3-D Magic the Gathering Tokens

      So finally I am getting to those crafting projects I promised when I first started this whole thing. Well as I said before I am some what of a nerd, matter of fact me and my husband met while playing a roleplaying card game called Magic the Gathering, and that is what I will be showing you today is how to make 3-D tokens used during play of the game.
   


               The Token I am going to be working with today is a 1/1 Soldier token from Theros.

The 1st thing I do is analyze the cards dissecting the different parts.

This helps me to decide how many copies of the card I will need. For this card I decided I needed five copies and I used a Plains card for a background.

I use three main tools I use: X-ACTO Knifes, X-ACTO cutting board, and Elmer's Craft Bond Fine Line Glue Pen.

I always start from the back and work my way forward to the Point of Interest, that doesn't mean you have to, it's just how my mind works and makes it easier for me to decide what elements to include.

With this card I wanted to get the meat of the background but how I decided where to cut in this layer is in the very back of the card is a archway with banners hanging over it. I wanted to show the banners hanging of the arch so I had to cut the arch out so I could put the flags over it. The next element I cut out was the banners.

Notice too, that with all the layers I leave the boarder in, I cut it back further than when I do the very last layer just so you can see it, but if you don't leave it, the card doesn't have the same diorama feel, same depth, as it does when you leave the boarders on.

This card is the background for the soldier's feet. I followed the line of the street to do this background. The only part of this card that shows up as an obvious layer is the quarter inch cut to the left, you might be thinking does that small of detail need attention, yes little details like this can really make a difference in the depth and visual appearance of the finished product.

Next, I cut out the main meat of the background, the support soldiers, now the focal point is in this cut, but I still make another cut to bring him out even further.

When cutting out this card I still used the boarder, but I had to cut all the connecting materials between in and the focal point and boarder to really let it stand out. Some cards let you keep a solid piece for this layer. it just so happed that this card did not lend its self to that option.

   The next part is very important, gluing the layers together, you have to make sure you get each layer lined up exactly or its not going to look right.

Again I work from the back to the front starting with the Plains land card.

 These two layers really establish the background.

The banners come next.

Then, I lay in the soldiers, before I added the soldiers to the stack, I added the focal point the middle. I also had an accident where I broke the boarder on the left but don't worry you won't see it in the final product. I though it was important to point it out though so you know not to worry in your own projects if one of the inner layers get tore a little.

My last step is to add the frame which is just the white part of the card, and to go in and touch up any of the rough edges from the cutting process.

Here are some different angle shots so you can see more of the depth.

Final thing to do is to sleeve the card, this also adds to the depth of the final product.

Here is the final Product and some other cards that I have completed in the past.

Some of these I have added other elements:

changing the background,

leave the background out,

add pop dots or gloss to give even more dimension.

There are several different ways to add to the layers and make your own personal tokens. I hope this has been helpful and given you some inspiration to make your own 3-D tokens.