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[Naturally I would like you to download MY gallery card,
laminate it,
and keep it forever. I've made it fairly
large and dense so that you can download it,
downsize it,
and hopefully get a nice card.] Being realistic, though,
let me briefly describe how
to make your own gallery and/or
business cards. These will not be just any old gallery
cards. They will be hopefully attractive but definitely tough and durable.
[In my example, please excuse the large picture of yours truly. My thinking was,"If one wants to know what MAISON MAX is, then one needs to see MAX. Otherwise MAX might be taken for THE MAX or MAXIMUS or the like. Besides, one strives to be a bit personal in personal home pages. Anyway, when I tried smaller self-images, I realized that one could not see MAX very well. Even the present "large" version isn't very satisfactory, but what does one expect on a 2x3"card! I hope your card doesn't present such difficulties.]
MATERIALS: One package of manilla folders [assorted
colors or the color you want
for your gallery card]; one package
of self-laminating sheets;
one can of spray adhesive; quality
scissors or razor tool and cutting board;
a computer with
a reasonable amount of memory, plus a computer
graphics program.
I have both Painter 5.0
and Corel Photopaint 6.0. There are
many alternatives.
1. In your graphics program, create a card that generally
matches
the ratio of business cards: 1.9" X 3.1" or thereabouts.
For the best
results in printing, create your card with in high
resolution [I recommend 720 psi. or higher].
No doubt you will have
to reduce the size of your card as you’re creating it;
keep it as
large as you computer memory will bear. As with most
end results,
the better the input, the better you’ll like
the product. Most
important, keep the proper ratio of height and width.
I found
that 1" X 1.5" is workable. You may prefer to work in pixels.
2. [Before we go on, RESIST making your card too big. It
should fit easily into a billfold;
purses are more forgiving.]
Once you are satisfied with your gallery card
on screen, create
a new page to receive the multiple cards. Again,
memory is
a problem for many here. I would suggest creating
a blank
sheet approx. 3" wide and 5"high. Ultimately
your cards will
be the proper size; now you’re working with ratios!
3.Making and placing the multiple cards on your blank sheet
is easy enough.
First call up the card you’ve created; then select
and copy it
to the clipboard. Close the card screen; open the
blank sheet. [I would plan
for a standard 8 1/2 X 11" page to print
your cards on. Later on you can experiment
with larger sizes, if
your printer accepts them.] Now paste the first card
onto the
blank sheet and size it; if your blank sheet
is the recommended
3 X5", then size the card to take about
a third of the total width.
Once you’ve got the first card
in place, select and copy it to
the clipboard. Then, one by one, paste
the now properly sized
cards neatly on the sheet; there should be five (5) rows
of two (2)
cards each. Leave a small white space between the cards.
This is reasonable enough. Your ultimate printed
page is 11" high and gallery
cards are approx. 2" high. Ten
cards is the limit.
4.Once you’re satisfied that the rows of cards are neat and
evenly spaced,
print the page. Remember that neatness in the
format stage will make the later steps easier.
For this project,
I would choose a jet-ink paper with at least a high-80
brightness
rating, and preferably higher. You don’t
need a thick paper,
however.
5. Once you’ve got the printed page of cards done, trim that
page, leaving little
space around the card images. Put down
some newspapers on a fairly large
flat surface. Take a manilla
folder from the package
and cut it in two lengthwise; then
spray each piece on one side with a light coat
of adhesive. Let
the folders stand for a few minutes.
6. Neatly place your trimmed card sheet upon the upturned
adhesive side
of one of the manilla pieces. Be careful. It’s
easy to destroy your printed card sheet; spray adhesive
is not
forgiving. Smooth the card sheet out lightly
and evenly; there
should be no bubbles or creases.
7. Now take out a self-laminating sheet. Carefully free the sheet
from
its backing and place it face-up on the surface before you.
Pick up the manilla
sheet with the card images; turn it face down
and place it VERY carefully on the
self-laminating sheet. [The only
thing that is stickier than spray adhesive is
this self-laminating
sheet!]. If everything works, you should have a unit—the
manilla
folder on the bottom, the cards, and the lamination above.
8. Now, with your scissors or cutting tool, neatly cut out the cards,
leaving
a narrow white edge. Some may prefer more white than
others.
VOILA! You should have your first ten gallery cards. For sanity
and time,
if you’re making, say, fifty or a hundred, go through the
above steps "assembly-line fashion"
with multiple pages.
GOOD LUCK! I destroyed a sheet or two and achieved some
imperfections
before I got the hang of it.