SUITS : A complete custom set of chips, button, felt, cut/seat/playing cards (1 Viewer)

I am being told by the Tina vendor that my T10,000 chip cannot be made!??

He is claiming that the spots are too close together for them to complete the edge spot alignment properly. His exact words:

"the last,one,too many spots.too much spots,we also cannot do aligned perfectly.i only left 4 pink spots. about different color sports,it is easy to made mistakes. we print your design on paper,and transfer the colors on ceramic chips. colors ,if too close,then will do wrong aligned edge..."

I'm confused about why this would be a problem. It sounds more like a patience issue than a physical limitation issue. And with only 50 of these chips ordered, it's not like they have to make 1000's of these... I'm not seeing the issue. Of course if they can't make the face and edge align it then I'd either have to remove it/redesign or order the set from someone else.

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I had something similar recently - see post in my chips thread - and I was in the same position, remove/redesign rather than have unaligned edges.

I can certainly see the issue with your chip. The edges, I believe, are printed first and then the faces lined up with that. When attempting that alignment I would probably pick the purple to focus on but I've got a 50/50 chance of getting it wrong first time. Same with any other colour I picked as my starting point. The white sections also have 2 different, but close, widths which also makes it a bit tricky.

It would be nice to have the option of a charge for complex edges but unfortunately that isn't there at the moment so you've just got to work with what they are prepared to do.

I think the starting point should be completely symmetrical edges if you can but even then once they have it in their head that a certain chip won't align trying to persuade them otherwise after amendments can also be a struggle. Once I'd made some changes to same design went no - yes - no - yes - eventually being aligned fine.
 
If you can't get them to do an aligned edge, just go with a solid lavender edge with alternating green and yellow stars (or whatever that fifth suits symbol is called).

Alternately, make the edge white with aligned lavender spots only (and fill in the white space with alternating green and yellow symbols).
 
I had something similar recently - see post in my chips thread - and I was in the same position, remove/redesign rather than have unaligned edges.

If you can't get them to do an aligned edge, just go with a solid lavender edge with alternating green and yellow stars (or whatever that fifth suits symbol is called).

Alternately, make the edge white with aligned lavender spots only (and fill in the white space with alternating green and yellow symbols).
Thank you guys for that info. @Nymor I see how you decided to make the spots simpler by alternating the colors... and @BGinGA I think you are on to something with your 2nd suggestion.

I was looking at this as though I'd have to lose the T10k face, but I can keep the face and simplify the edges.... I think I'll keep the lavender spots and do green and yellow spots evenly.
 
The $5 is awesome. So eye-catching. The deck of card mock-ups looks really nice too. I need to stop looking at these threads, I'm getting to many ideas!
 
UPDATED STATUS

Felt cloth : Ordered - in manufacturing

Poker Chips : Order placed - samples pending

Dealer Button : Finished - Getting quantities

Cut Cards/Seat Cards : Received

Playing cards : Ordered a sample of 2 designs from a vendor on Zazzle... Lots of 5 star reviews. Claims to be plastic custom cards ~$10 per deck. Will report back with my reviews.
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The $5 is awesome. So eye-catching. The deck of card mock-ups looks really nice too. I need to stop looking at these threads, I'm getting to many ideas!
Thanks! I love the $5 also. Really hoping the colors come out like the mockups. It's nice that you can do a 4 color quarter-pie spot on a ceramic chip unlike what's available on a clay chip.

The closeness of the colors on the $5 and T1000 are hopefully not an issue for the printers... looking forward to seeing samples whenever they get those done.
 
Thanks! I love the $5 also. Really hoping the colors come out like the mockups. It's nice that you can do a 4 color quarter-pie spot on a ceramic chip unlike what's available on a clay chip.

The closeness of the colors on the $5 and T1000 are hopefully not an issue for the printers... looking forward to seeing samples whenever they get those done.
The edge marks should make them easy to differentiate when stacked and when laying flat on the table. I'd be interested to see how true that statement ends up being.
 
Playing around with a mockup of the rolling edges in Illustrator. Seeing the edges in bulk really helps with the overall "color effect" of the chips! For example, I didn't realize before how much certain spots and colors combinations would affect the overall look of the chip when I was just looking at the face of the chip alone...

Took the dark spots away from the $5 after seeing how busy it made the chip. The color combo of the $100 chip looks great on the rolling edge IMO. etc.

Used a dark solid background color to assimilate the look of the dark felt of my table.

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Will do the tourney set tomorrow to see if it uncovers anything cool or bad in the design.
 
Some updates on progress:

Chips: Ordered 12/20. Waiting for inlays to be produced by an outside company before Tina and co show me samples, hopefully some time early next week.
Dealer Buttons: Ordered from BR Poker Pro. Awaiting
Seat Cards/cut cards: Ordered and received for 1 table (10 players). Ordered and awaiting table 2 and 3 (Etsy vendor)
Custom Felt: Ordered from Chanman. Awaiting
Chip cases: Ordered 2x cheap cases, one from Amazon and one from Chipcave.com. Will compare and return whichever is more flimsy
Playing cards: Received 2 decks from Zazzle vendor. Were not 100% plastic as advertised. Will keep them for photos but will not play with them. Ordered decks from Makeplayingcards.com. These appear to be the real deal at about $25/deck. Awaiting.
Custom toppers: Decided to order a couple extra felt toppers. These will come in handy for cash games during MTT's.

Messing around more and more in Illustrator and have made a few different views of the chips. The 3D option is pretty cool (don't judge how terrible my renders are) but just getting the hang of the software and it's capabilities. I'll share some here as I await updates for the actual chips.
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I'm looking forward to seeing the final results of your order. Everything looks amazing and the attention to detail is noticeable. Everything looks amazing!!!!
 
Hey @MrRossKeys, these chips look sweet. I've been playing around with the CPC design tool and also thinking about messing around designing a set in Illustrator for the future. I wondering if there were any tips you had or general guidelines for going about designing a ceramic set.

What led you to go with a ceramic mold design vs other options? I'm not sure what the pricing or quality differences are so that likely played a factor.
 
Hey @MrRossKeys, these chips look sweet. I've been playing around with the CPC design tool and also thinking about messing around designing a set in Illustrator for the future. I wondering if there were any tips you had or general guidelines for going about designing a ceramic set.

What led you to go with a ceramic mold design vs other options? I'm not sure what the pricing or quality differences are so that likely played a factor.
Ceramics are about 10x cheaper in many cases. Quality is a dealbreaker for some; they arent clay and dont feel like it, but very customizable and loved by many chippers.
 
Hey @MrRossKeys, these chips look sweet. I've been playing around with the CPC design tool and also thinking about messing around designing a set in Illustrator for the future. I wondering if there were any tips you had or general guidelines for going about designing a ceramic set.

What led you to go with a ceramic mold design vs other options? I'm not sure what the pricing or quality differences are so that likely played a factor.
Thanks for the kind words!
Ceramics are about 10x cheaper in many cases. Quality is a dealbreaker for some; they arent clay and dont feel like it, but very customizable and loved by many chippers.
This is so true. Pricing is a pretty big consideration in favor of ceramics. I started this project as a CPC project. To get the number of chips and denominations I wanted, I was already north of $4,000 for 1200 chips. The ceramics I ordered came out to $900 for 1600 chips including shipping, taxes, and fees.

I've purchased ceramics from Sunfly in the past so I'm familiar with the difference in feel. I currently own 3 CPC sets, 1 ceramic set, and 1 metal slug ABS set. So for this new set I really focused on creating graphics and colors that were different from my current sets. I found the Tina/mold vendor's colors to be superior to Sunfly's, and I liked that I could create colors outside of CPC's color palette.

For tips and guidelines for designing the ceramic set... wow, where do I start?

1. I'd say learning or partnering with someone who uses Adobe Illustrator is probably one of the most essential parts of the process. The manufacturer uses Illustrator, so it's been pretty easy sending them my files directly, and when they have a question or request they've sent Illustrator files back to me for proofing, etc. I had used Photoshop for years but had been putting off learning Illustrator. This project was the perfect excuse to buckle down and figure it out.

I can say now that I am really comfortable using Illustrator for poker chips.. maybe i've unlocked like 20-25% of what Illustrator can do, and it's plenty enough so far to take a project from concept to finished design.

2. There are lots of little technical things necessary in relation to designing for print (like using CMYK instead of RGB) for example. I won't get into those here, but just know that you (or your designer) will be working with measurements and specifications a lot.

3. This one was probably the hardest part for me personally. When using the CPC tool, selecting a color for chip base or edge spot is easy and built into the tool. The selection makes the graphic update immediately including the rolling edge, so the creative part of the brain is given instant feedback. AND, there are limitations to the colors that you can choose, which is both a limitation and a good thing.

When making ceramic chips, theoretically you have all of the colors available to you... at least in the design process. The manufacturer may not be able to print the colors you choose, so there are some limitations, but there are less limitations in practice than there are with choosing colors from the CPC tool. Because there are more color options with ceramics, it takes longer to find the right shade, hue, saturation for the color you may be thinking of for a chip or edge.

If it took XX number of revisions to be happy with a chip using the CPC tool, it easily took XXX or XXXX number of revisions when designing my ceramic set.

So, my tip for all of this: try to create your palette first before embarking on chip colors. Use a pre-made palette from CPC, Paulson, Sunfly, previous Tina/mold buys, etc.. I think doing this will cut down on design time by a LOT. Of course you could deviate from the palette to find an exotic color as needed, but then be sure the manufacturer can print that color.

4. Get as much visual feedback as you can. For me this means not only creating the poker chip face and edge, but also creating alternate views of the poker chip (from the side, chip stacks, etc). It's crazy to me how different a chip can look when comparing just the front to the rolling edge in a stack. Sometimes I've fallen in love with a designed chip face only to discover that the chip in a stack looks bad (not enough contrast, colors too close to other chips, etc).

You've seen a couple of my renders in this thread of alternate views. Just know that I have hundreds more on my computer hard drive! Since these chips are an investment (even at a fraction of CPC costs) I want them to be playable for at least 5-10 years until I decide to make or source a new set. And even beyond 10 years it would be nice if they held up and could be sold, gifted, or just retired in good condition. So I propose that anyone making ceramics try to get as much visual feedback as possible before placing the order so that they arrive pretty close to what they were intended to look like.

Hope this helps.
 
I'm looking forward to seeing the final results of your order. Everything looks amazing and the attention to detail is noticeable. Everything looks amazing!!!!
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Thanks for the kind words!

This is a visual of everything on order. I've gotten updates that everything is being shipped...... except the chips, which are now delayed because of an issue with the inlays :cry::cry::cry::cry:

I have a big tourney beginning of February that I was hoping to unveil everything.... but that will probably be delayed. Oh well.

THANKS to everyone that helped with this. I got some help from others off-forum in addition to you guys and I am super appreciative. :)
 
1. I'd say learning or partnering with someone who uses Adobe Illustrator is probably one of the most essential parts of the process. The manufacturer uses Illustrator, so it's been pretty easy sending them my files directly, and when they have a question or request they've sent Illustrator files back to me for proofing, etc. I had used Photoshop for years but had been putting off learning Illustrator. This project was the perfect excuse to buckle down and figure it out...

That makes a ton of sense, appreciate all the details. I also was also knowledgeable about photoshop prior but not illustrator so that will be fun to play around with.
 
This all looks really good! I’m really curious to see how your seating and cut cards turned out. Been debating going that route for seating chips, or going for custom 43mm chips from BR Pro instead.
 
This all looks really good! I’m really curious to see how your seating and cut cards turned out. Been debating going that route for seating chips, or going for custom 43mm chips from BR Pro instead.
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Seating cards came out 10 of 10! They feel and look great. Substantial and weighty feeling with a nice gloss touch. I had an issue with some markings on the 2nd batch I ordered and the vendor reprinted the entire batch for no extra cost.

Cut cards are made of the same material as the seat cards and honestly they are much stiffer than a normal cut card. They work fine as cut cards but I think I prefer the more pliable simple cut cards. Look and feel great as well, but not sure how often I will put them into play.
 
Cut cards are made of the same material as the seat cards and honestly they are much stiffer than a normal cut card. They work fine as cut cards but I think I prefer the more pliable simple cut cards. Look and feel great as well, but not sure how often I will put them into play.
Thanks for the feedback! Could you share what vendor you used?

I actually had some custom cut cards made from the group buys run here which are also much thicker and I really like them. It’s almost impossible to accidentally shuffle them into a deck haha.

Were they able to make the cut cards to the exact size of a deck of cards?
 
Hello,

Very nice project !

Have you communicated the pantone colors used to Tina ?

Or you provided the design file without any precision to Tina and expected her to pick the closest pantone color they have ?
 
Thanks for the feedback! Could you share what vendor you used?

I actually had some custom cut cards made from the group buys run here which are also much thicker and I really like them. It’s almost impossible to accidentally shuffle them into a deck haha.

Were they able to make the cut cards to the exact size of a deck of cards?
Etsy Vendor - This is the company I used to make both the cut cards and the seat cards.

The size of the cut cards are almost slightly exact, with the cut cards being slightly larger all around (which I like so it doesn't get lost).
 
Hello,

Very nice project !

Have you communicated the pantone colors used to Tina ?

Or you provided the design file without any precision to Tina and expected her to pick the closest pantone color they have ?
Ok, so story time.

Originally I started with CPC colors and were designing my ceramics around common CPC colors. I found different resources for CMYK colors of CPC chips, but then I started to migrate away from those into Pantone colors.

I'm not sure who, but someone on PCF created a document that combined all of the Pantone colors with all of the CPC chip and edgespot vectors as layers for Illustrator (PDF file I think). Between that file and the ACES files I was easily able to take those edge spots and colors to create my palette for the project.

I originally did not communicate Pantone colors to Tina, but I was under the impression that the first small batch of samples would allow me to accept their interpreted printed colors or I could request them to be changed to Pantone colors.

Unfortunately, I think that the Tina group was in a really big rush when it came to my order because, not only did they not show me any samples before they began mass producing my chips, but even when they told me they were already mostly done (and I demanded sample photos be sent to me), they claimed they could not use any of the Pantone colors I supplied them.

The base color for at least 3 of my chips were off, and many of the spots were just plain wonky, but just in providing them multiple options of Pantone colors from the "approved Tina list" was met with "we can't produce those colors." It ultimately boiled down to them sending me pictures of produced chips from the SeanGecko group-buy and telling me that I could change my colors to only one of those colors. Mind you, this was also happening within days of their factory shutting down for Lunar New Year, so they were really pressuring me to make a decision or wait another month or more for them to finish my chips.

I ultimately stopped fighting it and told them to finish printing all of the chips the way they rendered originally, wonky colors and all.

So they did. And then they stopped production because they claimed the inlays were bad and needed to be reordered anyway, which meant a wait till after Lunar New Year, plus another 2 week wait for their vendor to make inlays, plus another week or so for Tina to install the inlays.. on the already made chips with some great and some wonky colors. Talk about me being pissed every which way from Saturday.

Most of the colors are close enough for me not to complain, but there is one chip in particular I worked really hard on the base color and that's the chip that they claim they can't match to a Pantone. It's like a torquoise/teal and their photo sample looks more on the blue side. Every other chip they offered to replace it with was much more teal green and too close to my $25 green chip, so I went with their bluish render because it is furthest away from being confused with any of the other chips in the set.

I was planning to post all of this after I got the chips so I could really decide in real life if they were closer to how I originally intended, but BUYER BEWARE: my takeaway from all this is that before I order another set from Tina (or any ceramics company for that matter) I will demand a color palette from the vendor or create my own from what has already been produced. For me, the colors was the reason why I felt I was #winning purchasing from Tina.. The price is great, but I've obviously spent so much more on chips that it's not about the price for me. If any vendor out there can guarantee colors, AND those colors are bright and vibrant, then I'm choosing them every time (provided the feel of the chip is functional enough).

TLDR: The Pantone colors are either 1) Not gospel and Tina is not always able to print them or 2) Totally gospel and they screwed me by saying they couldn't print them because they wanted to rush my project out the door.
 
I am really curious about the playing cards and how they come out.
The cards are fantastic (so far). They feel less "coarse" or textured than Copags (what I normally play with), but they bend just great with no fear of them creasing or getting marked as easily as paper cards.

I looked really closely and tested a couple joker cards to ensure that the ink doesn't wear on them (like many of the other customs I've ordered in the past) and so far I cannot see any issues with ink faded or peeling.

I will say that oil finger residue was sometimes visible on the darker cards after being held, but they wipe cleanly. I've yet to play these in a game with any real action so I'm not sure if multiple handlings of certain cards will cause any issues when it comes to marks on the card.

At ~$22 a pack these are twice as expensive as Copags, but definitely worth it for custom cards as far as I can tell. I'll give a more in-depth review much later when I've played a few rounds with them.


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Thanks for this extensive feedback.

This is why personally I work with SF for ceramic.

They have a guaranteed color palette (I own a sample). You can still adjust them and they would print several samples if needed. They have a great service.

But the colors are more muted than Tina but imho it's still possible to make very nice colorful sets. Especially if you stick with the approved colors.

Tina has also a list of guaranteed colors btw (colors wheel) but they lack some colors imho (chocolate, dark browns, more shades of greys, ...) But if you stick with these I'm sure you can have pretty consistent results.

What I like with SF is that you can order addons years later and you'll get the exact same chips. They keep samples of your original order to color match it in the future. Again, great service.
 
Thanks for this extensive feedback.

This is why personally I work with SF for ceramic.

They have a guaranteed color palette (I own a sample). You can still adjust them and they would print several samples if needed. They have a great service.

But the colors are more muted than Tina but imho it's still possible to make very nice colorful sets. Especially if you stick with the approved colors.

Tina has also a list of guaranteed colors btw (colors wheel) but they lack some colors imho (chocolate, dark browns, more shades of greys, ...) But if you stick with these I'm sure you can have pretty consistent results.

What I like with SF is that you can order addons years later and you'll get the exact same chips. They keep samples of your original order to color match it in the future. Again, great service.
Thanks for this.

I've been on here lately talking about my somewhat negative experience with the colors from Sunfly. I ordered a set from them back in 2018 and the colors came out really bad imo. The feel of the chips also isn't a favorite of mine.

Having said that, I'm sure they've improved in both customer service, quality, and print reliability since then. They also have so many more product options than they did back then (Polyinno, etc).

I was able to see that thread from @Eloe2000 who compared Tina/Anita/BR/Sunfly ceramics side by side, and yes the SF chips do look less vibrant than Tina's chips... but for someone like me the "knowing what you're getting" from Sunfly + the customer service might be a reason I consider them again in the future.

I also haven't tried BR, which is most expensive of the group, but I've heard nothing but good things about. Actually, I got my dealer buttons from them and they turned out really fantastic...

Anyways, thanks for the Sunfly info. Very much appreciated, and definitely a contender for possible future business.
 
BR has an amazing service and it seems their print quality is excellent.

Too bad they don't do hybrids or debossed ceramics.
 
The cards are fantastic (so far). They feel less "coarse" or textured than Copags (what I normally play with), but they bend just great with no fear of them creasing or getting marked as easily as paper cards.

I looked really closely and tested a couple joker cards to ensure that the ink doesn't wear on them (like many of the other customs I've ordered in the past) and so far I cannot see any issues with ink faded or peeling.

I will say that oil finger residue was sometimes visible on the darker cards after being held, but they wipe cleanly. I've yet to play these in a game with any real action so I'm not sure if multiple handlings of certain cards will cause any issues when it comes to marks on the card.

At ~$22 a pack these are twice as expensive as Copags, but definitely worth it for custom cards as far as I can tell. I'll give a more in-depth review much later when I've played a few rounds with them.


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MPC made those? They all look real good in the pics. I especially like the black, red backs.
 

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