Sounds great... my only problem is the plastic coating :-*
I'm not a fan of plastic coated decks at all and I'm not familiar with any of those finishes....
Is it possible to print it at the USPCC?
You must be familiar with the Archduke Eaglebacks? This man's firm is the printer. The cards have excellent handling, comparable to Moth/Myth and The Watcher. You could say all decks are "plastic coated" if you get right down to it, unless they're printed on plain paper and have no additional finish.
No ofense, but I still need to say SORRY first.
It is really difficult for me to be proud to tell my fellow collectors : "look, these decks are made in India..."
Actually, if you told them you deck was made by Archduke Cards, they'd take a second look. The Eaglebacks are really good cards - high quality on German-made paper and cheaper than USPC without making sacrifices. My Eaglebacks are among my favorite cards.
The whole point is that he offers an alternative to USPCC. If he was to print through them it would most likely be more expensive because you would be adding a middle man.
I think this is very interesting! I like the idea of having a good alternative to USPCC. It's obviously a very different and strange brand to most people but I think over time you could do some big things! Best of luck to you! I hope to hear more soon.
Open a pack of Eaglebacks and you'll know at what quality he produces cards. The idea of a GOOD QUALITY ALTERNATIVE to USPC is totally what the custom deck market needs right now.
Probably the most critical thing for a lot of us designers is if you can do full 4-color printing, so that we can do truly full color art. Also, would you have the capability to do spot colors so we can work in metallics? I know that being forced into 2 color only would be a limiting factor in many designs.
Would it be possible to get a sample deck of some kind so that us designers could compare a real deck in hand to see the handling/finish/etc? I am aiming all of my cards very squarely at flourishers and magicians as well as collectors so having cards that handle well is imperative.
I'd be curious to see what your products are like. The price is certainly right!
You won't have trouble with card quality - as I've stated over and over above!
Rajas, I can imagine there's a few things that some custom card designers will need to know.
- Can you produce a full 4-color print job?
- Can you create custom faces as well as custom backs, and at what charge?
- Can you provide special features like spot coloring and metallic inks, and again, at what charge?
- Do you have other stocks and finishes available? What are they like? Some designers want a certain feel to the cards.
Paul Carpenter (Xmetal) is the man behind Encarded, and his premiere deck, Tendril, is currently in Kickstarter with well over 100% funding. Right now, he's printing with USPC, but for future decks, he and other actual card designers here would LOVE to have a viable alternative to USPC. They can make great cards, but they're also difficult for many to work with.
Here's a sample of the type of machine he stated above that he's using for the print work - a Heidelberg Speedmaster.
http://www.heidelberg.com/h/www/en/content/products/sheetfed_offset/70x100/speedmaster_sm_102,featuresI get the feeling that four-color work won't be an issue.