Letterpress Terms for the Average Joy - 3

Last one!

Goal
To have better knowledge of some of the details that come with letterpress from Spark

Paper
Reclaimed cotton- paper made from the reclaimed fibers of the garment industry.
Joy's reclaimed cotton- no trees were cut down to make your invites, etc. Recycling is a beautiful thing!

Chipboard- unbleached, pressed fiber thick paper, usually made from recycled paper.
Joy's chipboard- Well it's looks and feels like really hard cardboard. It is what the albums are made out of.

Fun Details

Die-cuts- a method of punching or cutting out any special shapes by using a metal form, called a die. Also used to refer to the cut out shape.
Joy die cuts- The shape of the product. Spark has amazingly fun shapes for business cards: circles, squares, ovals, stars, flowers, and many more.

Eyelets- an object that consists of a rim and small hole or perforation to receive a cord or fastener, as in garments. An eyelet may reinforce a hole; a shaped metal embellishment containing a hole.
Joy's eyelets- tiny metal holes that let our fabulous finishers add your choice of colored string to the pocketfolds.

Pocketfolds- not really any sort of definition here, just a cute pocket that holds all the invite stuff. It can be debossed as well, string or a bellyband. to hold it together. Other vendors refer to the pocketfold as an envelopment, enclosure or pouch.

Monograms- a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or company, used as recognizable symbols or logos.
Joy's monograms- on wedding invites, a couple sometimes do their first name initials in a circle for example. (See image above for the AE)

I hope you learned something through this series! If there is something else you would like to learn about let Spark know!!!

National Stationery Show Wrap-up

It was so exciting to complete another National Stationery Show. Connecting with our retailers, potential and existing, was one of our favorite parts. We currently have retailers in 45 locations, and are working on the second wave of releasing our new custom albums. It was a very good feeling to leave the Show with many, many cards in hand of people interested in carrying Spark. Now that we are back home, we are seeing the applications come in from all over and will be speaking with all of you soon.

If you are a retailer considering the Spark custom albums, please don't hesitate to contact us if you have additional questions. We were so thrilled to meet all of you and want to have you feel good about choosing Spark.

Valerie (the creative sister) & Diedre (the organized sister)

Spark at The National Stationery Show

The organized sister and the creative sister arrived in NYC Friday to set up for The National Stationery show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Pictured above is our booth 1756. We've had a great time so far. It's fun to be back at the show and can't wait for it to start tomorrow. It will be wonderful to meet new and familiar faces. There are so many designers and retailers we are excited to meet over the next few days.

Letterpress Terms for the Average Joy- 2

Big thanks to Diedre for helping me out by writing out the letterpress process!

Goal
To understand the process of going from design to your retailer.

The letterpress process
...a la Diedre Johnson who you all know and love.

Once an order is approved to print, our designers take the files and prepare them for printing. Our print files are sent out to be made into film. It is at that point the colors are separated. Blind letterpress (remember?, no ink) is also counted as a color. The film is then brought to Spark to be made into plates that will ultimately be used on press. We use photopolymer plate material (yellow plastic looking stuff). Our platemaker takes the exposed area on film (artwork and text) and leaves a raised area via an ultraviolet light exposure and water washout of the low (non-image) areas. The plates are then placed on press on an aluminum base, then are ultimately pressed into the paper to make an impression.

Our pressmen typically mix inks by hand and apply to the rollers on the press. The amount of ink is increased or reduced to achieve the wanted color. The pressman also spends time preparing each plate for accurate placement on the base. This is a tricky process, one that we are very careful with as we try to achieve tight registration and accurate alignment. Also part of the process is adding packing material to the press in order to achieve an even impression. Each color requires a plate, so for three colors, the sheet goes through the press three times. After printing is done comes finishing to add those fun details like ribbon, sewing, folding, etc. Then it goes to packing and is sent to your retailer!

Spark understands that most of our clients would prefer a deep impression, which we achieve by varying packing material and increasing pressure while on press. Keep in mind we are not always able to get a super deep impression, especially when artwork and text is made up of very fine lines. Too much pressure can cause cracking or distortion of the artwork, which we try to avoid.

This is the process explained in its simplest form, so keep in mind there are a lot of tricks of the trade and adjustments left out because we can't give away our secrets! Our senior pressman, Jim, has been printing letterpress since 2004 and has refined his craft over the last six years. Also behind the scenes is our art director, Valerie, who press checks all jobs on press for color accuracy and impression. She also ensures that all of the fine details are not missed and she has an uncanny ability to see flaws.

In Letterpress Terms for the Average Joy- 2.5 comes the definitions for photopolymer plates along with the types of letterpress machines Spark uses.

Retailer Profile: Pulp and Ink

Pulp & Ink

Chicago, IL

Owner: Colin Falco
Length in business: since 2001

Why did you choose to carry the new Spark albums: I liked all the designs and love the mixing and matching.
Favorite new Spark design: Margaret

Social Media
Facebook: Pulp and Ink
Twitter: @pulpandink
Website: www.pulpandink.com

We've worked with Colin for four years now, and very much appreciate his business. Located in Chicago's Old Town, he has a wonderful storefront as seen in the photos above. Colin stays on top of the stationery trends, offering his clients a savvy design sense that speaks volumes. Many of the custom wedding invitations we've created with him are among our favorites. We encourage you to visit Pulp & Ink the next time you visit the Windy City!

Letterpress Terms for the Average Joy- 1

Here we go everyone!

Goal
Learn the definition of letterpress

Letterpress Definition- refers to a process, term for the relief printing of text and image using a press with a "type-high bed" printing press and movable type, in which a reversed, raised surface us inked and then pressed into a sheet of paper to obtain a positive right-reading image (Wikipedia)

Joy's letterpress- Really amazing older machines take nice paper and press (really hard) into the paper to make an impression. If you can feel the design, it is probably letterpress.

Impression Definition- a mark, an indentation, figure, etc produced by pressure.

Joy's impression- the design/words that get pressed into the paper.

Embossing/Debossing Definition(this one Spark does)- a mechanical process that creates a three-dimensional image in the paper's surface, often using two metal or polymer embossing dies, lots of pressure. Some printers distinguish between embossing (raising the paper's surface) and debossing (depressing the surface as with type).
Joy's debossing- essentially, the impression we just learned about is also the deboss because we take the design (images and words) and press that into the paper, so we deboss here, not emboss.

Blind debossing- pressing only the design into the paper, no ink involved. (see image)
Ink debossing- pressing colored ink into the design on the paper.

Letterpress Terms for the Average Joy

(Do you get the title? Not Average Joe. I do think I am clever sometimes.)

I, Joy, have been an intern here since September and when I began talking to our retailers for the Retailer Profile series I realized I needed to learn a lot more about the industry and the terms they use. Then I realized that most people do not know a whole lot about letterpress either so why not have me learn while others can too. That way, when talking to our retailers, you may have some better knowledge of the terms and what you like. My goal is to give some sort of a dictionary definition followed by a "Joy" definition.

I have planned a three part series of the Letterpress Terms for the Average Joy. The first focusing on what letterpress is and the basic terms that go with it. The next will cover the process and the machines we use and how they work. The last one will be a little more fun and cover things from the Design Book (papers, details). I learned a lot from this experience and I hope you do too!

Part One to come soon!!!