Off-Topic Forum

Any interest in cataloging DIY collections, clearly marked as DIY?  Seems like aggregating DIY might inspire creators to take their hobby to another level.  Today that community seems to be cross linked blogs.

I ask because I find Topps pretty disappointing these days.  Topps Heritage collections look like garbage, on purpose, and not just in a way that simulates actual cards from the sixties.  Topps normal sets just look dumb.  Last year's set looked like it had a pull out tray on the right, which makes no sense on a printed card.  Topps Bunt... many of their "inserts" are DIY quality, or worse.

Sure, Topps made some bad cards back in the day, but their designs were much more attractive and they generally did their best on photos rather than throwing some cheesy instagram filter on them.  Digital blotches aren't retro.

Thanks!

I must confess, I don't know what you mean by DIY collections.

Do you mean Customized Collections? If so then NO.

Most customized "sets" are as special 1/1 exclusive only to the person who made them. Some make them because they didn't see any of the big manufacturers make what they wanted, or they thought they could improve upon what was done.

switzr1 those look like Indy wrestlers.  They can't really compete with the WWE, much like independent card makers can't compete with Topps, especially now that Topps has negotiated a monopoly with MLB.  We all saw how well that worked for customers of the cable industry.  Trading card fans are a commodity to be licensed out to the highest bidder.

I find making cards more fun than dealing with Topps endless parade of variations, inserts, and short prints.  I can't imagine kids trying to get involved with card collecting today.  It's all geared toward the card shop types that sucked the fun out of the hobby in the eighties.  The psychology is just like shooting dice, except that it's legal to involve kids.

I'm about 540 cards into a 660 card set for the 2014 season based on the 1964 theme.  I started doing it because I knew I could improve on claiming "50th anniversary" on the 49th anniversary and using lame instagram style filters.  My feeling is that if Topps is going to do such a lousy job of serving card collectors, DIY hobbyists should step up their game.

Now if you want to tell me that DIY is too much noise in the channel, I agree, but the channel is already full of garbage when a search for Bryce Harper in 2014 yields eleven pages of mostly blank and irrelevent "collectibles."  The days when you could refer to a player and a year and point to a card that meant something are long gone thanks to the cynics.

Thanks!

If you enjoy making them, great! Have fun! And I'm sure that there will be some really cool cards with great pictures. However, I do not want to see this website used to list and display homemade sets that only mean something to the person that made them and can't be found in normal distribution methods. And if you think of distributing them, forgetting about licensing completely, are you just "borrowing" photographer's copyrighted photos as well? Or are you taking all the pictures yourself?

I am, as you say, having fun.

I appreciate all the feedback and I tend to agree, since I already find it frustrating to navigate the modern era due to the seemingly endless variations and inserts being promulgated by licensed publishers.

Thanks!