10/19/2010

Modern Foil Stamp Wedding Invitations

Dan and Barbara’s wedding invitations combine modern and romantic elements all together in one lovely design. Â Dan, a graphic designer, incorporated black and white foil stamp text and wood veneer into the invitation design, along with gorgeous calligraphy details by Mara from Neither Snow. Â Love it!

From Dan: Â The invitations were designed around a simple philosophy: present the information in an elegant and understated way, and allow the elegance of the occasion to speak from the moment our guests opened the envelopes.

The invitations were triple bonded black paper, stamped with black and white foils. Â The main invitation and save the dates were bonded with a wood backing â€“ we choose Wenge for the save the dates and curly maple for the invitation.

Dan worked with AccuColor Plus in Chicago on the invitation printing. Â I love the subtle effect of the black foiling on black paper on the invitation enclosures, and the contrast with the white foil stamp text through the rest of the invitation.

Gorgeous calligraphy on the outer envelopes from Neither Snow:

Thank you so much Dan!

{image credits: Barbara Mouradian}

09/28/2010

2011 Calendar Round-Up, Part 1

Other than the arrival of fall, the end of September means only one thing â€“ and that’s calendar round-ups! Â A few of my favorite stationery shops have already listed their calendars, with more to come over the next few weeks. Â So I thought I’d get a head start with the first installment of the year!

First up, one of my perennial favorites, letterpress and silk screened desk calendars from Ilee. Â I’m loving the January design, inspired by the Year of the Rabbit on the Chinese zodiac!

{ilee}

I absolutely love the design of the 2011 calendar from SeeSaw! Â This year, the ladies at SeeSaw were inspired by vintage textiles, and the calendar features gold foil and gray letterpress in beautiful geometric shapes:

{seesaw}

We caught a sneak peek of this calendar at the National Stationery Show â€“ and the 2011 calendar from Sycamore Street Press is now available! Â The illustrations were inspired by the wildlife around Eva and Kirk’s home in Utah:

{Sycamore Street Press}

Another perennial favorite that we also saw at the Stationery Show, the gorgeous calendars from Linda & Harriett! Â Each month features a perforated post card at the bottom that you can detach and send to a friend. Â There’s also a fantastic perpetual calendar that’s great for keeping track of birthdays or anniversaries.

{linda & harriett}

Every year I like to get at least one fabric calendar to go along with my annual collection of paper calendars (I may or may not have at least 5 calendars scattered throughout my home), and I’m loving these fabric calendars from Lisa Rupp. Â The calendars are available in two designs â€“ one with floral illustrations and another with hot air balloons:

{lisa rupp}

Flora and Fauna Press also created two calendars for 2011 â€“ a large 3-color letterpress poster-style calendar, and a smaller desk calendar inspired by marine life:

{flora and fauna press}

Also along the marine life theme â€“ the 2011 mini calendar from Blackbird Letterpress features a Louisiana blue crab calendar pad with tear-off months:

{blackbird letterpress}

From Dizzy Wizzy Design out in Australia, a fun desk calendar with space to jot down notes on the reverse side:

{dizzy wizzy}

Or turn calendars into a fun family craft project with these printable calendars from A Little Hut:

{a little hut}

For even more variety and options, one canoe two has created FOUR gorgeous poster-style letterpress calendars for 2011:

{one canoe two}

That’s it for now, but I’ll be back with many more calendars over the next couple of weeks!

p.s. If you have a calendar that you’d like to submit for a round-up installment, feel free to send them to me right here!

{all images from their respective sources}

09/21/2010

Crane Stationery, A Tour – Part 2

After the introduction to engraving, we moved out onto the Crane printing floor. Â Most of the presses, including engraving presses, letterpresses, and thermography printers, are all located in a large common area â€“ it was difficult to get the full perspective in a single image, but hopefully these two photos will give you a sense of the general size and scale:

Engraving! Â The printing presses are huge â€“ I’m always amazed that these heavy machines are able to produce such delicate and beautiful stationery.

{going through the press}

{a quick run under the heater to make sure the ink is dry}

{and then coming off the press}

{ink fountain behind the press}

{so much ink!}

I couldn’t help but take a photo of each project that we passed during the tour. Â This little dragonfly makes four total passes through the press â€“ one for each blue color, then one for the gold ink, then one final burnishing run that gives the gold its shine â€“ and it all has to line up perfectly. Â It’s hard to tell in this photo, but the blue inks also have a bit of shimmer:

Custom gold stationery â€“ most likely for a newlywed couple:

These sailboats were also a custom order â€“ the printers were working on aligning the little red flags so that they lined up perfectly with the thin blue sailboat mast:

Traditional invitations for a debutante ball, with black script text and a beautiful blind emboss monogram at the top:

Engraved business cards with white text on black paper:

With the holiday season approaching, we came upon a few Kluge presses putting some gold foil on Christmas cards and gift wrap. Â I’d never seen foil stamping in person before, but the printers were kind enough to walk me through the process:

{gold foil on Kate Spade gift wrap sheets}

{that’s the gold foil above}

{a negative image on the gold foil after it passes through the press}

{the final product!}

I hope you’re all enjoying the tour as much as I am! Â I’ll be back a bit later with a bit more from the trip!

{all photos by me}

*Disclaimer â€“ Crane & Co. provided my accommodations during this visit; but this is not a sponsored post. Â For more on my editorial policies, please click here.

09/21/2010

Crane Stationery, A Tour â€“Â Part 1

Remember the blog field trip that I took a couple of weeks ago? Â Well, I’m finally ready to share photos from the trip! Â A couple months ago, Crane & Co. stationery invited me to visit and tour their facilities up in western MassachusettsÂ (near the Berkshire mountains). Â In case you’re not familiar with Crane’s history, the company was founded in 1801 and has been producing cotton paper and stationery ever since â€“ making Crane one of the oldest companies in the United States!

We started the tour off with lunch and a discussion at the Crane Model Farm in Dalton, Massachusetts. Â The Model Farm was originally the home of founder Zenas Crane and is now used for social and business functions.

Of course, a Crane facility wouldn’t be complete without a display of beautiful stationery…

Crane is known for its engraved stationery and invitations (I was particularly excited to see the engraving process in person during this visit), but also offers letterpress, flat printing, and thermography. Â Fun fact: Crane also makes the currency paper for the United States and several other countries. Â More on that a bit later on…

Later, we moved over to the Crane Personalized Design Services center, where all custom orders â€“ from wedding invitations to business cards to personalized holiday and greeting cards â€“ are processed and printed. Â Now we get to some of the action shots! Â First up, the pre-production process â€“ where the custom text is etched onto a copper plate in preparation for printing.

{the red solution is a blocking material that prevents the chemicals from etching anything other than the actual text}

After the blocking material is applied, the plates go into a separate room to go through the etching solution…

{printing can get very dirty â€“ no matter how elegant the result!}

{once the copper plate has spent enough time in the etching solution, it gets washed down to remove any residual chemicals}

{the photo above shows what the plate looks like after it comes out from the etching solution}

Crane tries to fit as much text onto each sheet of copper, often from multiple projects. Â Once the plate is fully etched, the copper sheet is cut down to the appropriate size for each individual project.

Up next, the Crane printing floor â€“ with engraving and foil stamping in action!

{all photos by me}

*Disclaimer â€“ Crane & Co. provided my accommodations during this visit; but this is not a sponsored post. Â For more on my editorial policies, please click here.

06/15/2010

Sugar Paper – Modern Gray + White Baby Announcements

You might remember the modern baby shower for Chelsea from Sugar Paper that I featured back in February â€“ Chelsea welcomed her beautiful son Owen in early March, and today I’m thrilled to share Owen’s baby announcements!

In designing the announcements, Chelsea used one of Sugar Paper’s custom papers in “smoke” with white engraved text and an envelope liner with a silver foil diamond pattern. Â Lisa Holtzman created the gorgeous calligraphy, also in white text to complement the engraved text of the baby announcement. Â The entire suite is just stunning â€“ simple and modern, yet totally luxurious. Â Thanks so much Chelsea â€“ and congratulations!

{image credits: sugar paper}

Menu

Search Results for: foil

Modern Foil Stamp Wedding Invitations

2011 Calendar Round-Up, Part 1

Crane Stationery, A Tour – Part 2

Crane Stationery, A Tour â€“Â Part 1

Sugar Paper – Modern Gray + White Baby Announcements