letterpress bookmarks
Last month a pair of our friends asked us to print letterpress bookmarks as wedding favors for their chic New Year’s Day wedding. Ashley and Erik studied Architecture at the University of Tennessee during the same period Emily and I were in school. They were each top of their class, are positively brilliant, and without a doubt perfect for each other.
After we received the file from Ashley we got started. The design was simple and elegant with a quote from Lebbeus Woods. It was a great job for us novice printers to tackle. Our intent was to laser cut delrin to make the plate in a similar fashion as our business cards but the font was so small it would have been risky. We opted for a magnesium plate to keep everything crisp. During this process the image is chemically etched into a magnesium plate and then mounted onto a piece of wood to get the type to registration height. At first glance the text on the plate looked far to small to print clearly but after inking up the machine it turned out to leave a beautiful impression on the Crane Lettra 100% cotton paper. Although the tone was not as solid as one could achieve with other printing techniques the salty effect added a depth of color and texture in the areas of the solid black circles.
Not only was the mag-plate the best choice for printing this job but it is was also beautiful. I included the plate as part of their wedding gift and I hope it is something they treasure.
Congratulations Erik & Ashley! We are incredibly happy for you both and wish you a marriage full of love and happiness, thank you for including us in your wedding day.
Now I just need a good architectural design book to pair with my bookmark.
I looove these!!