Lunalux letterpress stationery

Stationery Saturday: Two projects, one day

Jenni — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 23:52:42 +0000

Stationery Saturday on December 3 will feature two different projects. Personalized photo cards will be running on the Heidelberg Windmill, while the Vandercook cranks out Americana buckslips. Whichever you choose, you’ll go home with a unique set of cards, printed just for you. First up: Holiday Photo Cards! We’ve created three different designs, pre-printed with a seasonal greeting and a decorative border. Choose from the cherry red Merry Christmas, aqua Happy New Year, or lime green December Whatever. All cards measure 5×7 inches, are letterpress-printed on shimmery bright white card stock, and have room for a horizontal photo. The press will be inked up with jet-black ink, and we’ll print your family name or other brief phrase along the bottom. All you have to do is slap a snapshot on there when you get home, are they’re ready for the USPS. And to answer your question, we recommend a glue stick. The photo cards include matching white envelopes, but you can upgrade to even fancier lined envelopes for an additional $1 per piece. These are gonna knock the socks off everyone on your mailing list!

We’re also revisiting one of our favorite Stationery Saturday projects from this past year: Americana Buckslips! We created this suite of four designs over the summer, but we think they look pretty good this time of year too. You choose your favorite motif: patriotic bunting, arm & hammer, stars & stripes, or time flies. The name or phrase of your choice will be printed in black ink using 24-point Huxley Vertical, a slender & elegant font, on the hand-cranked proof press. You can even try operating the press yourself if you like! Cards measure approximately 4 by 9 inches, and will be paired with your choice of parchment-style open-end envelopes. We’ll tie a letterpress-printed tag to the package using lovely baker’s twine, and the set is ready for gifting (or hoarding).

While we try to change things up a bit each time we host a new Stationery Saturday event, some things remain the same. The presses run all day, from 11a.m. to 6p.m. We’ll have homemade baked goods and fresh coffee to nourish the body, and lots of good cheer to nourish the soul! Quantities are limited, and guests are served on a first-come-first-served basis. Cost is $29 for a set of 10 cards with plain envelopes (additional cards with the same imprint are available for $2.00 each). Visit our Stationery Saturday page for more details. We’ve even created an event listing on the Lunalux facebook page, if you’d like to R.S.V.P. and/or invite your pals to come along. Give us a jingle at 612-373-0526 if you have any questions.

Stationery Saturday: a collaboration

Jenni — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:18:05 +0000

Stationery Saturday on November 26 will be unlike any we’ve done before. Our cards this week are a collaborative effort between Lunalux and St. Paul-ite Lee Anne Swanson-Peet. This talented artist and seamstress has created two unique designs that we’re offering for personalization during this event. The retro Hotel Holiday design, printed in dark green and bright orange inks, has room in the marquee for two short lines of text. The more abstract Flight Map design, printed in red and dark aqua, can be personalized with a name, city, destination or other brief phrase. Cards will be imprinted using charcoal gray ink and 24-point open-faced lead type. Customers will have their choice of orange, sage, yellow or turquoise open-end envelopes. We love that these cards are so different from the styles we normally offer, and are thrilled to share them with our customers. We hope that this will be the first of many forays into collaboration with friends and colleagues whose work we admire.

Swanson-Peet will also be on hand with the fruits of her sewing studio too. For sale: totes and bags in a variety of sizes, and aprons and mittens for kids; all are crafted from her hoard of incredible design-driven fabrics (some vintage, some brand new). Between the Stationery Saturday cards and the one-of-a-kind textile creations, you ought to be able to knock a few names of that holiday shopping list of yours!

As always, Stationery Saturday will run from 11a.m. to 6p.m. Guests can shadow printer Jenni as she sets type and runs the Heidelberg Windmill, or enjoy complimentary coffee and homemade sweets in the shoppe while we make our printing magic happen. It’s a great day to check out our selection of holiday cards and 2012 calendars and datebooks, or stock up on papery treats for yourself and everyone on your Nice list.

Visit the Stationery Saturday page for more details about this weekend’s festivities plus future Stationery Saturday dates. You can also use the event listing on the Lunalux facebook page to RSVP to the event and tell your stationery-loving friends about this.

Stationery Saturday: wood-type folded notes

Jenni — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:13:26 +0000

Our collection of wood type has been a great source of inspiration for us lately, and it shows in this week’s Stationery Saturday designs. We filled a press with a bunch of orphan characters, and printed this mismatched pattern on folded cards. Saturday November 12, from 11a.m. to 6p.m., guests in our Minneapolis studio can get these woodtype cards personalized on the spot, for just $29. For the first time in Stationery Saturday history, two unique customization options will be offered: a monogram in bold aqua letters or a name/phrase in orange type. Here’s how this will work: first select tan or gray pre-printed cards. If the monogram design is calling your name, you’ll head to the Vandercook proof press where Morgan will be printing with aqua ink and sleek wood characters. If you need more than three letters to get your point across, Jenni will take care of you at the Heidelberg Windmill, with orange ink and a couple different 30-point lead fonts. You can tag along as we set type and bring your cards to life, or check out the holiday cards and 2012 calendars in our shoppe while we work the presses. And if you’re too busy to stay, you can place an order on Saturday and pick up your cards at a later date.

Can’t make it to our studio on November 12? You can still get in on this action! We will continue to accept orders (while supplies last) from customers in our shoppe, through November 18. Far-away friends can order online through the Lunalux storefront at feltandwireshop.com.

You’ll find details about this week’s designs, along with our plans for the November 26 and December 3 events, on our Stationery Saturday page. If you’re a facebook user, we hope you’ll connect with us there too. That’s often the first place we reveal Stationery Saturday designs, and we always create events listings so our friends can help spread the word. Visit the events tab on our facebook page if you’d like to RSVP to one of our upcoming events!

Lunalux in Twin Cities Business magazine

Jenni — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 02:01:36 +0000

We get Twin Cities Business magazine each month, and always find interesting stories in here about developments in the broader community. We’re thrilled that a few of our letterpress stationery products were included in the November 2011 issue, in a story about holiday gifts in the work place. The story includes a brief Q&A with Daniel Post, the great-grandson of manners maven Emily Post. Mr. Post gives this advice regarding the best gift for a colleague or employee: “Stick to items that can be used in the office like stationery, paperweights, et cetera.” That being said, we’re pretty sure we’re ground zero for all your office gifts this year! Look for Twin Cities Business on newsstands near you, or check out the mag in digital format. Lunalux products are on page 26. Other recommended reading in this issue: there’s a story on page 16 about our pal Barry Rubin, who’s now both a pen seller AND a pen DESIGNER. Way to go, Barry!

Old client = new intern

Jenni — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:35:55 +0000

Our call for interns this summer garnered a lot of compelling inquiries from interested parties. We were most thrilled to hear from Ritalee, who is no stranger to these parts. She is, in fact, a former client! She had fond memories of the wedding announcement we created for her in 2009, and her interest in letterpress was further fueled by taking a class at Minnesota Center for Book Arts. One brief interview later, and she was hired! She instantly fit right in. Since her internship began this fall, she’s been rocking the bottom spot on the Lunalux totem pole, attacking each task we give her with enthusiasm and creativity. Just before Halloween, she blurted out a great idea for a card and we said “Let’s make that happen. Today.” So a few hours later, her Crappy Halloweiners card was born. If you haven’t had a chance to meet this newest member of the Lunalux team, do look for her next time you visit. Tuesdays and Thursdays you’ll often find her manning the shop.

Welcome back, Morgan

Jenni — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 23:00:39 +0000

Many changes afoot at the Lunalux studio. John, our beloved printer who ran the Heidelberg here for nearly 10 years, has left the studio to invest more time in his own card line (you may have seen it in our shoppe – Dude and Chick). This left studio owner Jenni in need of a new wing-man. And we’re thrilled to announce that position is being filled by a familiar face, former intern Morgan. Morgan rocked the Vandercook for a year or so after graduating from MCAD and before pursuing an advanced degree. But grad school wasn’t her cup of tea, and it just so happened that we had a position to fill right when she wanted to move back to the cities. We’re thrilled to have her on the payroll now, helping around the studio with all manners of tasks, chores, projects and jobs: typesetting for Stationery Saturday, processing orders, cleaning up Jenni’s messes, and getting to know our excellent customers. Since she came back a few weeks ago, she’s already had her first lesson on the Golding jobber. Here she is scoring Lunalux greeting cards on our hand-fed job press. If she keeps going at this rate, pretty soon she’ll be running the joint! Next time you visit, be sure to give her a high five and welcome her back to the Lunalux team. Watch for more personal news soon – we have at least one intern joining the rank this fall too.

Stationery Saturday: Patriotic Buckslips

Jenni — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 22:38:08 +0000

As the summer winds down, we’re feeling nostalgia for mom-baseball-and-apple-pie kinds of comforts. With love of country in our heart and the national anthem on our mind, we created a series of four red-white-and-blue buckslip notecards. During the September 10 Stationery Saturday event, all four designs will be available for personalization while you wait! The 4×9 flat cards will be pre-printed with navy and scarlet icons. The Heidelberg windmill press will be loaded with gray ink, and our case of 14-point Caslon Italic will be at the ready. Stop by our shop between 11a.m. and 6p.m. and we’ll do your stationery biding – the name or phrase of your choice can be printed on a set of 10 cards for just $29. Cards will be paired with parchment-style number-10 envelopes (your choice: gray, tan or natural white). It’s gonna look nice and old-timey!

Our store is jam-packed with great greeting cards, notebooks and other papery treats right now, so there’s good shopping to be done while you’re waiting for your turn at the press. And we’ll have coffee and homemade cookies to share as well. There’s really no reason for you to not stop by this Saturday.

We’ve created a facebook event for this weekend’s Stationery Saturday, in case you feel like RSVP-ing and/or inviting all the stationery-o-philes you’re connected to. And if you can’t come in this Saturday, no worries – you can order on line! We’ve added this weekend’s designs to our online storefront at feltandwireshop.com.

Pride poster

Jenni — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 21:01:31 +0000

This weekend’s Pride festival in Loring Park will bring thousands of folks to our neck of the woods. We invite everyone to stop by our studio for a little printing project, to raise money to combat the Minnesota Marriage Amendment on the ballot in November 2012. Our Vandercook proof press will be set up with bold wood type and a rainbow of ink; visitors can try their hand at printing or pick up a ready-to-go print. We’re asking $10 for each poster – we’ll keep $2 per poster to cover our costs, and donate $8 from each poster to Minnesotans United for All Families, the campaign that is working to defeat the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in our state. We try to steer clear of politics in our work most of the time, but we’re so sickened by this proposal, and we’ve been struggling to think of ways to raise awareness and help prevent this yucky amendment from going into effect. We’re envisioning these posters hanging in windows across the Metro, and brandished at rallies for months to come. We’ll be open Saturday from 11a.m. to 6p.m., and are looking forward to printing with all the festival-goers.

Summer Vacation!

Jenni — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 14:39:54 +0000

The Lunalux studio is closed Friday June 17 through Monday June 20. We’ll be back to our regular schedule on Tuesday June 21 – open Tuesday through Saturday 11a.m.-6p.m. See you soon!

Stationery Saturday: Regal Crest Cards

Jenni — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 21:07:13 +0000

This week’s Stationery Saturday notecards are inspired by a recent trip to England. We’ve prepared three regal crest designs: Red Rose, Gold Lion and Celadon Trefoil. Stop by our Loring Park studio on Saturday, June 11, to get your very own set, letterpress-printed before your very own eyes! You pick the crest you like best, and we’ll personalize your cards while you wait. The name, phrase or royal title of your choice will be printed in a stony taupe ink, using vintage 18-point Eve Roman type. The hefty natural white flats measure 6.25×4.5 inches, and will be packaged with matching natural white envelopes. The cost: just $29.00 for 10 cards and envelopes (additional cards with the same imprint are available for $2.00 each). You can watch as we work, snap photos and ask questions about the letterpress process, or snack on homemade cookies and browse in our shop while we make the magic happen on the press. We think these cards might be just right for the dad in your life (Father’s Day is June 19, hint hint) or a soon-to-be gradute who’s job-hunting this summer. We’ll be printing from 11a.m. to 6p.m., so we hope you’ll pop in for a visit.

Are you feeling a little deja-vu-y? It’s not you, it’s us! We debuted these designs in May, but due to a variety of snafus on our end, the event didn’t get an appropriate amount of fanfare! We so fond of these crests, we wanted to give them another moment in the Stationery Saturday spotlight before we move in to other designs. Take a look at our Stationery Saturday page for more details, including a list of upcoming Stationery Saturday dates. Help us spread the word properly this time around by telling the letter lovers in your life to check it out too – you can use the Stationery Saturday event on facebook to invite them. Cheers!