Elephant/Safari Themed Letterpress Invitations

Hello friends! Above are photos from a custom letterpress invitation suite we designed and printed for our clients Sarah and Ryan from Victoria, BC. Sarah and Ryan had some wonderful ideas for their wedding invitations - including the incorporation of elephants (which have a special meaning for the couple) and leopard print. It was important to the couple that the elephants be African or have a African safari vibe/feel (i.e. no Thai or Indian-style elephants). This difference may sound trivial to some, but there is a big difference between illustrative styles for elephants based on their geographic origin.

When Sarah first mentioned leopard print, I have to admit I had a moment of panic. When I first think of leopard print, my mind always automatically brings up visions of 1980s ladies workout gear. (Yes, I lived through that era...and yes, skinny jeans and other related 80s trends that are making a comeback these days still frighten me...). But, this isn't too say that leopard print and other animal patterns can't be sophisticated and elegant if used in the right way. We used a very light ivory/warm white for the inking of the leopard print in the invitation suite - to keep it subtle and use the leopard print as a sort of textural element.

I must say, these invitations are one of my favorites to date. I really like how different they are from the typical florals and lace that is usually associated with weddings. It's not that there is anything wrong with florals and lace - it's just that when 75% of your design time is spent on wedding invitations, it's fun to work with unique graphic motifs.

We also designed and printed a custom letterpress wedding menu for the reception and printed it in the same copper brown as the invitations. The menu made me drool whenever I was working on it - yum!




It was a pleasure to work with Sarah on her invitations - and as with over 80% of our clients, we worked with Sarah only via phone and e-mail, and have never met face to face. I am in Victoria frequently however (my in-laws live there), so perhaps one day I can congratulate Sarah and Ryan on their nuptials in person!

If you are interested in custom letterpress wedding invitations - whether you are in Vancouver or on the other side of the globe - please contact us! We look forward to working with you to make letterpress a part of your big day!

In other news, I am going to go check out a new (well, "new" is a relative term when it comes to presses) press for the studio on Friday...I'm not holding my breath, just in case it is in bad shape...but I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks to our friend Paul (a fellow student of the late Jim Rimmer) for the heads up!

Custom Letterpress Business Cards for Designer

Did you know that we can print your letterpress business cards for you - even if you designed it yourself or had another designer design it for you? Yes, we do that! Maybe you've doodled your own ideas for a card on a piece of paper, but aren't sure how to translate these ideas into a draft, or aren't comfortable with design software? No worries, we're here to help! We'd be happy to take whatever start you've made and take it to print! Please contact the studio for more information and for our latest price sheet.

Above is a photo of business cards we printed for graphic designer Betty Hung - she designed the business card (we love the little icons!) and contacted us to see if the design would work well for letterpress printing. It was perfect for letterpress, and her artwork turned out nice and crisp on Crane Lettra 110 lb. Fluorescent White cover stock.

Thanks again Betty - it was a pleasure to work with you on these cards!

Custom Butterfly + Dragonfly Letterpress Invitations

Above are photos of a custom letterpress wedding suite we designed and printed for Jessica and Scott for their wedding earlier this summer. The bride had some ideas about how she wanted the invitations to look, and we enjoyed taking her direction. We also loved her color choices - a bright fuschia and coral.

This invitation had a special meaning for the couple - the dragonfly represented a family member who had passed away unexpectedly. Working with the couple to include this personal tribute in the invitation was an honor for us. Every couple that we meet with has their own story, and helping a bride and groom include something symbolic in their stationery is satisfying for me on a personal level.

Our studio is busy with invitations for Fall 2011 weddings, and Spring 2012 brides and grooms are also getting started with their stationery planning. If you are interested in a quote or more information on our letterpress design and printing services, please contact us early to avoid disappointment. Please note, our studio will be closed for a significant portion of December 2011 for holidays - so if you need your stationery early in the New Year, please do not hesitate to contact us.

In other news, in the next week or so I will be asking our blog readers for photos (more details to come later...) in exchange for free letterpress stationery...so be sure to check back with our blog again very soon!

And finally, for some reason our Facebook group seems to have disappeared. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I think somewhere along the line Facebook changed from groups to fan pages or something and somewhere in the switch we lost our page. I will have to look into this...Does anyone know anything about this or had this happen?