December is a busy time of year for letterpress wedding announcements and love is in the air! These custom designed save the dates came in from a designer in Alabama. Blind impression and charcoal grey ink on Crane Lettra single ply. Finished size is A7 (5"x7"). Contact us today with your wedding invitation needs. We'd be happy to supply you with a quote!
This piece was all about being creative with the visual but more importantly, we combined some unusual finishes to push the boundaries. The digital printing was finished on BLACK paper. Yes, we printed full CMYK on black stock. How? - That'll just be our little secret. We then incorporated with fast and free foil script to add some life and energy. Lastly, we duplexed the stock to add that weight that everyone wants in a custom wedding invitations. This invitation design includes a matching rsvp, info card, and gold letterpress coasters as well as custom die cut address labels and a medallion circle cut tag with twine band. We'll post a few more pics to show the entire suite. Thanks for visiting our letterpress blog. You can contact us for your custom quote here.
Come September it's common to find invitations featuring warm reds and browns but sometimes it's more fun to push further into the concept. Seasonal invitation designs can be approached in so many more ways! Autumn Sweater- (Seasonal Wedding Invitation Design) - is very subtle but we snuck a few season-appropriate ideas into the final concept.
We often print others design work but every now and then we're given the opportunity to really let our design skills shine. This custom designed invitation was a labor of love and we had the pleasure of adding a few fancy print features to the concept as well. We included a touch of foil along with both letterpress printing and a blind impression. The pattern in the back is similar to a knit sweater texture which naturally lent itself to the diamond-shaped center area. Once we had these elements flowing it was just a matter of selecting the right fonts! The gold foil was an elegant exchange for the usual brown colors and the silver ink spoke more directly to our cozy Minnesota trees blowing in the fall breeze. The wedding was last week and it sounds like everyone was pretty pleased (as were we).
Check out more of our designs here!
Finally got my hands on a few of the pictures from Katie and Aaron's wedding. Their wedding was featured on the Knot some time ago but I'd had a really hard time finding the pics to upload. Today I was surprised to see that the images and the original feature were magically linked to our Knot profile! Katie is an amazing illustrator and she and Aaron designed the invitation suite together. Together with Dick & Jane, we nailed down the colors, paper and final details. Everything turned out wonderfully and the pics from the ceremony/reception were just AMAZING! Have a look for yourself!
If you're in search of help with your custom wedding invitation design or letterpress wedding invitation printing, give us a ring!
We'd be glad to schedule an appointment at our storefront studio location or we can simply supply you with a quote!
Over a hundred years ago on Melcher street in Boston (also known as printers row), the pressmen would set type by hand and crank away all day. The work was tedious and tiresome. After a job was done, they'd walk out to the alley and pick a kid to come in and sort all the type back into it's appropriate drawer for the lesser half of a nickel. To my knowledge, this is where the term, "printers devil" was born.
Here I am today packing to visit kids at a local preschool for a hand-on workshop. I love watching the kids eyes light up as they print they're very first card. It's a far cry from todays iPad and iKea lifestyle but in most ways, I think that is exactly what makes these workshops so great. If you'd like to schedule an on location print demo for your school or event. Give us a ring. If we can fit it in, we would surely love the opportunity!
Whatcha got there?
1. tiny sigwalt press
2. denim apron
3. half can of Vanson Black
4. a pair of ruber gloves
5. roll of paper towels
6. ink knife
7. small box of pre-cut biz card stock
8. tiny bottle of press wash (properly labeled with skull and crossbones)
Yeah - We have a good friend Brandon Bird of Little Big Bird Design in Boston. He does a lot of installation, museum and your everyday print graphics type work. Well he sent us this super cute design for he and Mickie's wedding announcement. We printed it up to his specifics and just had to get a few pics before we mailed them out to him. There are more designs where this came from so if you see something you like, just let us or Brandon know!
Just a few images we snapped over the last week or so. Although running a letterpress shop all day takes a lot of focus and attention, we always squeeze in time to play with our baby boy, Sonny. Usually, he's hanging out in the lounge area tearing up dads books!
"Ecru Paper" is starting to emerge as a recent customer favorite!?!? Time and again, customers choose the Pearl Lettra paper for their letterpress invitations but as of late, we've had nearly a half dozen couples choosing the Ecru route. Perhaps is has something to do with early bird fall weddings? Then again, maybe it's something else? Maybe the Ecru paper offers that classic antique look that many traditional (and sometimes non-traditional) invitations need to put the design over the top? In any case, here's a quick snapshot taken from my iPhone of a recent invitation job featuring the use of Ecru paper and #10 policy envelopes.
Much love and appreciation goes out to Jon and Michelle. Have a great wedding day!.
xo - DJL
Greetings all you charming letterpress people. Dick and Jane celebrated this 4th of July with the community of Saint Anthony Park. Each year local business owners and the neighborhood come together to celebrate Independence Day with a parade and good old fashioned fun. We rolled a proof press out onto the street and printed up free letterpress posters with the folks from the neighborhood. The image above shows a final print now hanging in the shop. Over the holiday we captured some videos documenting letterpress printing and our community. Check it out!
(above) Captured in this video is Katie Evans at Dick and Jane Letterpress. Katie is cutting down a big block of linoleum for the proof printing poster project for 4th of July, 2009! The posters will be printed on the recently refurbished Challenge proof press. It's a little bit of a departure from our regular letterpress wedding invitation printing but overall, it's good fun for the kids.
(above) Watch as I (brian durk) print on the challenge proof press incorporating linoleum cuts and wood type. It was a patriotic day for letterpress printing!
xoxo - DJL
Here's our first installment in many more letterpress shorts to come! Today we are printing a few St Anthony Park greeting cards. Black ink on good old kraft card stock. The artwork includes an illustration of the neighborhood Finnish Bistro and the Dunn Brothers Coffee building. Illustration by Jordan Kay (msjordankay.com). Pictured printing in the video is Keisha Bigelow enjoying the view from the shop front window. Don't forget, Dick and Jane Letterpress is your affordable source for letterpress wedding invitations and other printed goods. Be sure to check out our site for up-front pricing and other info. Please feel free to contact us with any questions on your upcoming project.
xoxo - DJL