This weekend we’re hosting Stationery Saturday at our studio – July 31, from 11a.m. to 6p.m., we’ll be creating personalized letterpress notecards for customers while they wait (click here to visit our Stationery Saturday page and read all about it). As long as the press is up and running, we’re going to print a few extra sets to give away! So here’s the deal. Click here to visit the Lunalux blog; find an interesting post from the last few months, and leave a comment (it’s got to be more thoughtful than “I hope I win the contest!”). Comments must be submitted by Friday, July 30, 2010, at noon central standard time. And be sure to put your e-mail address in the comment form. Friday afternoon, we’ll put the names of all the commenters into a proverbial hat and pick 4 winners. The winners will be contacted Friday afternoon, to find out what they want printed on their cards. Pictures of the winners’ stationery will be posted on our Facebook page next week.

The fine print… Only one entry per person will be accepted (but you won’t be disqualified for leaving multiple comments – comment away!). If you don’t include a valid e-mail address in the comment form, you won’t win. We reserve the right to edit comments. Winners will be notified via e-mail on Friday afternoon; winners MUST respond to the notification e-mail by 10a.m. Saturday 7-31-2010, or no dice. Good luck and have fun!

Two new books  include spotlights on Lunalux. Our little shoppe is featured in the second edition of eat.shop twin cities, a guide to the best local shops and restaurants in Minneapolis and St. Paul. You’ll also find a few photos of our work in Impressive: Printmaking, Letterpress & Graphic Design, an overview of contemporary design in letterpress and screen printing. Lunalux was included in the original edition of eat.shop twin cities (published in 2007), and we are honored to have made the cut the second time around. Once again, the editorial staff did a top-notch job selecting the most interesting Minnesota-grown shops and eateries. The design of the book, the artistic photos of all the businesses, and even the quality of the paper it’s printed on, all help make this the most irresistible local guide, great for natives and newcomers alike. The book is available in the Lunalux studio store, along with eat.shop guides for many other major U.S. cities.

Impressive is more of a coffee table book, bursting with letterpress- and screen-printed eye candy. Designers from all over the world are included in the tome, with a focus on Europe and North America. The styles vary from crusty wood-type posters to polished business collateral to dreamy arty prints. The 200+ pages of images are studded with interviews with innovative printers (including Ben Levitz of Minneapolis’ own Studio On Fire). We particularly love the text-based posters of Douglas Wilson, and everything from Mike Burton (“The Cranky Pressman”). One of our thank-you cards is featured on page 15, while page 98 is devoted to a series of wood-type ice cream signs we printed for Izzy’s Ice Cream in St. Paul. We’re not carrying this book in our shoppe, but you should be able to find it at a giant bookstore near you.

Click on the images below for larger views of Lunalux pages in these books.

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.

original short: Lunalux from mn original on Vimeo.

Clear your calendars, pop some popcorn, and get ready to watch some letterpress action on your TV tonight. Twin Cities Public Television launched a new program last week called MN Original, which highlights the diverse arts community of our fair state. Tonight’s episode will include a segment about Lunalux! We spent a few hours filming with Mark Fischer and Chuck Olsen back in January, when the show was still just a glimmer in the production staff’s eye. So we’re excited to see what they’ve put together for broadcast. To whet your appetite, they’ve created this video short in which the sounds of our Heidelberg Windmill mingle with the music of Savage Aural Hotbed. The show airs at 7:30 p.m. tonight (that’s Thursday, April 29) on TPT, and there are a few rebroadcasts scheduled throughout the coming week. The full episode will also be posted on the show’s website, mnoriginal.org

Our state is abuzz with state fair talk. This time of year, it’s all we Minnesotans can think about! If you’re headed to the Great Minnesota Get-together on Thursday September 2, be sure to visit the Newspaper Museum in Heritage Square, where you’ll find Yours Truly operating the Chandler and Price platen press, 2:30-7:30p.m. (I also worked at the museum yesterday, when I recruited a visitor/letterpress enthusiast to snap a few pics of me printing souvenir bookmarks) The museum is heavy-metal time warp, full of antique printing equipment from the now-defunct Maynard News: the C&P, a linotype machine, a cutter, and big machines for printing and folding the newspaper. The museum is always looking for volunteers, too, so if you know a thing or two about letterpress and are interested in helping out at the Fair next year, they have a volunteer card you can fill out during your visit.