You can reach out to me via email: cardsurgeonshop@gmail.com. You can also DM me on my social media pages. I usually take 1-2 business days to respond.

Yes! You can visit my commissions page on this site for more information.

Yes! I currently have an Etsy shop that you can visit here. There are plans to sell on this website, but that will be in the far future.

Yes! I am a small business based in Houston, Texas. I am a University of Houston alumnus, so I am looking for any opportunity to vend on campus. I am also looking for other opportunities to vend in the area, so please keep an eye out for any announcements, either on my newsletter page or my social media.

I try my very best to keep prices reasonable for both parties, because I am a fellow hobbyist like most of you. I will keep it 100%, since I am a recent college graduate and aware of how the United States economy is like.

The base price depends on the amount of cards and time spent. I add a small percentage to take care of all of the shipping materials. Other details, like if holographic cards are used or if the demand for this particular Pokemon is high, I will mark it up by a little, but not enough to wound someone’s wallet. The shipping price looks like a pain, but in reality, paying for such a convenient service demands that much money.

I plan on sticking to Pokemon. I personally play a little bit of Magic: The Gathering, but I hold Pokemon the closest to my heart.

Here are the steps:

I take multiple of the same card, typically 2-8 depending on the details of the artwork. I internally visualize each layer that I will cut out. The last card will always be the back of the 3D card, and it is uncut. Here is a visual example. The red is roughly where I will make the cuts using an exacto knife.

I color the cut edges of the cards with black marker. I start blacking out the bottom layer of the card in the areas that will be covered by the next top layer with black permanent marker. To make things easier, I use markers with different point thicknesses. The last top layer is unmarked. Here is a visual example.

I take energy cards and cut them to use as filler cards. I eyeball where the “frame” is of the 3D card. I typically put 3 cards in between each Pokemon card layer. I also color the cut edges of the energy cards with black marker.

I brush mod podge to glue all of the cards together. I make sure to squeeze excess mod podge from each layer as I glue.

I wait for the 3D card to dry off. Then, I take a moist paper towel (excess water has been squeezed out) and clean the front off.

The card is finished off with a signature in metallic permanent marker on the back of it. I sign it with a “CS 20XX”. (At least I try to remember to do that.)

Honestly, it varies depending on the amount of detail in the artwork of the original card. Usually, for a 3D card that takes 4 cards, I would take about an hour, more or less (from start to finish). It seems pretty fast, but I would put all of my focus into making these.

I usually make 3D cards in “batches”, I would cut all of the different cards I want to make first. Then I would black out everything, cut out all of the energy cards, color the edges, and then glue them all at once.

I purchased 5,000+ Pokemon cards from a close friend to kickstart the business. I use TCGPlayer for cards that I did not have on hand. Or I go to my local game stores to buy their bulk. It’s pretty difficult to just pull the cards you need from booster packs. Definitely way cheaper to buy singles!

For energy cards, I would buy energy card bricks from Amazon. After I use up the energy cards that I currently have, I am fixing to use QR code cards and the cheap/useless trainer cards that I have.