Black + White

© 2008 Sunlit Letterpress

Above are some photos of a recent invitation order that we printed for local Vancouver graphic designer Flora Gordon. I met Flora at the Got Craft? market in Kitsilano in July of last year. We had met up for coffee earlier this year to talk about using letterpress in her work – and it was great to finally work with her on a project. It's also really fun to work with another designer because I get a chance to talk shop with someone local.

This invitation was lovely to print because it was all text and beautiful in simple black and white. Sometimes the unique qualities of letterpress printing are best captured by text-only designs. We used Crane Lettra paper and envelopes in Pearl.

Sometimes when I'm designing or printing letterpress wedding invitations, I wish I was getting married all over again. Wedding design is so much fun!

If you are interested in letterpress wedding invitations, please contact us for more information.

Happy letterpressing!

Meet the Designers Event...This Saturday

Images © and courtesy of Gingerly Designs

If you are in the Greater Vancouver area this Saturday be sure to come out to Gingerly in Maple Ridge for their Meet the Designers Event:

Saturday July 26th – 12:00-4:30 PM
Gingerly
11869 227th St, Maple Ridge

We'll be there with letterpress stationery, journals, and prints featuring new nature-inspired designs (not yet available online or in stores).

We'll also have some samples of our custom work on hand – so if you've been considering letterpress stationery for yourself, your business, or an upcoming wedding or event – come on down and learn what we can do for you. You'll be able to check out our samples, the papers we use, and ask us any questions you may have about our services.

Other designers participating in the event include:

Flight Path Designs
Lemonade
Track + Field Designs
Gingerly Designs
and others...

For more info visit:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=15395469378
http://www.gingerlydesigns.com/gingerlystore.html

The first 25 people to attend with receive a gift bag worth over $50 filled with goodies from Gingerly and participating designers (you know you want one...get there early!). And there will be free treats from Sweet, the cake shop across the street...Seriously, who can say no to cupcakes?

We have been pretty busy around the studio lately (hence the lack of new blog posts) and have been printing custom invitations for three weddings, business cards, a variety of personal stationery items, and a custom letterpress art print.

Last week I was so angry with our C&P press that I was ready to kick it (which would have been stupid, seeing as she is built of cast iron, and I would have clearly been the loser in that fight). Most of the letterpress printing equipment being used today is very old - this press in particular was built in 1911. This means that the equipment comes with flaws and problems caused by years of wear. My problem was uneven inking being caused by the rails on which the rollers run. The rails are more wavy than the Pacific ocean. No amount of taping or adjusting would solve the problem. Luckily I was able to find a printer in Florida willing to sell me a set of roller bearers, and also learned a trick involving the use of old photopolymer plates to even things up again. All is well again, but it was a frustrating time indeed. This business of printing is certainly not for the faint of heart or patience.

Have you joined our Facebook group yet? If not, check it out: http://www.facebook.com/events.php?ref=sb#/group.php?gid=9587009750 I'd love to see 75 members by the end of summer!

Happy letterpressing!

Boxcar Love

Image courtesy and © Boxcar Press

A big thank you to our friends at Boxcar Press in Syracuse NY for posting about our HOW Magazine coverage on the Boxcar Blog. We use their Boxcar Base and and plates exclusively for our printing - it's a great system.

And there are other reasons to love Boxcar, like:

• they have a bunch of PDF press manuals available for download from their website
• the Boxcar Institute Training Series videos (learn to how to set gauge pins, register your plate, adjust roller height, and so on - boy do I wish these had been around when I first started printing!). Check out the Introduction video that promises: "A heart-thumping letterpress music video that’ll make you want to get down and dance to the beat of your platens."
• Boxcar plants a tree in my honor (through American Forests) every time I place an order over $100
  
• t-shirts featuring your favorite letterpress, including this one for the kidlets in your life
  
  

I don't have children, but if I did, they would be wearing this shirt (but a C&P version, of course).

Here are a few other random letterpress-related goodies I've spotted lately:

Kale Letterpress Print Tote, by Pianonobile

Aveda Hand Relief (for getting rid of that inky stink and dryness after scrubbing off ink and/or grease - it smells like lemons), by Aveda


A giant ampersand bookend/door stop/*self-defense mechanism (*their words, not mine), by House Industries

This week I have 3 sets of even invitations to print - two designed in-house, and one from a local Vancouver designer. I am excited to get started and will post photos when complete.

Happy letterpressing!

Sunlit Letterpress Available at Planet Kid (Toronto)

Photos © and courtesy of Planet Kid

We are excited to announce that the Sunlit Letterpress Prêt-À-Porter line is now available at Planet Kid in Toronto, Ontario. This wonderful boutique offers beautiful things for children - and I wish it was closer so I could shop for my friends' and relatives' babies and children. The store offers clothes, home decor, and accessories for babies to age 6, and now letterpress stationery (including our "Bun in the Oven", "Oh Baby" and notecard designs).

Next time I'm in Toronto, I'm definitely stopping by:

Planet Kid
960 Queen Street West
Toronto, Ontario
M6J 1G8

If you are a retailer interested in carrying our stationery, please feel free to contact us for a wholesale catalogue and order form. We'd love to hear from you!

Happy letterpressing!

Tagged by Megan!

© 2008 Sunlit Letterpress

Thank you to everyone for your kind words about our HOW Magazine coverage! You are all very sweet : )

I've been tagged by Megan at Megan Creates, a fellow letterpress printer in Massachusetts, so here we go:

What were you doing ten years ago?
Ten years ago I was on summer break from my second year of university. I was living at home for the summer and working at a demolition company as an office assistant/admin person. The office was located on a junkyard, and every afternoon I had to plan my escape very carefully. You see, the junkyard had a lot of theft problems, so there was a company worker that lived on the property with 6 guard dogs. I always had to make sure I was out of the yard before the guy was back from his workday, because that is when he "released the hounds" for the night. These weren't just guard dogs, they were junkyard guard dogs, and although you'd think there isn't much difference, I assure you there is (they would scare the bejesus out of a regular guard dog). Anyways, there were a few times where I tried to leave when the dogs had already been released for the night. Not cool.

Five items on my to do list:

order printing plates, call my paper rep, send out some estimates, get ready for a "Meet the Designer" night at one of my retailers in July, do some laundry

Snacks I enjoy:
Whoa nelly, that is one can of worms you do NOT want to open. I'm a candy and chocolate fanatic. Although I can't eat treats everyday, some of my favorites include: Laura Secord Frosted Mint Chocolate bars, See's Candies, Harry and David Chocolate Covered Strawberries, candy corn, and marshmallow bananas and marshmallow strawberries (yes, everyone thinks I'm totally gross for eating those).

What would you do if you were a billionaire?
I'd make sure everyone I know is comfortable and then donate most to charities. Honestly though, I don't think I'd change my daily life too much (except for maybe living elsewhere, like the places listed below).

Places I would live:

Kapalua/Napili, Maui, Hawaii

San Diego, California

Georgetown, Grand Cayman

Sydney, Australia (and some of the other great spots I visited up along the East Coast like Cairns)

Jobs I've had:

office go-fer

ice cream scooper/server

real estate office receptionist

office assistant

policy developer/writer

web designer

communications officer

graphic designer

letterpress printer

I am supposed to tag more bloggers, but that will have to wait. It's 10:44 PM and I am zonked.

Happy letterpressing!