Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ncar!ico!rcd From: rcd@ico.ISC.COM (Dick Dunn) Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript Subject: Re: Christmas cards Summary: Simple way to lay out cards Message-ID: <12390@ico.ISC.COM> Date: 6 Dec 88 00:17:59 GMT References: <597@tuck.nott-cs.UUCP> Organization: Interactive Systems Corp, Boulder, CO Lines: 47 In article <597@tuck.nott-cs.UUCP>, anw@nott-cs.UUCP writes: > We're thinking of doing our Christmas cards on the LW this year. > ("We" == family, not department!) Give-or-take, the idea is to print an > A4 sheet so that it can be folded into 4 to make an A6 front picture... . . . >...Anyone already done any good designs, or got any other ideas? We did this last year. Here's how to lay out the card if you want a more- or-less normal size with printing on the outside front and the "right" side of the inside of the card, using card stock. It produces a card which has a final size of 1/4 an 8/5x11...you can even get envelopes which fit this size. Lay out the page like this: +-------+-------+ | Outside| | stuff | | | + + + |Inside | | stuff | |(invert) | +-------+-------+ The easy way to do this is to put the origin at the center of the page (where I put the "+"), do the outside stuff, rotate 180 and do the inside stuff. Now, once you've printed this on a piece of paper, you have a master--take it somewhere you can get good copies made on card stock (colors are usually available) and have them print both sides. The front sides are printed as shown; the back sides are printed =>upside down<=. (Have them check it after one copy to be sure they get it right, because it's not the usual way.) Now you've got your cards, two to a sheet. Cut them in half with a paper cutter, or the copy center may be able to do this very neatly for you. To fold card stock without cracking it or getting an erratic fold, first crease it slightly on the OUTside of the fold. (This pre-stretches the paper fiber which will wrap the larger radius.) Use something under the card with a little bit of give, like a blotter or a few pieces of paper; use a ball-end stylus, soldering aid, or something like that to make the crease. It's all a lot simpler than I'm making it sound...it'll take an afternoon or so. -- Dick Dunn UUCP: {ncar,nbires}!ico!rcd (303)449-2870 ...I'm not cynical - just experienced.