Dauphine

Say it softly with varnish

After falling in love with blind hits (designs impressed into the paper using no ink), we got to thinking that a light tonal effect might give a bit more pop to our letterpress printed art while maintaining that soft and elegant look that our brides often look for.

While developing our Vizcaya invitation design, we decided to create something new—our Varnish ink, which offers a whisper of color and takes a tonal effect on any color paper. After its introduction in our Coral line last year we've seen bride's using it in many of our other invitation designs with stunning results.

Very versatile Varnish works great for large, bold designs, but can add just enough detail to images that might be too delicate for a blind hit. We love watching new pieces come off the presses using this technique. Keep them coming!

Shrader Design Announcement

Just out of our press room is this clean and sophisticated letterpress card announcing the launch of a new website for exterior designer Scott Shrader of Shrader Design. The piece was designed by Lisa Collins of Studio One San Francisco and printed on extra thick 600gsm Crane Lettra paper in grey ink with a blind (ink-less) hit on the back. We also utilized our vintage Rosback pin-hole perforater to create a breakaway business card with the company's name and url. Lisa's design paired the letterpress piece with an offset printed vellum slip-sheet inviting the recipient to visit www.shraderdesign.com. We encourage you do to the same and savor some of Scott's stunning exterior design work.