Letterpress
These days we don't have to use the old wood type blocks of days past (unless we just want to). To get these stunning letterpress wedding invitations, we can create clear polymer plates from your art. Then we ink up the press, put plate to cotton paper, and boom--a beautiful, deeply-pressed invitation!
In order to make one of these plastic plates, a few things are needed:
1) All art needs to be set to a Pantone Uncoated ink. If you just want your job printed in black ink, please set it to Pantone Black U. To check if you've done it correctly, open your Separations Preview palette in Illustrator / InDesign and hide your ink color by clicking the EYE icon next to it. Your art should completely disappear! Here are instructions for setting your art to a Pantone Uncoated ink.
2) THICC ART ONLY! No hairlines. Because it's a polymer plate, if the art is too thin, the plastic will break on the plate. So all the art needs to be a certain thickness to hold - specifically at least the thickness of a 0.35pt stroked line. See how to check this here.
3.) "Press Quality" PDF is the preferred filetype, or a packaged Ai or Indd zip file with fonts included or outlined.
4.) Save your PDF with crop marks (set to 0.5pt - the THICC ones!). See how to do this if you're using Illustrator, or InDesign. Except for envelope art - NO crop marks please.
5.) If any of your art runs off the edge of your invitation, include a bleed setting of at least 0.125".
6.) When you submit your files for print, make sure they are created from vector art in Illustrator or InDesign. If vector art just isn't looking very good, you can also create a bitmap tiff file. See detailed instructions on how to make both of these here.
If you are doing 2-color letterpress, you can send us one PDF with both Pantones together. If you are doing 1-color letterpress and 1-color foil, please send a separate PDF for each process.
Foil Stamping
Who doesn't adore a shiny gold foil?? For these, we use solid copper plates (heavy!!) and have a plethora of house foils to choose from: Gold, Silver, Copper, Rose Gold, Champagne, White, Iridescent, and more.
To set up your files for foil stamping, follow the same instructions as for Letterpress, above. Just set your art to Pantone 873U and in your order request the color of foil you'd like.
Flat Digital Printing
Your standard high-quality printing on a digital laser printer. Great for watercolor art, greenery, colored crests, and photo Save-the-Dates! Send us your files as Press Quality PDFs with crop marks (& bleed if needed).
Pro-tip: If you want a broad area of 1 solid color (e.g. you want the back of your Save the Date to be a beautiful deep green color), we recommend incorporating a colored paper instead of trying to print a solid color - the results are always 100% better this way. You can come in to peruse our paper swatch books or order your own Colorplan swatchbook or Lettra swatchbook online.
Thermography
A traditional process where the text is slightly raised and has a shiny finish, like plastic. Unfortunately we've discontinued our thermography printing at this time but our pressman will give you a free letterpress notecard if you promise to never mention it again.
Emboss & Blind Press
Emboss - the art is raised up out of the paper. Usually done blind (without ink). Uses a male and female die together for most dramatic result. Can only be done on single-ply paper (but can then be duplexed to another sheet for a thick 2-ply result).
Blind press - pressed into the paper like letterpress, but without ink. A more subtle effect, good for accent art.
To set up your files, follow the same instructions as for Letterpress above.
Duplexing
For a more dramatic invitation, duplex it to equal 2-ply, 3-ply, or more. Some printing can only be done on a 1-ply sheet (such as digital printing) but we can duplex it after printing for that luxurious, ultra-thick feel.
Also useful for mixing stocks - such as duplexing black paper on white or when a specialty paper needs a firm backing.
Torn Deckled Edges
Arturo pre-deckled - comes in specific Arturo sizes.
Hand-torn Lettra or Arturo - we tear these by hand ourselves and can be any size.
Pro-tip: Size your deckled piece 1/8" smaller to account for the rough edges and make certain your piece will fit inside its respective envelope!
Edge-painting
Choose from a catalog of Pantone colors here or our library of shimmery metallics. Works best on 2-ply or thicker.
Can be paired with die-cutting but with a word of caution, as the die cut creates a beveled edge that allows for slight overspray of the edges. Light colors or metallics work best for this.
Die-cutting
Custom die-cutting, any shape you can imagine! We also have some house dies for things like circles, rounded corners, and more. Peruse our die template collection here. Send us your file as a PDF with and without the die template - so we can see where it goes but can print without the outline showing up! Or packaged Ai/Indd files are also great, where the die template is its own layer.
White Ink
Looks great on dark or medium-color stocks. More affordable than white foil. Sizes up to 8.5x14." Set up files as you would for letterpress, but with the text & art set to 100% K Black. (Everything you want to print white, set it to K black in your file).
Envelopes
Envelopes are critical to creating a beautiful suite that arrives where it's supposed to. Here is a handy list of common envelope sizes so you can plan your suite accordingly. Note that most of these sizes are available in our house Pearl White or Fluorescent White colors, and many are available in a variety of other colors as well. If not sure what color you want, you can come in to peruse our paper swatchbooks in person or order your own Colorplan swatchbook or Lettra swatchbook online.
Our go-to source for envelopes is Announcement Converters, so you can peruse their site as well for envelope ideas. If you are interested in a die cut envelope liner, we have a wide range of templates that fit the Announcement Converters' deep euro flap & pointed flap envelopes.
When sending art to print envelopes, do NOT include crop marks.