If you have nice business cards (perhaps even designed and printed here at Lunalux?), you need a nice business card case. Even if you have lame cards (not designed and printed by Lunalux, of course) you probably want a nice case so that when you give away one of your cards, there’s a little pleasure in the act, right? We’ve done scientific research, and can now conclude with some authority that the best card cases are made by ACME. These slim, sturdy cases are very well made, and very stylish. Each silver-tone case is highly polished inside and out (the inside is as good as a mirror, in terms of checking for spinach in your teeth or whatever), and topped with a glossy bit of art.

We’re stocking 12 designs, created by a wide range of artists. Some are pretty and girly, some are sleek and manly. Surely there’s one in the mix to suite your tastes. And with the holidays sneaking up on us, we think they make a fantastic gift as well. ACME card cases are available at the Lunalux store for $34.

When we started making custom wedding stationery in the mid-90s, save-the-dates were hardly a blip on the radar. But over the last few years, we’ve seen them bloom into a commonplace component to the wedding planning process. Save-the-dates get your wedding on the busy social calendars of guests near and far, and are especially helpful to those who will need to travel for the festivities. Because they’re a fairly new wedding tradition, there aren’t many strict etiquette guidelines to follow. Save-the-dates can be mailed 6-12 months before the wedding, as soon as you have the date and location nailed down. One firm rule: every guest who receives a save-the-date must also receive a formal invitation. No pre-inviting your distant cousins, then pruning the mailing list for the invitations proper.

In recent months, we’ve had the pleasure of working with couples who came to us with really fun ideas for this first element of their wedding paper parade. Molly and David, who are planning a destination wedding in Arizona, wanted to include a cactus and a calendar on their announcement. The petite 3.5×5 announcements are letterpress-printed in warm colors on plush ecru paper, and paired with a sunshine-yellow envelope (click on the photo, above-left, for a larger view). Elizabeth and Will, who live in New York but are getting married at Minneapolis’ Mill City Museum, wanted their save-the-dates to have the bold, gritty feeling of a concert poster. We combined an image of the old buildings near the museum, including the distinctive Gold Medal Flour sign, with distressed type. The image and text are reversed out, so the negative space is letterpress-printed in bold orange ink on smooth thick white cardstock. We let the ink coverage run a little light, to enhance the weathered feeling of the finished image.

Leah and Jeanie are planning their wedding ceremony in Canada, followed closely by a reception in the Four Season’s Dance Studio just down the alley from our store. Inspired by the international nature of their affair, the couple asked us to create a save-the-date that looks like a U.S. passport. A golden eagle adorns the front of the folded card, and the inside bears the brides’ stats passport-style, “stamps” for each of the events, and even a custom illustration of the iconic Spoonbridge and Cherry. And we couldn’t have asked for a more perfect paper than Neenah Paper’s navy and white columns duplex cover.

When Joyann, a freelance fashion/style editor from NYC, searched for business card designers on the internet, she found Lunalux. I was tickled that someone from such a high-fashion industry was drawn to our work (“I love your designs!” she exclaimed in an introductory e-mail), and excited to work with someone who has a serious sense of style. I asked intern Katie to channel her East Coast Fashionista (she spent a few months in New York interning at Harper’s Magazine) and assemble a package of samples to send to our potential new client. She picked some pieces of work that I was very proud of, and others that I would not have selected. But I trusted her experience and sent the samples off for consideration.

Well, good thing Katie helped – Joyann loved a dandelion motif that I never would have thought to include in the sample selection (click here to view the wedding invitations in which we first used this graphic). She also found some paper, ink and typeface examples that suited her. Through phone calls and e-mails we refined the design and created just what Joyann wanted: a lovely suite of business cards, notecards and envelopes, all letterpress-printed on 100% cotton papers in blue and black inks. Because the cards would be used primarily for work, it was important that everything look very professional. But since she’s a freelancer, her printed collateral could show off her personality, too. Click on the above image for a larger view of the finished product.

We used super-soft Lettra 110# cover for her business cards, while the A6 notecards are on a smoother 134# cover (same color, better texture for hand-written notes). Most importantly, we got the cards to her just in time for a business trip to The Other Coast. Interested in learning more about our custom-designed business and personal stationery? Check out the custom page of our website, or read about other recent projects in our blog.

Thanks to Kevin at meetyourprintmaker.com for featuring Lunalux on his blog last week. It’s a very interesting sight which highlights printers from various disciplines, including letterpress, offset, screenprinting, lithography, and more. It’s a showcase of shops and studios that do a really wide range of work, do check it out!

Ever wanted to see, up-close and personal, how letterpress printing works? Tomorrow is your big chance. Stop by the Lunalux studio store during our regular hours (11:00a.m. – 6:00p.m.) for Stationery Saturday. We’ll be creating customized stationery on the spot for all interested parties. The design this week: a 5×7 100% cotton notecard blind-embossed with up to 9 letters across the top edge. Cards can be paired with your choice of red, white or blue envelopes. For $29, you get 10 cards and envelopes, plus a one-on-one letterpress-printing demo. Complete details can be found on our Stationery Saturday page. If you miss this weekend’s event, we’ll be doing it again in October.