2011 Calendar Designs, Part 1

October 26, 2010 // kristen // 2 replies

It’s finally that time of the year, time to share bunches of wonderful new 2011 calendar designs, and boy, there are so, so many beautiful calendars this year. I probably say that every year, but it’s true! Calendar design has been raised to an artform over the past few years, and I look forward with increased anticipation every year.

Ilee always creates something spectacular, and their 2011 letterpress and silkscreen calendar is filled with wonderful imagery, including a festive rabbit to ring in the new year (2011 is the year of the rabbit) and an October moon that glows in the dark. Awesome!

Already receiving plenty of buzz (and deservedly so) is this beautiful, modern, metallic gold foil and warm grey letterpress calendar by Seesaw Letterpress. I love that each page is perforated, so you can tear off the calendar part and frame the illustrations.

INK + WIT’s 2011 letterpress Totem Animals at Play calendar features a menagerie of amazing patterns and animal illustrations.

I have a huge owl obsession, so naturally I’m loving the 2011 Owl Lover calendar. This calendar is exciting because 1) it’s free!, and 2) it features downloadable owl illustrations from 30 talented illustrators. Choose your 12 favorite owlies, as well as the month that you’d like each owl to represent, print, and you have your own custom 2011 owl calendar!

Satsuma Press always creates such a beautiful calendar. The 2011 letterpress calendar is filled with soft and lovely illustrations to carry you through the year.

Inspired by the colors and shapes found in nature, Laura Macchia has created a vibrant, illustrated 2011 calendar, which features a different illustration each month.

And this is just the beginning. Look for plenty of other calendar roundups in the coming weeks, and I’ll be starting A Letterpress Christmas 2010 soon, too!

images from their respective owners

iLetterpress? Apple’s New Letterpress Cards

October 25, 2010 // kristen // 9 replies

I never thought that I’d be discussing Apple and letterpress in the same sentence, but here I am, discussing Apple and letterpress in the same sentence. Last week, Apple unveiled iLife ’11, a software suite that includes iPhoto, an application that can be used to turn your digital photos into photo books, albums, and other physical items. What has the stationery world buzzing is the announcement that users will be able to create letterpress cards using the latest version of iPhoto. Letterpress cards?!

Cards are available in 15 different styles, and they’re printed on 110# Crane Lettra Cover stock. Cards are $2.99 each, on the less expensive end of the letterpress card spectrum, but not crazy cheap. Photos and personalized text are digitally printed onto the ready to order letterpress cards, so you’ve got some flat printing going on, too. The cards are pretty cute, and photo cards are hot, hot, hot right now, but I’m feeling somewhat torn about this development.

Since the announcement about the new letterpress cards was made, many letterpress printers have expressed their concern about the new iPhone option, and I can see where they’re coming from. I realize that there are letterpress shops of all shapes and sizes out there, but when I think of letterpress, I think of small, artisan shops, not a gargantuan entity like Apple. This begs the question: is there such a thing as mass market letterpress? With the limited availability of presses and those who have the technical knowledge to be able to use them, can there be? If so, is this it? Also, is Apple outsourcing the work to a shop in the US? Overseas?

On the other hand, I see this as a smart marketing move by Apple, who are far from being slouches in marketing their products. Their customer base already consists of the majority of graphic designers, photographers, and other creatives, people who are more likely to know about and purchase letterpress printed goods. A number of these customers may be letterpress printers who are alienated by Apple’s latest move, but Apple’s undoubtedly playing the percentages here, and their goal is to capitalize on the popularity of letterpress, not to place nice with the small, artisan presses who have done the work in bringing the art of letterpress printing back in style.

So, what do you think? Will Apple’s new letterpress card option take the popularity of letterpress to even higher levels? How could Apple’s latest move affect small, artisan printers? Would you purchase these cards?

images from Apple

New Advertiser : Letterpress Paper

October 21, 2010 // kristen // 0 replies

I’m delighted to welcome Paper Crave’s newest advertiser, Letterpress Paper. Letterpresspaper.com is a division of Legion Paper, and the site’s aim is to provide access to high quality papers previously only available on a wholesale level. It’s a great resource if you’re a letterpress printer and are looking to check out a new paper without having to buy reams of it, or if you’re a printer who’s looking for a smaller quantity of paper for shorter runs and specialty projects.

Papers carried at Letterpress Paper include Legion Bamboo, Legion Eco-Rag, and Lettra, and I’m really enjoying their letterpress gallery, which features projects that have been printed using their papers.

Shown above, from the gallery: Desert Celebration wedding invitations on Corkskin and Lettra, and Paper and Silk wedding invitations on Arturo Softwhite with Japanese Cane collating and wrap. Both projects are from Sideshow Press.

images from Letterpresspaper.com

PS Brooklyn Wedding Invitations

October 19, 2010 // kristen // 0 replies

My heart always gets a little fluttery when I see gorgeous new paper goodies, and it was fluttering all over the place (don’t worry, I didn’t have to go to the doctor or anything scary like that) when I found out about PostScript Brooklyn, a new online wedding invitation shop from the creative team at Lion in the Sun, who have teamed up with their favorite Brooklyn artists to create the stunning new invite collection.

The collection features invites that speak to the urban bride and groom, with designs that include metropolitan skylines and iconic architecture, but I don’t see this as a line that will only appeal to city couples. There are so many gorgeous, nature-inspired and modern graphic suites in the collection that will undoubtedly appeal to both urban and non-urban couples. Customers also have the ability to customize any of the invitations in the collection by selecting paper weight and color, font color and style, and either letterpress or digital printing.

Much of the PS Brooklyn collection was designed by the creative team at Lion in the Sun, inspired by custom design work and client favorites that they’ve gathered over the last 8 years. For the rest of the collection, they’ve teamed up with some of their favorite local designers, including Jane Buck of Foxy & Winston, Liz Libre of Linda & Harriett, Rebecca Kutys of Moontree Letterpress, Nicole Block of The Nic Studio, Karen Van Every of Serimony, and Breck Hostetter of Sesame Letterpress. You can check out all of the wedding invitations in the PS Brooklyn collection at psbrooklyn.com.

images from PostScript Brooklyn

Paper Sales & Discounts, Mid-October 2010

October 14, 2010 // kristen // 1 replies

I usually wait until I send out my monthly Paper Goodies Newsletter to compile sales and deals for the month, but I’ve seen several great deals going on lately, particularly for early bird holiday card buyers, and I want to share before the discounts expire!

Bella Figura is having a Fall Sample Sale from now through 10/19/10. During the sale, all letterpress wedding invitation samples are just $1 each (regularly priced at $5 each), and 100% of the proceeds from the sale will be donated to American Forests, one of their favorite environmental organizations.

Minted just released their 2010 holiday card collection, and from now through 10/19/10 you can save 15% by using code EARLY19.

Use code HOLIDAY10 from now through 10/31/10 to save 10% on your entire order from Paper Dahlia.

Tiny Prints also just released their new holiday card designs, and you can save $20 on orders of $99+ and $40 on orders of $199+ through 10/18/10 using code hol40.

Save 20% on Hello! Lucky’s holiday collection (letterpress holiday cards, holiday newsletters, wedding holiday cards, holiday birth announcements) through 10/20/10 with code NEWHOLIDAY20.

Save 10% on holiday goodies from Caroline Gardner from now through 10/18/10 with code EARLYB.