How to Make Amazing Prototypes with Martin Gonzalvez

This skill session is a series of recommendations and how-to videos from print-n-play extraordinaire, Martin Gonzalvez. And if you’re not part of Martin’s PnP focussed Facebook community, I highly recommend it!

RECOMMENDATIONS

Paper

Best for laminated prototype cards

  • Neenah Bright White Premium Cardstock
  • 8.5 x 11 inches (US Letter size)
  • 65 lb (175 gsm) thick
  • 96 Brightness
  • When paired with 3 mil laminating pouches, produces PnP cards that feel similar to manufactured playing cards

Best for prototype cards produced in three layers

  • Southworth Linen paper
  • 8.5 x 11 inches (US Letter size)
  • 24 lb (90 gsm) thick
  • When paired with 5 mil laminating pouches, produces PnP cards that feel nearly identical to manufactured playing cards. This works great with Rachel Bruner’s three-layer card method.

Best for tokens

  • 9527 Product Sticker Labels 
  • Shipping Address Labels for Laser/InkJet Printer
  • 8.5 x 11 inches size
  • Smooth Bright White with Permanent Adhesive 
  • Print your token/counter images to the bright white paper
  • Peel off the backing and affix to thicker board

Thick backing board

  • BCW Magazine Board
  • 8.5 x 11 inches size
  • 24 pt. board thickness (between 1-2 mm)
  • Used as multipurpose backing for tokens, game boards, player boards and more
  • Versatile; glue several layers together for thicker backing

Printers and Ink

What printer is best for prototyping?

  • I use the HP Officejet Pro 9015
  • Recommended by the New York Times as best home all-in-one printer for 2020 and 2021
  • I use the HP Instant Ink subscription service; $11.99 for 300 pages per month
  • Average of 3 cents per full-color page printout
  • Great image quality
  • Solid double-sided printing capabilities (manual duplex, not auto)

A more expensive option

  • HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw
  • Faster, sharper scanning and printing
  • Can handle printing around 4,000 pages per month
  • Color prints cost around 4.7 cents per page
  • Rock-solid automatic double-sided printing
  • Thousands of print jobs before replacing toner
  • Pricey; up to $900 to replace all toner cartridges

What about Ecotank printers?

  • Epson EcoTank ET-4760
  • 6,000 pages worth of color in the box
  • Replacement ink costs $60
  • Less than 1 cent per full-color page
  • Print quality not quite as sharp as HP inkjet or laser
  • High initial cost of ownership

Glue

Best glue for prototyping

  • 3M Super 77 multipurpose spray adhesive
  • Strong, durable bond on virtually any PnP material
  • I use this for gluing together layers of magazine board, card stock, and to affix image layers to backing
  • Also great: Scotch Super 77 multi-purpose adhesive
  • IMPORTANT: always spray outdoors in an area with good ventilation, and use a protective mask to cover your nose and mouth

Best glue stick for prototyping

  • Amazon Basics Large Permanent Nontoxic Bulk Glue Sticks
  • Large 1.27 oz. stick lasts a long time with heavy use
  • Comes in a pack of 12
  • Each 12-pack lasts me roughly one years’ worth of PnP projects
  • Great for gluing smaller components that don’t merit the full spray glue treatment, like affixing two halves of tokens together

Lamination

A good, no-frills laminator

  • Scotch Thermal Laminator, 2 Roller System
  • Two heated rollers create high quality professional, bubble and wrinkle-free results
  • Has settings for 3mil (thinner) and 5 mil (thicker) laminating pouches
  • Quick-release switch
  • I have been using the same $22 laminator for over two years, still going strong

The best laminating pouches

  • Scotch Thermal Laminating Pouches
  • 200-Pack, 8.9 x 11.4 Inches, Letter Size Sheets, Clear
  • 3-Mil Thickness
  • I pair these with 65-pound Neenah card stock to produce PnP cards that feel and shuffle almost like manufactured cards
  • Main drawback is the very glossy surface that is part and parcel of the lamination process
  • Scotch brand pouches are the best, but they are not cheap
  • Over $40 MSRP, about 20 cents per pouch

Best budget laminating pouches

  • Nuova Premium Thermal Laminating Pouches, 
  • 200-pack, 9” x 11.5” Letter Size
  • 3 mil thickness
  • Also prone to a glossy finish
  • Not as deluxe as Scotch brand, requires more care to avoid occasional wrinkled results/spoilage
  • But at just $16 for a 200-pack, the cost is less than half of the higher quality Scotch brand, about 8 cents per pouch.
  • I have been using these pouches exclusively for my laminating needs for over a year now

How about non-glossy (matte) laminating pouches?

  • Oregon Lamination Hot Laminating Pouches
  • (Pack of 100) 3 Mil thickness
  • 9 x 11-1/2-inch 
  • Matte/Matte finish 
  • Pro: matte finish pouches significantly reduce the glare of the usual glossy laminated PnP cards
  • Con: matte pouches are expensive, about $40 for a 100-pack, or about 40 cents per pouch
  • I have received reports that matte pouches also do not stick together as securely as the more common glossy pouches

Cutting Tools

Scissors

  • You probably already have one
  • Convenient
  • Durable, long-lasting
  • Not very precise
  • Uncomfortable for bigger PnP jobs
  • Comes in handy for parts of pretty much any PnP build

Slide-Style Paper Trimmer

  • Fiskars SureCut Deluxe Craft Paper Trimmer, 12 Inch 
  • Easy to use 
  • Precise, straight cuts
  • Guidewire for easy alignment
  • Blade needs regular replacement
  • Light duty, cut just 1-2 sheets at the same time
  • My most-used tool for cutting laminated card sheets

Rotary Blade Paper Trimmer

  • Easy to use 
  • Precise, straight cuts
  • Heavier duty, cuts more sheets simultaneously
  • No guide wire, so alignment requires more effort and attention to detail
  • Blade needs regular replacement
  • I tend to shy away from using these due to their general lack of precision

Guillotine-Style Paper Trimmer

  • Heavy-duty, can cut many sheets at the same time
  • Easy to use 
  • Self-sharpening blade, no replacement needed
  • Harder to align cuts than slide or rotary trimmers
  • Potential for sheets to shift while cutting
  • I use a guillotine mostly to make short work of thicker sheets of square tokens/chits

Rotary Cutter, Cork-Backed Ruler, Self-Healing Mat

  • Very heavy-duty, cuts virtually any material
  • Extremely accurate
  • Steep learning curve
  • Requires the most skill and effort to use well
  • Blades and mats need regular replacement
  • Operate with caution
  • I use this setup to make folding game boards and player boards

Corner Cutters

Round your PnP corners for that pro touch

  • Sunstar Kadomaru Pro Corner Cutter 
  • Small, Medium, and Large corner radius, gives you 3mm, 5mm, 8mm size rounded corners
  • Available for around $10-$12, best bang for buck when it comes to inexpensive corner rounders
  • I use this exclusively to round corners on thin materials like laminated cards

Corner cutter for thicker materials

  • We R Memory Keepers Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper
  • ¼-inch & ½-inch corner radius
  • Rounds corners on paper, cardstock, photos, chipboard, leather, plastic acrylic/poly, and more 
  • I use this to round corners on materials that are too thick for the Kadomaru Pro
  • About $20-$25

Premium corner cutter

  • Oregon Lamination Premium Corner Punch
  • Has extra wide steel side guides making positioning easy
  • Has large steel cutting blade to reduce user effort
  • Capable of punching up to 75 mil PVC cards
  • Flat bottom design allows user to rest this tool on a surface during use
  • Pricey (~$70), but premium corner cutter