Sneak Peak: Silverplate Press Holiday Cards

I'd really love to show you my first ever Silverplate Press creation (the holiday cards!)... but I would really love it if those who are receiving one will get to see it there first, rather than on the internet. So for now I will just have to continue the tease...  I can tell you this much though... Justin mixed a wicked deep silver ink and I totally learned some tricks with trimming these suckers. Fold then trim! Never, ever the other way around! I hope you're all enjoying the holiday season! 10 days until Christmas Day! The countdown is officially ON!

Cheers! I will be showing off the cards in a few days.

Christmas polymer

This has been a while in the making but it's finally coming together. My Silverplate Press holiday cards! I'm so excited to print them! Last night I picked up my polymer from a local supplier, and I've got a good QC guy to make sure everything is A-Okay!

I change my mind A LOT when it comes to designing something for myself, so designing these cards was a bit of a challenge. Originally we were thinking that a funny line from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation would be great (from this scene... starting with This is going to be... and ending with Danny F***ing Kaye)... so I tested the waters with it.. and everyone that saw it, thought it was funny but didn't know what it was from... so I decided against it... Maybe next year. lol.

the Silverplate Press studio

Hello there, I'm so happy you are here. I'd love to introduce you to my gigantic Vandercook letterpress, which I often refer to it as the elephant in my living room. He weighs 2000 lbs, is 76 years old, totally human powered and is really great at making beautiful impressions into pieces of paper. There is such an incredible value to handmade things, (just look at the success of Etsy!), and my curiosity in handmade design is what lead me down this path to begin with. I took all the workshops and classes I could to learn just how these fundamental roots of graphic design worked. I'm a graphic designer by day, a very structured kind of job, with plenty of people to please and rules to follow... handmade design is freeing in a way, and in my opinion has an authenticity that computer generated design just can't compete with. Is it in the imperfections that the real beauty of letterpress shines. When you feel that impression in the paper, there isn't anything else like it. Hard to believe that used to be thought of as a bad print in olden days.

Enough with the rambling!

Welcome to the Silverplate Press blog and I hope you come back again to see the fun things that go on in the studio!

Chris & Sarah Wedding Package

I've wanted to share this wedding package for some time now, and I'm so pleased to finally be able to post it here. Now that the last piece of the pie was finished (the thank you notes), the set was finally complete. I had such a fun time printing these for Chris and Sarah. It was a serious combination of woodtype, lead type and polymer plates. Those invites went through the press 7 times each! Unreal, eh?! The invites match up to the beer coasters and strawberry-vanilla jam labels, (what a cute take away).

This was my first real big job for the vandercook and it got my butt in gear to set it up and figure out all the quirks. (Forever thankful to Sarah!) I'm still adjusting and feel that my ability is slowly getting better. Thank goodness there is such a wonderful letterpress community out there on the internets! I don't think I could have come to this conclusion if it wasn't for Briar Press, Tanya from Snap & Tumble, George Walker (my letterpress prof) and keeper of the Lovers of Letterpress along with his lovely wife Michelle. Your help has been incredible! Thank you!