shiny version of an old card I can help you there.

Here are 2 I made and put in old slabs. If the card I am turning into a refractor/super refractor is cheap I sometimes use the card and put a new shiny front on it. The Johnson is a blank back.

I have a Kodak printer/scanner so I print on Kodak Inkjet 5 mil transparency film. I use 3M optical clear double sided adhesive to hold the layers together. For blocking out the portion of the card I don't want to refract I use a rattle can of white paint.

[SAllen2556]

I've dabbled....
The problem with making older cards is finding photos and turning them into color paintings. Notice the Williams. It's not just a color photo but an actual aritistic (although crude) looking painting. Photoshop has some options, like the watercolor effect, but it's a bite to get it to look right. I rarely do. I think the only way Topps could get it right would be to hire actual artists - it's really tough to recreate a 1953 looking card with just photoshop.


The next issue is the font used on the older cards. I always have to find something close and try to shrink the text or expand it to get it to look right. I rarely do! And I'd add that colorizing a black and white photo to use is also a real pain.





And as for the backs: I'll leave that to the retirees with way more time to dabble than I have. Once you try it, you really appreciate the time and skill Mr. Lemke has in making his cards. I recreated the back of a 1976 Mark Fidrych card and it took me forever! It's a great stress-reducing activity for me though, so I just have fun with it. I like to call it Phun with Photoshop!

[brewing]

This is the stuff I'm talking about.

Topps version



My version



Topps version


Baseball Card Magazine version

[brewing]

I like your creations Ben, my goal is to be anti-shiny though. Especially like your TPG cases, very cool.

Scott,
Very nice card back of Fydrich. I haven't done a back that has stats yet.

[JollyElm]

Here are a couple of custom Mays cards I put together. Things that I would have loved to see…

mayscards.jpg

[brewing]

Those are cool Darren. I plan on making a 74 career capstone Mays.

[baseballfan]

very nice stuff

[con40]

[ALR-bishop]

Great stuff Keith

heh indeed, even Vargha would be impressed

[Bob Lemke]

Brent,

For my customs I print "sheets" of 8-9 fronts or backs on Avery #8255 full-sheet labels and sandwich a piece of poster board stock in between.

It's exacting work to get the alignment right.

[MacDice]

Love the 1974 Yount

[Volod]

Originally Posted by Bob Lemke

Brent,

For my customs I print "sheets" of 8-9 fronts or backs on Avery #8255 full-sheet labels and sandwich a piece of poster board stock in between.

It's exacting work to get the alignment right.

I'll second that. Aligning fronts to backs on multi-image sheets often calls for painstaking precision and strong drink, not necessarily in that order. But it always gives one a lot of empathy for the Topps and Bowman printers who have taken abuse for off-center cards.

[JollyElm]

I put together a couple of career capstone cards for Sandy Koufax from 1967…

koufaxfantasycards2.jpg

[ALR-bishop]

Good ones

[Boilernurse]

These all look amazing. I have been trying to create custom cards using a 2006 Topps template but can not get the template right. Not sure what to do now.

[hangman62]

that 74T Mays fantasy card....

I remember it well. .. 1973 World Series....A's catcher missed tag on Buddy Harrelson at the plate..but was called out...where the replay Yogi ?..use your challenge !

and Mays begging and pleading on his knees for the call to be reversed ..yea..good luck with that Willie !

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by hangman62

that 74T Mays fantasy card....

I remember it well. .. 1973 World Series....A's catcher missed tag on Buddy Harrelson at the plate..but was called out...where the replay Yogi ?..use your challenge !

and Mays begging and pleading on his knees for the call to be reversed ..yea..good luck with that Willie !

It's funny, Ral, because most people don't realize the Mets actually went on to win that game in 12 innings. Even with that, though, the image of Willie Mays pleading on his knees is burnt into our Mets fans' brains.

[HRBAKER]

[jdl7860]

Great stuff shown as always! Jeff, that Simmons is beautiful. I print my fronts on matte photo paper and backs on cardboard colored cardstock and then glue together with 3m spray with a sheet of the cardstock in the middle. I have found that lining the backs up is pretty easy if you use a transparent template and then just line it up in ps.

[Exhibitman]

I commissioned a custom Exhibit-sized card to house an autograph I collected in person: