Lunalux is closed July 1 – July 9, 2007, so I can take a much-needed break. Imagine me relaxing for a whole week, and then imagine what a joy I will be to work with when I return. We’ll resume normal hours, Tues–Sat. 11a.m.–6p.m., starting July 10. See you then!

Do you dream about letterpress printing? Are you interested in learning about the operations of a small arts-oriented business? Now’s your chance to satisfy those curiosities! Lunalux needs a few interns to help out around the studio this summer and fall. This is an unpaid position, but interns will be compensated with deep gratitude, frequent pats on the back, and a few lunches from Quang Deli. Additional perks are negotiable.

We ask interns to commit to a regular schedule of 10-12 hours per week, for 2-4 months, starting in mid- or late-July. Primary responsibilities will include packaging wholesale products and doing quality control on custom printed jobs. Additional projects will be assigned based on individual intern’s skills and interests, and the needs of the studio. This is a great opportunity to indulge your paper fetish, learn some cool new stuff, AND help us out!

Contact Jenni at info@lunalux.com for more details. Also, do pass this message on to anyone you know who might be interested.

Lunalux will be closed Friday June 21 and Saturday June 23, so we can take care of some personal business (i.e. vacation!). We’re sorry that we’ll be missing all the Pride Festivities in Loring Park over the weekend, but nature calls and we cannot resist her siren song. Come visit us next week, please!

We just finished printing and padding lots of new scratch pad designs, including the lovely flowery summery ones pictured to the left (click on the image for a larger picture). These letterpress-printed notepads are handy for all over the house, you’ll find oodles of ways to use them: to-do lists, phone messages, shopping lists, love notes tucked into bag lunches, gift cards, angry messages tacked to the door of the too-loud neighbor in the upstairs apartment, etc. They’re just four bucks a pop, and make great gifts too.

Scratch pads are one of the things we make at Lunalux that are only available here in our studio store. So this fresh crop of designs should make all the east- and west-coast readers green with envy. You gotta come all the way to Minneapolis to get them!

Last week we created a new series of Little Letter stationery sets, with a two-tone floral motif letterpress-printed on bright white stationery. We printed the design in six color combinations, each paired with a vibrant colored envelopes. My favorites are the orange and aqua (shown in its package) and the lime and aqua (shown with a letter written all over it).

Lunalux first introduced Little Letters in 2004 – these petite stationery sheets measure just 4.875×6.75 inches and fold to fit into a 3.5×5-inch envelope (the smallest size the US Postal Service wants to deliver). The small format is great for anyone who wants to send a brief note, or aspiring letter writers who are intimidatedby larger stationery sheets. The packaging is eye-catching, and it looks great when multiple designs are displayed side-by-side on store shelves.

The six new Little Letter designs are already available in our studio store (retail price – $11.00 per package of 10 sheets and envelopes), and hopefully will be in stores across the nation very soon! Fresh sample decks for our sales reps are in the works, and I’m anxiously awaiting reactions from our reps and from store buyers.