Sorry we've been off the radar a little lately. We've had some exciting press in the New York Times and it's brought in lots of lovely orders in time for the holidays.The New York Times featured our spectacle notecards in their gift guide: you can read all about it here.

And in case you want a peek at the notecards in question, here's they are, complete with a gorgeous coral-red envelope liner.

We have been so excited to share news with you about a lovely new line of letterpress wedding stationery that we have designed in collaboration with Lotta Jansdotter.

Lotta is a long-time friend and we've joined forces to design a gorgeous, contemporary range which links Lotta's beloved  illustrations and bright color palette with Sesame Letterpress’s luxurious letterpress printing.

Both of the designs are available in a choice of two fonts and four colors.

And if you're not getting married, but you still love Lotta's pared-back designs, why not get some thank you cards printed in time for the holidays?

Please do take a look at our website for more photos of this range and details about how to place an order.

- Jana

This might have been the first time we had the chance to design and print Sweet Sixteen invitations and it was FUN!

We love all the different letterpress components to this set: the pink "16", the invitations themselves and that lovely sparkly black folder.

The colors and design were chosen to be youthful but not childish. We're really pleased with how these came out!

Now we're excited to get more birthday invitation printing opportunities!

Our second Save the Date for a Kiawah Island wedding is totally different. This is one of the nicest things about working with couples on their wedding stationery: no two couples come up with the same idea.This Save the Date is simpler and completely text-based. The couple wanted the beauty of Betsy Dunlap's calligraphy to shine through.

This is such a wonderful way to really customize your wedding stationery: hire a calligrapher to render your names in a unique, one-of-a-kind font and then build the rest of the design around those words.

Here's a more detailed image of the letterpress impression of Betsy's calligraphy:

It fun for us to try out different fonts to work alongside this handwritten cursive. We opted for Neutra Caps which has a clean, contemporary feel. And that blue is marvellous!

Kiawah Island in South Carolina is a pretty magical place. Which could explain why we had a few couples work with us this season on Save the Dates for their 2014 weddings on the island.So first of all, feast your eyes on this really lovely Save the Date which features a map of the area and a teeny tiny heart to mark the spot:

We love the unusual colors used here: two shades of green and that little flourescent pop of pink to catch your eye!

Here's a close up which shows the detail and impression:

This is a great design for a Save the Date and we can customize the map to suit the location of any wedding.

We were asked to print business cards for Chalk 242. They are a branding, design and marketing agency based in New York and we loved the look of their own branding. It was a very satisfying challenge for us to replicate the weathered look of the dark blue on their business card. We had to ensure that the plate allowed for subtly different ink coverage in different parts.

We are proud of how we were able to capture the effect of a chalkboard! (And did we mention how much we love that deep-midnight indigo color?!)

- Jana

Last weekend, most of the Sesame Letterpress team were busy at the wonderful Dumbo Arts Festival. Meanwhile, I was over on the west coast, attending "Roadworks", a printing festival at the San Francisco Center for the Book.We love organizations that promote artforms such as letterpress printing, foil printing and bookbinding and the SFCB is no exception. It's a wonderful space and their open weekend was a lot of fun. The highlight was the very performative steamroller printmaking! And if that sounds complicated, here's a step-by-step, photographic explanation!...

First of all, a piece of board is placed on the road. On top of this is the inked plate, facing upwards. The piece of paper that will receive the impression is then placed very carefully over the plate and this is followed by a few layers of blankets and other protective coverings. Everything has to be lined up very precisely.

With a toot of the horn, the steamroller slowly moves forwards, following the guides that are marked on the ground and on the protective blanket. The steamroller went over the plate once, then backed up, then rolled over it a second time.

We all held our breath for the big reveal! The paper had to be removed really gently and carefully to ensure that the ink didn't smudge. I also loved the fact that at the end, the artist held up his work and everyone who had watched the event gave him a round of applause!

Finally, here's a photo of the table with all the finished prints displayed. They came out really beautifully!

- Jana

Following on from our previous post, which highlighted our banner design, we wanted to show you another variation.We printed this Save the Date for a lovely couple with links to America and England! The bride had a mug which featured little flags from both countries so we used that as a starting point for the design!

The colors also pick up on the flag colors. We are so proud of how nicely this printed: the teeny tiny stars on the American flags are all perfectly defined!