Today Kate has been printing the first color of a wedding invitation on our Vandercook printer. I'm more used to seeing her printing on the Golding Jobber so I was very curious to check out how the Vandercook works!So, for any other letterpress enthusiasts out there, here's a little photographic step-by-step guide to how to print on the Vandercook.

First of all, ink is applied to one of the rollers:

Then Kate ensures that the machine is in "trip" mode. This means that she can ink the rollers without actually printing onto the cardstock.

Then she turns the crank so that the rollers are evenly coated with ink:

The rollers are returned to their original position and Kate then switches the machine to "print" mode. This enables the rollers to actually press into the cardstock and transfer the ink and the impression.

The next step is to carefully place the blank cardstock in the correct place. There are a row of "grippers" which hold the card and also a guide which lines up the card so it is perfectly aligned:

Then it's simply a case of turning the crank! As long as everything is correctly set up, the grippers on top of the rollers will scoop up the card:

And then the process will continue by rolling the card under the rollers, against the inked plate, leaving behind the inked impression. Then Kate just has to pull the printed item out of the grippers:

And - voila - a finished piece (well, the first color anyway!). It really is amazing to see how many little movements and skilled elements are involved in printing just one color of one piece. It really reminded me of the craftmanship of letterpress printing and the care and attention that goes into the process!

Here's a pile of the invitations ready to have their second color applied:

- Jana

We just printed this really cute business card for a client. We love the illustration of a paper plane! And the typewriter style of the text...

Sometimes we are asked to do some printing for clients who have quite a high profile. We never get too star-struck but at the same time, it's lovely to see our designs and printing featured online and in print.We recently bought ourselves a copy of Martha Stewart Weddings so we could take a look through their coverage of the wedding of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. We printed the letterpress borders which surrounded their silhouettes on the opening page of the article.

We also printed cards for guests to fill in with messages for the happy couple!

We have added a new notecard to our range. It is great for Valentine's Day but as with so many of our items, you can really send it at any time of the year.I've also been experimenting with 'styling' our photos a little more - cue calligraphy, props and artful arrangements! I think it does help to show how lovely our products are: what do you think?

We're also getting ready to run a workshop with Etsy: print your own Valentines! We've designed a bunch of really cute little cards and participants will have the opportunity to print a sheet of these and then cut them out and color them in themselves. Stay tuned for photos and a round up of the event!

- Jana

When we work with clients to design and print their stationery, we are always careful to ensure that there is clarity around our colors. Sometimes, we'll get an e-mail from a client who asks us to match an online color. This is really difficult: different computer monitors have a massive impact on how the colors look. We much prefer to be sent an actual, tangible color swatch. That way, we can match the exact Pantone color.With this in mind, we've also been working on printing color swatches:

We love how these mini-tree prints look when they are all arranged together. We've been handing them to our clients so that they can flick through, get a sense of how the color looks when it has been printed and also place colors together to see what complements what!

Here's another shot from a different angle:

Which is your favorite?

- Jana

Usually, for the first six months of the year, we are mainly focused on printing wedding invitations. We call it our 'wedding season'. But this week, we have a huge corporate job that we are working on for a great client. Kate is non-stop: she has already trimmed 5000 cards to the correct size and now - as I write this - she has started the process of printing them one by one! Phew! To give you a sense of the volume of paper, here's a photo of just some of the piles:

 

When it comes to the RSVP for your wedding stationery, there are plenty of options. We are going to address these through a series of posts.First of all, the most simple option is to use a blank card which just requests that your guests respond by a certain date. This is a lovely way to encourage people to write you a personal message.

We love the color choice on the invitation above and the way in which the text is a little slanted and seems to run off the card slightly.

However, this style relies on the idea that your event is completely self-explanatory and all you need to know is who is coming. If you are having a few different events, or if you need to know menu choices in advance, you'll probably need a more in-depth RSVP.

Often when clients discuss their personalized stationery with us, we try to encourage them to include a motif or image that represents them. Sometimes this will be something related to their job (a pen and inkpot for a writer or a hammer and nails for someone who works in construction or woodwork). Or, it might be something more related to their hobbies (a camera for someone interested in photography perhaps).We love these notecards because the client has chosen an image which literally captures one of his defining accessories: a pair of bold glasses! Teamed with a bright lined envelopes these are just super.

- Jana