Helen & Erik live on the east coast, but they discovered Lunalux while visiting Erik’s family in Minneapolis. Erik gets credit for designing their wedding invitation suite, including the fantastic tree illustration. I suggested a few minor edits to the text and the layout, but my main contribution was calligraphy on the invitations and envelopes. The hand-written names are letterpress-printed along with the rest of the invitation text; I wrote the bride and groom’s names over and over again, until each curve was just right, then scanned the best versions and dropped them into the layout like a graphic. The full set – wedding invitation, rehearsal dinner invitation & response card – was letterpress-printed in black ink on pearl white 100% cotton Lettra 110# cover, with matching invitation and response envelopes. When all the work of printing and trimming was finished, I set to the hefty task of hand-addressing the envelopes too, so the mailing address matches the text on the invitations themselves.

I have worked at my penmanship for many years, so it’s a great honor for me to share it with my clients. I have addressed a few wedding invitations in my time, and have occasionally incorporated my handwriting into greeting card designs, but this is the first time that my lettering has been letterpress-printed on an invitation. And it was such a thrill to see the finished product! Since this project was completed a few months ago, I have taken on a few other exciting hand-lettering projects – I look forward to featuring them here in our blog in the coming weeks.

Curious about our letterpress-printed wedding stationery? Click here to read more about our design and printing services. You might also enjoy browsing through our blog archives, where we’ve featured many of our favorite wedding projects.

Photographer Josh Hackney came to Lunlaux with an existing logo for his business, and asked us to develop a memorable tag/business card. We agreed right away that the composition should be very simple, and the wow factor would come from the use of  luxurious materials. So we printed these jumbo cards (they’re 2.5×3.5 inches, instead of the standard 2×3.5 inch business card format) on super-thick 220# Lettra cotton cover. The perfect shade of pale blue-green ink (we decided to call it Sea Glass) looks dreamy on the slightly textured bright white stock. The card is so thick that when you hold it in your hand, you can’t help but really pay attention, to turn it over and study the way the type bites into the paper. It’s in that moment that the best detail catches your eye: painted edges. We’ve only recently started to offer edging service, and this is our favorite deployment of the process yet. Edging works best on the thickest of stocks, where you can really see the color. The cards were gorgeous before we did the edging; the last little touch of color really outs it over the edge though! We drilled tiny holes in most of the cards, so they could be attached to his new bags with lovely grosgrain ribbon, but some were left intact to be used as business cards. The business stationery package was rounded out with correspondence cards and coordinating envelopes.

Are you considering adding a little letterpress to your business collateral collection? You can read more abut our design and letterpress services for business stationery in the custom section of our website. You can also browse our blog archives to read about other business stationery projects we’ve worked on in the past.

One of the best parts of my job is that it affords me the opportunity to meet and work with wonderful people. In a recent week, we printed personal stationery for two new customers who I had great fun working with. The clients and their projects couldn’t have been more different! First we worked on notecards for Tim, a priest turned copywriter who was on the cusp of returning to work in the church again. Though our interactions were relatively brief, it was a treat to talk with him, and we think he’s been converted to a loyal Lunalux fan. His new correspondence cards feature the crest of the Episcopal church, letterpress-printed in black ink on hefty kid-finish cotton cover, trimmed to a generous 5×7 inches (plenty of room for musings spiritual and otherwise). When he picked up the finished product, we were tickled to see him looking so sharp in his new black and white uniform.

Next we moved on to personal stationery for Elle, another new friend of the studio. Elle has been on our mailing list for years, but we just started getting to know her in recent months when she’s come in for Stationery Saturdays. We were delighted when she asked us to create custom thankyou notes for her. While Tim’s crested cards are somewhat sophisticated, this gal needed something colorful and sweet to match her big personality. “Grazie mille” (“thanks a million” Italian-style), her favorite expression of gratitude, is letterpress-printed across the top of these 4.25×5.5 flats, with her name at the bottom. We looked at a few different decorative fonts for this simple design, but settled on Suburban because Elle loved the look of the double-Ls.

Are you dreaming of the perfect personal stationery? We’d love to make something special for you! You can read about other clients we’ve worked with in our blog archives, or click here for some general information about our custom design and printing services.

This weekend, Lunalux hosts another Stationery Saturday. We’ll have the press inked up and ready to roll from 11a.m. to 6p.m. on Saturday March 27, and we’ll be imprinting icon notecards all day long. You can watch for a mini letterpress tutorial as we set your lead type and run your cards through the Heidelberg Windmill, or do a little shopping while we do the dirty work. Clients will have three designs to choose from: black scissors, aqua pointer or red book. The name or phrase of your choice will be set in 18-point Goudy Old Style, and letterpress-printed in dark gray ink. The 4.5×6.25-inch cards are 130# bright white wove-finish bristol cover, and will be paired with matching white A6 square-flap envelopes. As always, it’s just $29 for 10 cards & envelopes. You’ll find more details about Stationery Saturday, and a schedule of upcoming dates, on the Stationery Saturday page.

This blustery winter weather is bringing me down. So I’ve been self-administering a little paper therapy, sifting through stacks of summery samples to lift my spirits. The most effective treatment thus far? Adrienne and Matthew’s vibrant fuchsia and tangerine wedding stationery. This was such a big project for us, I’m not sure why it didn’t make the blog before now. Were we too busy to write? Did we get distracted by pretty shiny objects? Hard to say! But I’m happy to share it with you now, mid-blizzard. We started working with the bride and groom last May. When they first visited Lunalux, they had specific ideas about what they wanted on their invitations (a funky little flower, and bold lettering with a strong emphasis on the date) but left the particulars of the design up to us. So it was great fun to experiment with different graphics, fonts and compositions. We explored a number of charming flowers, mostly culled from our vast library of clip art; so we were excited that they settled on this two-color image, a Lunlux original.

The wedding invitation, with its RSVP postcard and separate invitation for a pre-wedding cocktail reception, incorporates the mod flower and bold sans serif typography. Everything is letterpress-printed in bright pink and orangey-yellow inks on fluorescent white 100% cotton Lettra cover. The face of the stark white envelope was punched up with a little flower as well. The couple also took advantage of our hand-addressing services, and we mixed a custom orange ink for the project – such a great way to introduce another color into the mix without splurging on three-color printing! As the big day rolled near, we created programs for the ceremony, and placecards (again, hand-lettered wtih custom-mixed ink) for their outdoor reception.

You can read about other recent design projects in our blog archive, or click here to learn more about our custom-designed letterpress-printed wedding stationery