Common Proxy Mistakes

We can learn a lot from mistakes! Lets look at a few.

1) 

If you see these little dots it probably means you're not using enough FolkArt. 

The FolkArt bonds with the InkAid/Digital Ground and gives it more adhesion. The adhesion is what allows the InkAid to dry evenly over the whole card. The InkAid naturally wants to bead up like water over wax. Thats why you see the dot like pattern above. Its a result of the InkAid/Digital Ground beading up and then drying in that pattern. 

2) 

The problem with this one is that the text is pretty blurry. 

This is probably the most common problem people have. This happens because either you don't apply enough FolkArt or your printer's settings are producing too much ink. 

One of the main purposes of the FolkArt Glass and Tile Medium is to provide a porous surface to absorb ink like a sponge. If the ink is not absorbed it will have no where to go and just bleed out. 

To solve this problem you apply more mixture or increase the amount of FolkArt in your mixture. 

Or you adjust your printer settings to produce less ink. If you have a fancy printer you can set the ink levels directly, otherwise you'll probably have to adjust your "Paper Type" setting and do some trial and error until it looks right. 

3) 

This is what happens if you try to print on a card without InkAid/Digital Ground. InkAid allows the InkJet ink to bond with precision. If we don't use it the ink will look like a big blur. 

4)

Here you can see that the card on the left is super washed out. 

This can happen because your "black levels" in Photoshop are not low enough or your "contrast" in Photoshop is not high enough. Setting black levels and contrast requires calibration and is the main skill used in producing really nice prints. 

In the above case, however, the problem turned out to be a printer problem. The guy was using a really nice Epson Photo Stylus R2880 which uses pigmented inks. It seems the solution to his problem was to adjust the printer speed. I've never seen the problem in person and it seems to be a rare problem, but hopefully it will help someone else. 

5) 

 

In the above picture there are globs of mixture on the card as opposed to a smooth texture. The exact cause of this problem is still unknown. Here are some things to try if this happens to you:

Firstly, make sure that you STIR the FolkArt. If you read the instructions on the back of the FolkArt is says that shaking it is not enough. This is true in my experience. FolkArt naturally congeals and the only way to ensure that it is a smooth texture is to take the end of your brush and stir the liquid. 

If that doesn't solve the issue then the next thing to try is to apply the FolkArt first, let it dry fully, then apply the InkAid or Digital Ground as a second layer. The reason that applying the chemicals in two separate layers can sometimes fix this issue is still unknown. Most people are able to mix the FolkArt and Digital Ground with no issue. Some people, however, when using the exact same brands do experience this issue. We believe that some batches of InkAid or Digital ground have slightly different formulas that result in a chemical reaction that causes the mixture to congeal. If you have any information on why this could be happening please email me. 

Mixing the two products is only a convenience and is not required for making a great print. In the non-foil video I apply the mixtures in two separate layers and achieve fantastic results. 

One final note on this--if you are making a foil cards please allow enough time for the IndAid/Digital Ground layer to fully dry before applying any gloss. If you apply the gloss before the lower layers have a chance to fully dry then, since the gloss is wet, it can cause the lower layers to mix and create the bumps. 

6)

In the first picture, you can see some horizontal lines running across the blue part of the card. In the second picture you can see sketchy black lines also running horizontally. There are two causes for this problem. 

1) Your printer is low on ink.

2) Your print heads need to be cleaned. 

Most printers have an option to automatically clean the print heads. If that doesn't resolve the issue you may need to clean your print heads manually. To do this take the print cartridges out of the printer. Take and use a cotton swab or paper towel and moisten it slightly with some warm water. Then use dab the place where the ink comes out lightly with the swab until its clean. Let it dry and put it back. 

I'll be sure to post more common problems here in the future. If you don't see your problem here email me with pictures and I'll post it and the solution. 

chess314 at gmail dot com

-Reve

One more box

Here's another box design.

My favorite part of the box are the dots on the outside:

I made them with a soldering iron. Can you guess what they are for? They are actually a Quinary life counter. 

Each half of the box represents one quinary numeral. You put them together to make a number. 

Take this orientation for example: 

The three dots on the left are the quinary number 3. Since that is the left most numeral we multiply 3 * 5 to get 15. The dot on the right is the quinary number 1. So the above orientation represents the number 15 + 1 = 16. This box can count all the way up to 24--pretty cool!

The bezel is made of brass.
I tried making boxes with wooden bezels, but the problem with that is that they squeak and wobble.
I also tried making a box entirely out of brass, but the problem with that is that the box is too heavy and also too wobbly over all, since thin metal is not very ridged.

The design is simple, but you need to make sure that the top of the bezel is perfectly flat otherwise you'll get squeaks. Takes a bit of trial and error.

The wood is 1/16th inch thick Cherry. I applied three coats of shellac to the interior of the wood to protect against acid off gassing. The shellac should last about the 20 years it will take for the wood to deplete all its acid.

Overall I don't really like this design that much because the lid tends to wobble and the metal is rather heavy...  back to the drawing board for me.

Favorite Deck Box Design

Here’s another little deck box I made.

I like the design of this deck box better than the sliding top or the suction fit since this design doesn’t squeak or wobble.

I have two smaller pins on the top and bottom for extra stability. When closed this box feels like one solid piece of wood.

The latch is a metal nail that I’ve bent and driven into the lid. It fits into a ~1 cm long metal tube hidden in the side of the box.

You can adjust how tight you want the latch to hold by bending the nail slightly with pliers. My latch is set tight enough to never open accidently or even when vigorously shaken.

I prefer wood deck boxes to metal ones because wood is more rigid and lighter, but fresh cut wood does produce acid. To deal with this it is important to seal the inside of the box with 3 layers of shellac or polyurethane.

No need to worry about the protective layer breaking down, by the time that happens (~15 years) the wood will have dissipated all of its acid.

See this technical document about wood and acid with a list of low acid emitting woods.

The sides and top are 1/8^th inch thick Walnut. The bottom panel is actually 1/16^th inch thick to reduce the thickness even more.

The box is only 3.7cm thick so it can easily fit in my pocket. It holds 75 sealed perfect fits sleeved cards.

If you decide to paint your box note that it takes three weeks for acrylic (aka latex) paint to fully dry. Even though it feels dry, the lid will make sticky tacky sounds and may stick to the bottom. This will all go away in three weeks once the paint is fully dry. 

Sealing Inner Sleeves

I noticed that a few people were using a $25 Impulse Sealer to seal their card sleeves.

Sealing card sleeves is cool, but I think there are issues with judges not allowing them in tournaments since the top seals could appear marked.

If you seal your inner sleeves this is not a problem, since an outer sleeve will obscure the seal.

I tried sealing KMC perfect fits and it works great! (Sealing does not work with Ultra-Pro inner sleeves)

Perfect seal. Nothing is gonna damage that Gerrard’s Wisdom now!

So why bother sealing inner sleeves?

Well, it provides more protection than conventional double sleeving since it’s a complete seal, but what I really like about it is that I can just play with KMC perfect fits by themselves in a causal environment.

I suspect that they are actually less likely to tear or split than normal un-sealed single sleeves since the card itself supports the plastic corners. I’ve been doing this for months and haven’t had a single split.

Of course they keep out more dirt and moisture than an un-sealed single sleeve. 

They are obviously much cheaper than normal single sleeves. 

For casual play I really like the thinner plastic. When I play causally with friends I want the closest experience possible to playing with just bare cards. I like that I can see the card backs and not some ugly uniform plastic color. I like that the cards feel like cards and not thick plastic.

The thickness of your decks is of course massively reduced. A 75 card deck can easily fit in my pocket when using only sealed KMC Perfect Fit sleeves.

To make a seal I recommend you take off the little cloth thing. Put the card in a small book to push out all the air and hold it flat. Then hold the sleeve at a 90 degree angle to the sealer. Turn the sealer to the lowest possible setting and push down.

No need to worry about the sealer damaging the cards either. It is not heat operated, but rather works by sending an electrical impulse through the plastic. If you accidentally hit the card it won’t heat the card since the card will break the circuit. I’ve sealed a lot of my expensive beta cards this way. They are perfectly fine. 

Just to reiterate, the impulse sealer will not work with ultra-pro inner sleeves. For some reason Ultra-Pro plastic just disintegrates instead of sealing. 

Also, there will be little air pockets at first, but after a few days the extra air will defuse through the plastic and they will be nice and flat. 

Hand Made 93/94 Deck Box

I realized that storing beautiful old school cards in a cheap plastic box is like hanging a Rembrandt in a Burger King. I wanted to start another fun project so I decided to make this wooden deck box.

Safe and secure.






Ready for battle!








The box has a sliding top lid with a magnetic latch in the front and back of the lid.




If anyone tries to build their own box here are some things I learned.


* To keep it from wobbling keep at least two sides 1/4 inch thick. The other sides can be as thin as 1/8 of an inch. Also, I think side loaders are more stable than top loaders, but am not 100% sure.

* This Plastic Wood is amazing! I used it a lot when I filed away too much by accident.

* To get the wood I went to a Hobby Lobby and bought a pre-made box and cut it up. Only cost $4 and the wood is nice and light. I think its Balsa wood.

****** UPDATE ********

I realized that the best design is to use a cork lining under the lid.

Magnates are simply too prone to squeaking. Cork is better than magnets because it eliminates ALL squeaks entirely, allows the lid to fit more snugly and not wobble, allows a lot more room for error when making the box, and holds the lid in place!

Custom “Magic 95” EDH Deck and Box

  

In case you don’t know “95 magic” is an old school format that has been rising in popularity at the time of writing, along with “93/94” magic. Check it out here: https://www.reddit.com/r/oldschoolmtg/

Star City Games has written about 95 EDH too.

No one at my local store actually plays 95 EDH so my deck is really just a themed EDH deck. I’m probably going to have to make it a bit stronger so it doesn’t get completely wrecked by the modern decks. 

Check out the sweet nostalgia factor:

I only altered a few of the cards and I’m not including any proxies, of course.

For the box, I was inspired by the work of Aaron Cain. I often play magic on picnics or in random places and it is important to me that my deck box is thin enough to fit in my pocket, and strong enough to weather being thrown around.  Unfortunately, Aaron’s boxes are a bit too thick for me at 2.5 inches.

I wanted to see if I could get a strong wooden deck box made with a two inch exterior. Two inches is just thick enough to hold 100 cards in perfect fit sleeves, which are much thinner than standard sleeves.  With no prior woodworking experience and only a few tools, I headed over to my local Rockler woodworking store and picked up some Cherry and Walnut and got started.

I tried a sliding top design, but soon realized that that was not strong enough (even with splines or even metal reinforcing it).  Since the wood I’m using is 1\8^th of an inch thick the opening needs to be reinforced by the lid. I came up with this design:

I like this design because it’s simple and elegant with no mechanical parts. Just like Aaron’s boxes I used a Miter join on the sides, which is gorgeous and super strong with the lid closed. I sanded the corners down quite a bit so that it would fit more easily into my pocket, which was the whole point of the project.

The trick is getting the lid to snap on correctly so that it doesn’t pop off when the box is dropped. Each of those little bevels needs to be a dove tail shape so that the lid is held into place after you snap the top on. To do that I cut the shape of the lid and then used wood glue to sculpt the dove tail shape afterwards with some trial and error.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the process of woodworking, and I’m super happy with the result!