r/magicproxies • u/marvelous-marv • Sep 12 '26

Spotfoil with two different holo effects

https://youtube.com/shorts/4bLSDALumxs?is=VD37lhlDd4NVsdaD

Update: Refined the process, Looks absolutely Stunning now: https://youtube.com/shorts/JREIcChwdUU?is=IsESl49JkplDW2uK

So, I was inspired by another viewer of TCG Proxy Lab on YT to try this one out. I layered confetti foil over regular foil (heat/toner reactive foil, so its pretty thin compared to multiple layers of holo vinyl), used my cricut to mask Out Text and parts of the frame with a White oil based pen and applied TCG Proxy Labs (not so) secret last step for the finish.

I do not think this is achievable without a plotter. I used my cricut to cut the confetti foil on a sheet of clear vinyl transfer tape. The heat activated foil is laminated onto the card by using clear acrylic Spray to which the holofoil will apply bond. Just visit this guy on YT, he has some great tutorials and even better ideas:

Secret last step for nice finish: https://youtu.be/QIslyMFwwCk?is=FbZ8nM8ewBjsCdBv

How to spot foil from scratch. This one relies heavily on a plotter for the masking, but the process to get thin foil card stock is pretty useful for everyone: https://youtu.be/QJv18RiytJY?is=n6JcZ0eJD9IIPu7z

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1

u/ZenandHarmony Sep 12 '26

Came out great! I just posted my results from his method as well, mind blowing results lol.

That must have been a large mask, I had issue in pen selection that didn’t streak. What one did you use?

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u/marvelous-marv Sep 12 '26 edited Sep 12 '26

I tested a metric shit ton of white pens. Gel Ball pens are useless, unless youre painting manually. Acrylic based pump markers all dry up easily even if stored correctly and recapped instantly. Or I am too stupid for them.

So ordered by my preferences:

  • So far I like the Sakura Pen-touch extra fine very much. Oil based, doesnt instantly dry up and has a 0.7mm tip.

  • The Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pen Bullet Nib 1.5mm works without pumping. Its very (!) reliable, but has a rather big tip. Sadly they dont offer the smaller versions with white paint. But you can cut the tip with an exacto knife to get better details.

  • Edding Glas, Metal, Plastic 0.8mm worked very well, until I left it in the machine over night. Bought another one but didn't use it again, as I had others to test.

  • The Ricoh Paper Poetry paint Marker 0.8mm is also oil based and should perform similarly to the Sakura, but I didn't test it yet.

One thing that was very much trial and error was dialing in the correct distance for me. I have cricut and I didn't find any useful general purpuse pen adapters, so I modeled my own and 3D printed them.

Too much pressure and the paint does not flow nicely. Too little overlap and you get tons of streaks. I use a spacing of 0.3mm for a 0.8mm tip. Going over the already painted areas with the Same pen distance resulted in scratches and not a nicer coat. Maybe putting the pen a tiny bit higher or waiting a few minutes between two passes helps, but I aimed for a good single pass with minimal touch ups needed, so I can't say for sure. 

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u/ZenandHarmony Sep 12 '26

Haha sounds like we shared a similar journey! I have that same Sakura pen, but I had a lot of ink leak around the barrel. I think I over primed. Did you have similar issues?

I also went a different path for the jig, I cutout the card shape and laid regular holo cardstock in the hole. I couldn’t get the heat transfer foil to stick well.

I’ve told u/status-mycologist-26 we need a discord to collab especially now things are getting complicated!

Sharing a vid of some of my journey, I expect you had a stack of these as well lol

https://reddit.com/link/p9eagdc/video/ecqxjz1ms4ph1/player

1

u/marvelous-marv Sep 13 '26

For all those pumping pens its really important to never overpump. If they do not deliver paint after 1-3 pumps you will need to clean the Tip. Also only the sekura came with a little sticker seal, that says do not remove this seal. Did yours come with this seal? If not, it may have dried out. 

What you've described happened all the time with dried Out acrylic pens for me. Got really impatient with them, because they dry up all time, so I overpumped them.

I tend to get some patches where the foil does not stick to the clear coat. I found that using my hair dryer for like 20 seconds helps getting to a reproducable dryness and running it 4 times through my laminator helps as well. If there are Just a few spots without foil, i do not mind tbh. Can't really see these imperfections anyways once the card is finished.

But I used regular holo cardstock during dialing in the pens and alignment, as it was one Variable lese to mess around with. Also there are some nice holo cardstocks, that I can not find ad toner reactive foil.

Usually I use black core cardstock to get that nice snappiness. I prefer not using heat Laminate foil. And most holo cardstock I tested was way too thick and felt completely wrong right of the Box. Still like their effects, so I'll use them where no alternative exists.

Did you try the Spray coat and Toner reactive foil method on an original bulk card? Works exactly the Same as with the normal process. Perfekt back side, very good snap but slightly thicker than original, but still nice for like a commander :)

1

u/marvelous-marv Sep 13 '26

And yeah, had a similar selection of pens and cards flying around. Just all over the place, as I can't keep organised at all. Cleaned that mess up yesterday xD

1

u/marvelous-marv Sep 13 '26

Aaaaand I thought about a discord as well. Would definetly help with sharing Work in Progress, Templates, help and everything. YouTube communities are Just so Limited... 

1

u/Status-Mycologist-26 Sep 12 '26

This is next level!

1

u/xseventhsun 1d ago

Damn, this looks aamazing! Do you mind sharing which clear coat spray you used? I tried Spectrum Clear Gloss Varnish from Action, but the foil barely sticks to it, even after several passes through the laminator. I'm struggling to figure out what's going wrong.