Make Your Own Pokemon Proxy Cards

For this instructable, I'll show you how I make high quality proxy cards for the Pokemon TCG. This technique can be used to make other proxies for other trading card games like Magic or Yugioh. You can also use this method to make cards for custom board games as well.

Youtube video:

Fiskars SureCut Portable Trimmer
https://amzn.to/2Cvv0li

AmazonBasics Thermal Laminator Machine
https://amzn.to/34JTzGZ

Scotch Thermal Laminating Pouches, 8.9 x 11.4-Inches, 5 mil thick
https://amzn.to/2NZBUoh

Sunstar Kadomaru Pro, Corner Cutter
https://amzn.to/2K6vxy4

Brother HL-L3230CDW
https://amzn.to/34VhC6f

You can google for images of the cards you want to make proxies for. I usually go to pkmncards.com where they have good quality images of all the cards.

http://pkmncards.com

Inkscape is what I use to layout the images. It's free and easy to use. You can use other commercial programs like Adobe InDesign if you want but Inkscape works great for me.

http://www.inkscape.org

Make sure you grab my templates. It's already laid out with borders.

For your card backs, you can google "pokemon card back" and find a high quality one. I will sometimes use a custom card back, where it's just a simple background with a Pokemon character. Wallpapers will also make awesome card backs.

Lay out the card backs on the template and print it. After printing the card backs, put them back into your printer for the next step where we print the fronts using the same sheet on the other side. A typical Pokemon TCG deck consists of 60 cards so you'll need 7 sheets (7 x 9 = 63 cards)

*** If the card back images have borders they may not line up with the card fronts after printing. So what I do is I make the borders of the card backs the same color so they bleed into each other. Then when I print the fronts and cut them, you won't notice them being mis-aligned.

Using the same template we can start laying out the most important front images.

Print the card front images onto the opposite side of the paper.

I use 5mil pouches and this AmazonBasics laminator. I will usually run the sheets through the laminator twice to make sure it fuses with the paper super well. If you don't, it might peel off.

AmazonBasics Thermal Laminator Machine
https://amzn.to/34JTzGZ

Scotch Thermal Laminating Pouches, 8.9 x 11.4-Inches, 5 mil thick
https://amzn.to/2NZBUoh

A paper trimmer is ideal for cutting out your cards. If you want to use scissors or razor with ruler, that works too but I don't think it's as accurate.

Fiskars SureCut Portable Trimmer
https://amzn.to/2Cvv0li

Most trading card games have rounded corners. I'm using a Kadomaru Pro to round off the corners. Since the laminate is thicker, you may need to apply a bit more force or cut it twice.

Sunstar Kadomaru Pro, Corner Cutter
https://amzn.to/2K6vxy4

That's all there is to it. With the right tools you can make some decent proxy cards to play with.

Youtube video: