I asked Grania to write a piece for me to explain about all the details involved in the creation of stunning stationery, please read below to find out more –
When designing and creating bespoke wedding dresses for my brides and my new collections, I always fall in love with the fine details first and then the dress builds and creates from there. I am so passionate that every single garment I create is original, hand crafted and truly luxuriously beautiful, 100% handmade in London.
With this passion for hand crafted beauty in my bridal gowns, I seek out beautiful brands that truly honour hand crafted skill and over future blogs I am going to feature some of the amazing British luxury businesses that I use and adore in my own brand, Sally Bean Couture.
“At Sally Bean Couture we craft our luxury bespoke wedding dresses in London. “
First and so special, is Grania of Ink and Paper https://www.inkandpaperdesign.co.uk who crafts the most beautiful letterpress branded and wedding stationery, all from her studio in Ealing, London. Which is amazing as we are virtually neighbours.
Ink & Paper creates contemporary classic stationery and modern calligraphy for couples and brands alike. Founded in 2018 by Grania O’Brien, but many years in the making, it marries elegant style-led design with beautifully tactile traditional printing and lettering techniques.
Letterpress is a beautiful traditional printing technique which dates back to the 1400’s. A lot has changed since then, but the fundamental principle still applies: raised text is coated in a thin layer of ink and then firmly pressed into the page, leaving a beautiful debossed impression.
I recently had the pleasure of creating some notecards for Sally, and I wanted to share with you the process in a little more detail.
These days, a lot of the work I do starts life as a digital design, rather than being typeset by hand. This has numerous advantages, not least in being able to use new and interesting typefaces that aren’t available in hot metal form, and being able to integrate illustrated elements. Sally very kindly provided me with her beautiful logo, which I then had made up into a polymer plate. These are in mirror image to what you would see printed, to ensure the text prints as you would expect to see it.
I mix the ink by hand, matching as closely as possible using my Pantone guides, which allows me to mix virtually any colour I could wish.
Once I am satisfied with the match, I then go about setting up the press – oiling and greasing the moving parts and inking up the press for printing.
Then I mount the plate to the chase base, carefully measuring up where I want the graphic to sit on the notecard and ensuring that the alignment is perfectly straight.
At this point, I do an inkless test print, just to check that everything is as it should be: colour, alignment and the depth of the impression from the press (which I can adjust depending on the thickness of card I am using and the intensity of impression required by the client).
THE PROCESS
HAND CRAFTED LETTERPRESS TECHNIQUE
When I am satisfied with how it is set up, I then start to print. The very first item to leave the press is always a final sense-check for colour (I have been known to clean up and start again if the colour is not quite right!), before I launch into the rest of the run.
Each sheet is manually fed by hand into the press, which means I am able to ensure rigorous quality control. As letterpress is a traditional technique, there will always be fractional variations between each print, particularly when using handmade paper. However, I strive to produce as perfect an item as possible and employ rigorous quality control standards.
Et voila! It’s a slow and considered process that requires skill, and Sally is now the proud owner of some elegant personalised notecards that perfectly fit with her brand ethos.
“ Grania creates the most wonderful wedding stationery and branded personal stationery, I am so lucky to have my personal stationery created by her “
- SALLY
Ink & Paper creates tactile and elegant wedding stationery for the lovers and the modern day dreamers.
Combining artisanal techniques with contemporary design and a dash of understated flair, Grania creates beautifully bespoke letterpress and hot foil wedding stationery, and modern calligraphy pieces for discerning couples all over the world. Letterpress is also a fantastic way to elevate your brand’s image to something truly special.
It offers a quality of print rarely seen today, and will ensure you stand out from the crowd.
If you would like to use letterpress for your brand, why not visit www.inkandpaperdesign.co.uk and see what Grania can do for you.
THE LUXURY OF COUTURE
WEDDING DRESSES CUSTOM MADE IN LONDON
Please click the link below to read more about the luxury process and how I create invisible hidden corsetry within your wedding dress, built perfectly to your measurements to flatter and enhance your figure from every angle.
