The Dingbat's Agenda » Green

Die-cut and flood print, 1/1

Adrienne — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:28:23 +0000

These letterpress business cards were designed by the client and were a fun project to work on. I LOVE die-cuts! Below is a great example of a flood print. In our artwork approval (your contract that you sign before we head to press) it outlines a few variables that are important with letterpress printing to note. One is color variation between prints. On our presses we print and re-ink between every 25 impressions on floods. This helps keep color consistent, however it can still be tricky. While we strive for perfect consistency, our product is part of an antique printing process. Unlike offset presses, our presses do not have digital inking fountains so all our print runs are done by comparison. Here is a sample “fan” of Elliott’s cards that we felt were a match to his pantone specification, and shows slight variety but still is consistent.

Another letterpress technique to note is the reverse typography in Elliott’s flood. When reversing type out it shows a much better reverse impression is the image area to be knocked out is larger or more marginal. While there is a dominant and subordinate print side to all double-sided cards, you can still feel the impression because this typography is not too small.

We’ve also noticed that with the use of the alpha-cellulose composition of the Arturo paper, it gets a MUCH better flood coverage than the lettra. I’m not sure the exact scientific reasoning behind this but I imagine it has something to do with the porous nature of the cotton lettra vs. the arturo and the fiber content of the lettra. From what I believe, the lettra has more “glue” making it not as responsive to rubberbase inks, thus the transparency and “salty” look are more prominent in comparison to the same flood on an Arturo paper.

With that all taken into consideration, we still love printing on both the lettra as well as the Arturo but depending on the paper selection, you can come out with variables no matter how the process is tackled.

Tropical Wedding Invitations

Adrienne — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:57:44 +0000

We are already two months into winter here so needless to say, my mind is wandering to more tropical climates. These shipped out for a destination wedding and let me tell you, I SO wish I was somewhere warm right now. We have lose to eight feet of snow banks on our road in places.

These were letterpress printed on lettra paper, 220# as a 2-color job. One thing I’m finding is that lettra – while a great paper – seems to exaggerate the “salty” look when printing large ink areas. It seems that paired with the texture and composition of the paper there is less ink absorbancy when printing a flood in comparison to other papers (Mohawk and Arturo come to mind specifically as having better absorbancy).

In the end, I think it depends on what sort of look you are going for. The salty ink coverage can add a very unique texture to a piece, especially if you are going for a more rustic or vintage look to your wedding suite. However if you are looking for a more consistent overlay and less ink transparency then ultimately you’ll want to go with a less textured paper.

Edge painted in hot pink, and paired with hot pink envelopes, I love how the salty print on these add character to the already flowing design. Do you like the salty look? Or do you prefer a more saturated look?

2012 Holiday Greeting Cards

Adrienne — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:20:00 +0000

In addition to our holiday greeting cards that we launched last year, we’ve updated our New Year’s cards to 2012 and added a Dove Peace card. Get yours before the year is out for your holiday greetings. Sized at 5.5″ Square and paired with matching Square envelopes. You can order in sets of 12, 25, 50 and 100 (price discounts on larger quantities ;) and customizable with an interior greeting!

BLACK FRIDAY, letterpress Tuesday

Adrienne — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 07:05:49 +0000

Never one to follow tradition, I received a lovely email from a colleague yesterday morning wondering if I’d hold my Cyber Monday promotions and instead launch them on Tuesday as part of a Letterpress Tuesday promotion – specifically showcasing letterpress artisans and their holiday goodies on sale. I of course opted out of Cyber Monday and am happy to announce that for the next 24 hours (YES, RIGHT NOW) you can get 25% off ANYTHING in our online shop until midnight tonight (MST).

These black letterpress calling cards were printed on a black 80# coverstock (I think it was AstroBrights paper). Black can be tricky on press because letterpress inks are very transparent and do not get good opacity when printing on dark papers. We like to recommend a color mix with opaque white to help bulk up the color (PMS Silver 877 works great too if you can afford to have a little tonality with the grey).

With the left-overs we decided to add a teal edge paint to see how it would take to the black. I feel like I’m having an 80′s flashback!

Because I just couldn’t get enough, I decided to see what a lavender would look like. If you want to order a set for yourself, you can customize them right here and we’ll make sure they look radical before they ship out to you! If you are unsure about color, stick with lighter hues. They will print and show-up much better than darker colors on the color wheel.

Smudge of Ink, 6

Adrienne — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:24:55 +0000

All weekend I’ve been working on Evelyn’s Halloween costume. While all the girls are going to be Rapunzel this year I convinced her that we could make an incredible bird costume and she could be Jewel from the movie Rio. I’ve been pinning a lot of ideas for her costume but the big challenge was how to tackle the wings. I’ve been scouting all over flicker and pinterest for photos of angel wings, and bird wings as stage props or costumes no only to see how they are made but how the feathers are arranged. This is one of my favorite images so far, aren’t the colors awesome? I especially love that yellow lipstick.

Original image blogged by McQueen’s World of Fashion.

To download the swatch ASE for importing into Adobe Applications click here. To import the swatch book click your Swatches Palette > toggle More Options > Open Swatch Library > Other Library > click the .ASE that you want to import. From there the Pantone swatches will load in a new palette with the remainder of your tool bar.

Smudge of Ink, 5

Adrienne — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:04:33 +0000

Another Pinterest find, this also has a really awesome recipe for pesto on the source link below. Have you ever seen easter egg radishes? I might just have to try it out tonight!

Original image from Whitney in Chicago who also has an awesome Green Garlic Pesto recipe that is to die for!

Smudge of Ink, 4

Adrienne — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:42:49 +0000

As soon as I saw these baskets on Pinterest I thought how have I never thought of this before? While these baskets are ultimately hung on the wall, I want a stack of freshly painted baskets stacked like this on my kitchen table. For looks, and maybe they can hold some fruit every once in awhile!

Original image from Better Life Bags.

Smudge of Ink, 2

Adrienne — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 18:00:25 +0000

I love the minty teals in this image from Martha Stewart. It has officially started snowing here and so I am resigned to the fact that winter is fast approaching and it’s time to pull out the coats and hats and scarves. Why is it that when it is summer I feel like all I have are winter clothes, and when it’s winter I feel like all I’ve got is summer clothes? Do any of you feel that way when the seasons change?

Original image from Martha.

Peacock and Rust Autumn Invitations

Adrienne — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 00:07:21 +0000

Here are the final invitations for Jen and Christina. I love how the overlap of the blue and orange create a beautiful olive color on the leaves, this is one of my favorite designs to see printed in different colors because every single suite turns out so differently!

This was the first RSVP where the couple requested music suggestions from guests. I thought it was brilliant, and so fitting for a wedding and RSVP. What a great way to involve guests!

What you might not have noticed from photos alone is that this wedding suite was actually not a standard A7 (5×7″) wedding invitation. To save a little money (which can go a long way for a budget savvy bride) the election to go with a smaller A6 (4.5×6″) invite/announcement can help cut cost in postage and printing. It worked well also because Jen and Chris had minimal information so it didn’t feel like all the elements were squeezed into a tight space.

These were escort cards we printed with the suite paired with a custom diecut pouch. We will be offering these for all escort card orders as well as for direct purchase over the next few weeks if you are a DIY bride (they also look fabulous with square business cards)!

In the end, I was so surprised with how well the color combo worked. It’s such a great aspect to working with a couple that has a defined vision and are confident about it. Printed on 110# lettra paper, paired with matching printed envelopes, this wedding suite is perfect for a fall or spring wedding. Thanks Jen and Chris for being so awesome to work with, best of luck to you both and congratulations on your new adventure!

Tropical wedding invitations

Adrienne — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:17:10 +0000

On occasion we are asked to take one of our existing designs and adapt it to a new color scheme as well as size. Nicole wanted her invites similar to Sarah and Jeff’s but adapted to the 6″ Square invitation size. Her wedding will be a tropical destination wedding and she’s drawing off the bright fuchsia and green hues to convey the type of event she is going for. Below are the proofs adapted to Nicole’s specifications, I can’t wait to show you the finished piece!!

Letterpress paper experiment!

Adrienne — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 12:00:33 +0000

We buy almost all our house papers from Legion (letterpresspaper.com) – there are so many, and in varying weights and finishes that it just works when we want something special. Before National Stationery Show, Josh from Legion approached me about a project for his business cards for the show. He wanted the luxury of letterpress but printed on as many papers as possible so when handing out his cards, he could have an assortment of the papers that Legion offers and also show how the printing varies from stock to stock.

This is the first time I’d been approached about printing a full run on multiple papers. At first I was nervous but the more I thought about it, I realized it would be a great opportunity to print on papers that I don’t usually order on a regular basis (as well as try some brand-new sheets out).

Above are the initial proofs for Josh. We went with blind impression (indicated as a relief in grey) and the signature Legion green. I love reversing out imagery and logos because of the great “faux” emboss that is created. These cards were no exception to that really cool look. Stay tuned tomorrow for a list of some of the papers we got to print these on, as well as how we managed to make it work while running it all on the windmill!

National Stationery Show 2011 countdown!!

Adrienne — Wed, 04 May 2011 21:44:32 +0000

I’m heading to the big city in exactly one week. I have bronchitis and am about ready to kill over, but the excitement is really starting to get crazy!!! The booth (#2152, mark your maps) has arrived. The product is printed (about 90% of it) and we are officially launching a wedding book! Above is a glimpse of one of our series that is going to debut May 15-18th, 2011!

Preview Week: Day 2 – product tags.

Adrienne — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 09:29:45 +0000

Remember the Jones & Vandermeer RI Proofs and the RII & III proofs? Well we’ve been working on some product tags for her beautiful mink yarn! Below was the first round presented. These will be offset printed 4/4 and punched with a 1/8″ hole for attachment.

Trend Spotting from the Golden Globes!

Adrienne — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 06:49:28 +0000

It looks like Forest Green, Blush and of course Black were the big winners on the red carpet tonight. Can you say Wizard of Oz? Man I can’t WAIT to do some stellar wedding invites with these colors. What do you think?

Photo credits People.com

Jones & Vandermeer RII & III

Adrienne — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 15:10:53 +0000

We debuted Jones & Vandermeer’s RI last week and after feedback from the client here is RII and RIII. Jones & Vandermeer is a boutique luxury fiber company producing specialty mink yarn and other exotic goods gathered from around the world. As the brand developed we wanted to incorporate some imagery that reflected target market, as well as material without having to be too specific so the company could continue to grow with extended offerings. click on the images to see them larger in scale. I’m SO excited with how these are turning out – what do you think?

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