Monday, October 29, 2012
2013 Wedding Invitations
We’re looking ahead to some fantastic luxury wedding invitation trends for 2013. Very popular is a large size, with embellishments like super-thick paper, edge painting, foil stamping and laser cutting. So it’s all about a big statement for spring and summer 2013 wedding invitations! Also on the rise is a trend towards traditional with a slight twist in choosing modern fonts and layout grids.
Foil stamping
For the most luxurious of wedding invitations, it’s all about foil stamping! Foil stamping takes wedding invitations to a whole new level for a few reasons. For one, what is more beautiful than your names revealed in shining gold or silver printing? A classic feel, but an upscale statement that your wedding is a special event.
White foil stamping on super-black paper
The other advantage of foil stamping is that is gives many more possibilities for color combinations than with letterpress alone, but with the same “pressed-in” textured look that we all love about letterpress. The ultra-modern invitation above was printed with a white foil stamp on top of a fantastic super-smooth and super black paper. Any time we want to see a light-colored print on a dark paper, foil stamping is the way to go!
Edge painting
In 2013 we see many couples opting for the extra color and fantastic look of edge painting, where the sides of the invitation are painted in any color, like the orange edge painting pictured above, or in more shiny metallic looks like silver and gold.
Laser cut wedding invitations
We definitely see the growing trend of this year continuing into 2013, the beautiful laser cut wedding invitation, like the intricate laser cut wrap invitation pictured above. Laser cutting can create very intricate designs, and unique accent pieces that really send a luxury invitation suite over the top.
Thick invitation papers
The final mark of a luxury wedding invitation for 2013 is the thickest of cotton papers, that can only be used with letterpress and foil stamping. We’ve seen many couples now opting for 4-ply museum board, sometimes with an additional colored paper backer, like the invitation pictured above. Compare it to the already-fabulous 110lb (1-ply) paper used in many of our invitations and you can see that museum board means your wedding invitations have substance!
We’re ready to discuss your own 2013 luxury wedding invitation from our Washington DC studio, contact us now for your own custom creation!
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Sunday, June 24, 2012
Negative Space and Letterpress
To truly understand letterpress card design and how to use color and the paper, you have to know how to use negative space. There is one exercise I remember doing during art class that really drove this point home. The task was to draw the outline of every shape I could see from my vantage point. I drew the outside edges of a plastic plant, the table, the lamp, the window and the chair. All of a sudden it came to me that everything lives in negative space and my world got pretty large. Now when I look at people, things and spaces, I notice that I observe more of the unoccupied space around people and things. It’s that ability to see the negative space that makes for great design in letterpress, because the negative space is that which when printed is what you feel. If a picture is worth a thousand words then the touch is too. These cards were designed and made by Leslie Ross Robertson and printed using soy inks. I really love her work because she understands negative space and has an appreciation for mid-century architecture and design.
Modern Damask Three Color Letterpress Card
Two Color Classic Air Stream Letterpress
Teacher’s Favorite Apple Card Three Color Letterpress
Bonsai Tree Three Color Letterpress
Mid-Century Modern House Letterpress Card
Surfer Card Three Color Letterpress with Fade
Flame On Two Color Letterpress
Chrysanthemums Flower Card in Three Color Letterpress
Ripe Berries Two Color Letterpress
Wild Flowers Card Two Color Letterpress
Fall Card Three Color Letterpress
Mid-Century Modern Connections Card in Three Colors
Retro Record in Two Color Letterpress
Mid-Century Modern Chair and Light in Three Color Letterpress
We hope you enjoyed the photos and if you need to order any of these, get in touch here with your question.
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Monday, March 12, 2012
The CIO (Chief Information Officer) painted edge letterpress business card was designed in our studio for a high tech computer engineer with a sense of vintage style. We’d show you the other side, but since he has a security clearance then we’d have to (well, you know the drill). Since our client works in Japan, he is sure to be the envy of every Japanese person with which he meets and goes through the ritual of business card exchange. The soft feel of cotton on 220 LB paper and the crisp letterpress feel that only an antique steel machine can deliver.
Modern Ctrl + Alt + Del keys contrast with a vintage etching style. The sky blue painted edge adds a touch of uniqueness and luxury to these letterpress business cards. Really, if you’re going to have a business card, make it letterpress on 220lb paper with a painted edge! It has the ability to make any ordinary card extraordinary.
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