I am geeking out right now with my new AmazonBasics Thermal Laminator
So I was thinking if this grease pencil works on these laminating sheets, then perhaps it would be a good idea if I laminated the Pathfinder
My partner joked today that I’ll never use these full page sheets, and that I’ll be buried with them, but I’ve laminated 4 character sheets tonight and 4 pages with bread machine recipes. I’m sure I’ll probably find many other things to laminate without being too wasteful.
Last week my partner mentioned to me on our way to Los Angeles that he would like to have a laminator so he could laminate some insurance cards to prevent them from tearing or wearing out in his wallet. I had to laminate my insurance card many years ago, but I didn’t have a laminator, so I simply covered it on both sides with clear contact paper. It did the job, but it doesn’t look as good as it would if it were laminated.
It got me thinking that I could use a laminator for my Etsy shop, so I bought one on Amazon. It’s the AmazonBasics Thermal Laminator
I did an experiment with 1 of the new business card pouches to see if it would work. I have perhaps 40 business cards that I use for earring cards. I have the earring display card punch, and I have already punched all the cards. They’re just sitting in a business card holder waiting to be used. I laminated 1 of them and cut it around the edges of the card, then I used the earring display card punch to punch through the existing um… punch? Holes? It didn’t work, as you can see. I tried it on both of them, and you can see in the above image that it just shreds the plastic. But then I punched it on the left side of the card and it worked just fine. You can also see the plastic on the edge of the card.
So here is what I will have to do for future earring cards. I will have to print out the business card sheet and laminate it with a full size laminating pouch, then cut the cards out and then use the earring display card punch. That will be the only way I can do it that will make it look normal.
The reason I want to do this with my earring cards is because the cardboard is flimsy by itself. I’m sure when a customer receives their earrings, they will most likely toss the card in the trash, but it’s all about presentation and quality of the brand.
My partner didn’t want any of this, he just wanted to laminate 2 cards, that’s it. He told me to put it in my room because I can get more use out of it for my Etsy shop. If he wants something laminated in the future, well he can either ask or tell me to do it for him, or he can do it himself. It’s not his or mine, it’s ours.
I was thinking we could both use it to laminate our school papers from when we were children, but he told me that would ruin the charm of the paper. I still think it’s a good idea, but at the same time, all my school papers will be just fine in the plastic storage container in my closet. No one has ever asked to look at them, so it doesn’t do me any good to take them out of the box to laminate them. I do plan on printing some cool patterns to laminate to use as a placemat for our dogs food since she gets food all over the floor. I can also make placemats for the dining room table, not that we ever eat there, it would just like nice to me.
Update: Ok so I was wrong about being able to print a full sheet, cut the cards out and then stamp it with the earring display card punch. I cut a couple of cards out with scissors, and it looked like a 4 year old cut them out. I’m sure a 4 year old would’ve done a better job. Then I used the punch and it was horrible. I tried again with another card and the punch jammed, so that’s not going to work for me. I’m just going to have to deal with laminating the cards I already have printed out and used the earring display card punch, and just poke holes for the earrings. It’s not going to look professional, but at least the cards will be stiff. It’s really the best I can do since I don’t have any other option.
I have a funny story. My partner told me a few days ago out of the blue that he wanted a laminator to laminate his new insurance card that he recently got in the mail. I don’t know what happened to his last one that made him decide he wanted to laminate it, but I started thinking that this might be something both of us could find useful.
When I was in my early 20’s, I worked in a bath house. I was the guy in the office when you first checked in who took the money and gave you a key for a room or locker and handed you the towel. When a new customer would come in for a new membership, or when someone was renewing their membership, I would laminate the card for them. It wasn’t a huge laminator, it only laminated business card sized sheets.
When I was searching on Amazon for a laminator, I was under the assumption I could buy a small one specifically for business cards like the one I had at the bath house. I also naturally assumed they were expensive, like hundreds of dollars expensive. I was actually surprised to see how cheap they are. Well, the AmazonBasics Thermal Laminator
One thing I know I could use the business card sheets for is my Etsy shop earring cards. I have a earring display card punch and I print the design on a sheet of business cards. The earring cards are nice, but they are very flimsy because the card stock isn’t that thick. I figured that perhaps laminating them would make them stiff enough that they would work better for earrings. I don’t know if I can cut them on the edge of the cards, but I’ll experiment when I get them and find out.
I can also use these to laminate regular business cards to place in the padded envelope with every order. There are many possibilities for laminating things, and I’m sure I’ll think of something later down the road, like post cards and bookmarks. Maybe place mats at the dinner table or for the dog bowls. Who knows? I’m sure I’ll come up with some new things as time goes by.
One thing I noticed was that these laminating sheets don’t come with a foil pouch. The laminator at my last job required using a foil pouch. You put the card in the laminating pouch, then place that in a foil pouch that is paper on the outside, and foil on the inside, then you run it through the laminator. This one doesn’t do that, and I know this because I watched a video and the guy who made the video ran a full size sheet of paper in a full size laminating sheet straight through without a buffer. I know technology has come a long way since 1992/94, but still. I would just naturally assume if I ran plastic through a machine that has to melt the plastic to create a seal, that if not protected inside a card stock sheet with foil inside, it might perhaps melt all over the machine. But from what I saw in the video, the guy ran the full sheet in full sheet pouch without any buffer and it didn’t melt. It makes me nervous lol. I’ll try it and see how it goes when it arrives.
Xanapus` Lair 