One of my pet peeves while sleeving cards is getting a corner nicked. Maybe it's just the sleeves I use, but sometimes one side of the opening seals shut, and coaxing it open with the card makes me nervous. So, here's a process that's a bit time consuming but has worked so far:
- First, get the smoothest material you can find (the card will be sliding against it). I used an untextured sandwich bag.
- Cut two rectangular pieces out. Their width should be about the width of the sleeve's opening (since sleeve widths aren't exact, cutting it too close might result in slight scrunching). Their length doesn't matter so much... about an inch should do.
- Fold each piece down their length. The fold is just to prevent the pieces from sliding in with the card.
- Then for the actual sleeving procedure, slide the pieces in together up to their fold, with the folded part angled away from the opening. These basically form lips for the sleeve.
- Finally slide in the card. The lips form a smooth opening so the corners won't catch. It works for foils heavily bent lengthwise, too--just kind of just roll it in, one side to the other. When done, slide the pieces back out for reuse.
One thing to watch out for is that the pieces might stick to your hand (especially on hot days), which might slide them out prematurely. Usually it doesn't matter, but for some cards with worn edges, I like to protect those as well.
/random post of the day