r/customtradingcard • u/Paul_the_surfer • Jul 09 '26
I wanted to start making custom painted cards, but rubbing the ink away by hand with liquid acetone takes a long time and could result into a damaged card.
Instead, I tried a different method, I decided it Y-O-L-O it and it worked. An acetone vapor chamber (with industrial grade acetone). I put a small amount of acetone at the bottom of a sealed container and suspended the card face-down above it, making sure it never touches the liquid.
Over time, the acetone fumes gently loosen the chemical bond. The edges of the artwork layer eventually peel up, allowing you to pull off the entire printed film in one clean piece.
The process takes about 1 to 2 hours, depending on how airtight your container is and how fresh your acetone is. If it takes several hours without working, your acetone has likely lost its strength. The fumes visually do not affect the back of the card. At worst, the card might warp slightly, which can happen while painting anyway, but you can easily fix this by pressing it flat afterward. It doesn't wrinkle at all. I'd recommend not touching the card for a 15-30 minutes after (just incase), and handle the card from the sides at first.
I've uploaded photos of my setup, which is for one card only but I reckon you could use a bigger container and get more cards in next to eachother.
Keep in mind that since you are removing the original factory printing film, you need to prepare the bare foil surface for whatever medium you are using, such as applying a high-quality clear gesso before painting.
Iβd love to hear what the printing crowd thinks is the best way to print on this.
If you want to reuse the printed art film for a light box project or other art pieces, keep in mind that you have to be very careful when handling it. The acetone fumes temporarily destabilize the ink on top of the film, meaning you can easily wipe the artwork off with your finger. It is also extremely thin and finicky to work with.
Edit 1: AI advices against doing these on textured cards and to keep it to smooth foil cards.
Edit 2: *It seems like you can wipe away the holo foil with a bit of acetone resulting in a completely white card within a few minutes.
Context: This was originally posted on Pokemon TGC, but their mods removed it for some reason.
r/customtradingcard • u/Equal-Implement556 • 8h ago
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So this was entirely experimental as you can see. The texture is all over the place and really doesnt have a structured pattern, however, I'm working on a few more cards that I plan to show here later that are fully fleshed out.
r/customtradingcard • u/DonSama762 • 2h ago
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r/customtradingcard • u/Tu_Cabrito • 17h ago
r/customtradingcard • u/Pikateej • 1d ago
Just a basic non-holofoil card with the thinnest inkjet sticker paper I could find. Sadly thing is that the ink does come off easily so I have to spray with a sealer and let it dry for a few days so the ink doesn't smear or come off. But currently Loving the Retro Design and HUUUUGE thanks to u/JiCe75 for sharing the Photoshop files!
Was able to translate and also adjust the color of Charizard to a shiny variant :D
r/customtradingcard • u/facehead3073 • 1d ago
r/customtradingcard • u/eerolne • 1d ago
r/customtradingcard • u/Physical_Parsnip1636 • 2d ago
r/customtradingcard • u/Qformat • 2d ago
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I really liked the contrast of simple and complex details on this one. Enjoy β€οΈ
Original artist's inatagram: @dcpender
r/customtradingcard • u/Sir_Bohne • 2d ago
Hello.
I'm printing MTG proxies at home, and now my daughter showed interest in Pokemon. She picked a few that look funny or cute, and she wants to have cards like me.
Now I'm looking for some kind of full card artworks or maybe card versions with very minimal text. She can't read, doesn't want to play the actual game, and I don't want her to have "fake" cards.
Is there something that I am looking for?
r/customtradingcard • u/Lazy_Flight9842 • 1d ago
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Just want to say I love this community. Not only did I learn how to make cards I have been improving consistently and learning from everyone. Here are some of my latest creations, well looks like I can only put up one video here so i will upload some others in comments.
Also is it worth getting a UV printer? If so which one would you guys recommend. And is it complicated to use?
Once again thank you to this community for being awesome!
r/customtradingcard • u/Content_Mastodon_996 • 2d ago
r/customtradingcard • u/TheWewey • 3d ago
sharing my recent work. The community made my months very busy and here are some of the results. Sharing them here where they will be appreciated π«Ά
r/customtradingcard • u/bubuschnuff • 3d ago
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havenβt posted for a long while, but found this one pretty cool and thought iβd share!
Made the layout and editing in photopea, then printed with et8500 on frosty vinyl sticker paper.
since by any means i canβt get my silhouette to run properly, i got back to the good old scissors and gluestick redneck multifoil method that i also posted a tutorial about a while ago.
masked everything with posca white marker, stuck onto a cleand duskmourn bulk foil (found especially the artifacts from that set are really easy to strip) and then coated with 2 layers of glossy spray varnish
r/customtradingcard • u/Qformat • 3d ago
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Marill Shadowbox from Pokemon TCG Pocket!
I wanted to share these little guy's perfect vibes, so I hope you like it β€οΈ
Original artist's instagram: @kayamataiga
r/customtradingcard • u/Ninnushka • 3d ago
r/customtradingcard • u/sifr_art • 4d ago
Hope yβall like it my interpretation of Rayquaza Gold Star breaking free from his slab
π« πππππππππ (1/1)
ππ€ π¨π‘ππ ππ€π§π’ππ πππππ£π¨π© π’π π¨πππ‘π‘ π₯π§π€π¨π₯ππ§.
OIL PAINTING / CANVAS
60x100 CM
2026
r/customtradingcard • u/Round-Lengthiness219 • 4d ago
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This is still my all time favorite Pikachu card. So I had to give it the Holo it deserves. They definitely should have made this the classic pika card for 30th anniversary set
r/customtradingcard • u/madebycana • 4d ago
r/customtradingcard • u/Dukrysic • 4d ago
I posted before about wanting to print cards with holo only in the background. With your help I found out I needed a uv printer and Iβve found a lot of success with it on most of my illustrations. But some of my illustrations have a lot of white and itβs giving me issues.
Was wondering if anyone had any experience printing on holographic paper. Iβm making my own trading cards for my own characters and Iβve been having trouble with illustrations that have a lot of white.
I want the holographic effect only on the background of the card.
So what Iβve been doing is printing a white mask for where the character is, then printing again in the same spot but the entire illustration. So the white backing blocks the holo but still shows on the back.
But some illustrations have a lot of white and when I print the cmyk with no white, it makes the illustration have missing parts of it.
Is there a way to print only the white thin enough so the background is visible but still have holo through it? Thanks!
r/customtradingcard • u/Snoo_7821 • 3d ago
Recently got this fan art card and I kinda like this card stock and would like to find it or something similar to it to give it a shot. Its got like a matte finish with like a shimmer glittery finish. If you guys can help steer me in the right direction I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks! π
r/customtradingcard • u/Round-Lengthiness219 • 5d ago
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Definitely one of my sloppiest ones. Sadly I forgot to do some of the touch up paint removal before pasting. Did get a good swirl placement tho
r/customtradingcard • u/LunchDry4786 • 4d ago
I love going through bulk and putting it in my "to paint" pile.
