Here’s a photo of the postcard I wrote about a couple days ago, a map of the British Virgin Islands. The round corners finish the piece off nicely, I think. Now if I can just get myself to this neck of the woods someday…

Just a few production shots of a quick job that I picked up on Etsy’s Alchemy service (which is, to describe it simply, a service through Etsy where potential customers can post items they’d like to have produced by Etsy sellers. They include a brief description, a timeline, and a price they’re willing to pay; sellers, then, bid on the jobs, communicating directly with the customer through the Alchemy interface). These simple cards are going to be used as save the date postcards for an upcoming wedding. Printed on Crane’s Lettra Pearl White, they have the nice added feature of rounded corners to help create an authentic travel vibe.

On an interesting production note, I used a letterpress die to cut the cards and their corners, as corner rounders are notorious for leaving metal shaving dust along the edges of rounded corners. I’ve found that I get a much better end result by diecutting the cards, which leaves a precise and sharp edge all around. I’ll add photos of the final product once I’m finished. Oh, and the press shown at the top of the post is my 1927 Chandler & Price platen press, currently one of the workhorses in the Smokeproof workshop.

From a recently-completed wedding invitaton suite designed by Lincoln Young at Swell Creative in Denver. This image shows the save the date under the gate in my Rosback perforator, an oldschool perforating device that punches round pinholes rather than cutting dashed lines. It takes some determined setup, but the results are very cool and add a perfect retro vibe to the printed page.

Yesterday I posted a photo of the save the date for this invitation suite designed by Lincoln over at Swell Creative. This suite was letterpress printed on Crane’s Lettra Pearl coverstock, and each piece was individually diecut to provide precise and crisp edging. The type treatments were a perfect pairing wit letterpress printing, as the resulting impression is both crisp and contemporary… no stodginess, here! The rest of the photos illustrate how how the aqua blue, midnight blue and white palette extended throughout the project and really helps solidify the travel theme. Especially fun, I think, are the airplane illustrations on the passport stamps and the envelope flaps, which feel like they could live in the trailer for Catch Me If You Can. Oceanic and dreamy…

Reply Card:

Notecards:

and Envelopes & Thank You Insert:

I just finished these business cards for my friend Shelley in Denver. Working on a tight budget, I helped her develop a type-based logo for her business and developed some fun voice for her service listing. As a space-saving device, and to avoid the common pitfall of repeating a business name multiple times in a very small area, we tried tying the website address and the email address directly to the main mark. I’ll be interested in her feedback as to how well this works…

These little cards pack a wallop, especially through the contrasts in both color and texture on the paper. I used Bockingford’s burly 250# Cold Press watercolor paper (which would, I believe, make excellent ninja throwing star material) to enable printing on both sides with very limited show-through of the impression, and used a crisp sans against the paper’s strong texture. I love the color pairing, Pantone’s Cool Grey #6 and the hot salmon #709. Nothing like a stab of red to spice up yr day.

And why does this matter?

The press as an extension of the person. The person as the originator of the thought. The thought into word into type. The the type onto and then into the paper. The dwell, the living there. And then the interplay of light and shadow, ink and space, the not-negativeness of the betweens.

Heavy. Heaving. Breathing.