ABC's of Printing (And Turning Text into Art)

I hope you enjoy this informative "guest appearance" on the Encantare blog from the ever creative Lucy Kozozian, owner of and designer for Saraphina Collection.

It was not long ago that Lucy and I got to have a discussion about the printing options in today's stationary business, and I asked if she would mind my putting that conversation into something brides and grooms could also look at to help them on the road to creating their wedding invitations. Lucy kindly obliged, and we're happy to share it with you!

A century ago printing on wedding invites served one purpose-to inform your guests about the upcoming nuptials. This was often done by hand and ink through a calligrapher. If it was done in print, it was done by formal script engraving.

A century later we live in a time where anything goes as far as wedding invitations. You can even have coconuts hand painted for your fun loving, tropical destination wedding. With the custom invitation craze sticking hard and fast, learning more about the options and actual processes is important as well as fascinating and will help you make an informed choice for creating invitations and stationary that reflects your own individuality.

Die cutting, embossing and de-bossing, engraving, letterpress, lithography, and thermography are just some of the options available to you as a consumer today. Below find these terms defined and a brief history to help you along the road to your own custom invites needs (and don't forget those "Save the Date" cards, your wedding announcements, "Thank You" cards, and personal stationary!)

• Die Cutting: The process of die cutting is a fairly new trend, and it cuts shapes into or out of your actual invitations. Many "scrap bookers" are already very familiar with this process, with their own small, at home die cutting machines. This can make your invitations into any shape imaginable, or cut a shape out of a (come to the Wedding Salon event at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons in September and pick up a sample of a "Bridal Doll Chain" at Encantare's booth!).
  
  TIP: This process is especially fun for themed wedding, making pumpkins or oak leaves for fall, hearts for a Valentine's celebration, star fish or sand dollars for the beach, parasols or fans or an Asian inspired theme...the possibilities are endless.
  

• Embossing/De-bossing: An embossed print is raised, while de-bossed is recessed. This process, particularly embossing, has become a more cost effective version of letterpress (more on that later). And it is also a process "scrap-bookers" and "stampers" are familiar with! Both embossing and de-bossing creates a dynamic effect with it's outstanding texture on paper.
  
  TIP: Some people use de-bossing to recess a rectangle around the edge of their invitation and print inside that, using more than one method.

• Engraving: The process of engraving has been, historically, most widely used process for printing wedding invitations. Etching words deeply into a steel or copper plate, begins the engraving process. Ink is spread over the plate and wiped down so just the inked recessed wording remains, which then gets transferred onto paper. This is what creates the wonderful raised texture of the printing. Because of the time and labor intensive process, engraving remains the "gold standard" in wedding invitations.
  
  TIP: It also takes several weeks to create, so if your budget allows and you're set on engraving, start early!

• Letterpress: Along with engraving, letterpress is a time intensive (and therefore costly) process, but the outcome is absolutely breathtaking. It is truly a bit of renaissance.
  
  Created by hand setting one raised letter at a time, or by making a plate, it then the inked letters get pressed deeply into the paper. Because of it's versatility, the printing looks amazing in just about any font a person could choose. You can even use light inks on dark papers. Remember again, plan in advance for this technique because it can take many weeks!
  
  TIP: If your budget is limited but you're set on letterpress, try just having your monogram in letterpress at the top of your invitations.

• Lithography: Known for being economical and readily available, lithography is also known as "offset" printing. It is cost effective because you can use portions of the large plate it is created on for different parts of you invitation suite, such as RSVP cards, programs, menus, etc. The limitation? You can only use one color for all of the different portions of your suite and the printing works best on smooth surfaced papers.
  
  TIP: Find a beautiful paper with a light texture, and with your savings on printing, add a fun or exquisite embellishment.

• Thermography: This technique has been recently created to be a cost effective printing option to engraving because it also has a raised surface. Beware though, the printing can (and most often does) bleed on the edges creating a little blur in the words and the ink has a high sheen to it.
  
  TIP: To save money on all the printing you'll need for your wedding, save thermography for your engagement party, wedding shower and thank you notes!

For more information and to create your custom invitations go to www.saraphinacollection.com, or call 818-653-0391 and let them know that Brynn sent you!