From Wendy, our guest blogger:

My mom and I figured out that we could take a bus from the airport to Milan, and then take a train to Bergamo.  Unfortunately, our bus ride was an hour longer than expected, was stuffy, and by the time we got to the bus depot, we were nearly out of oxygen. Furthermore, I was starting to dwindle on little sleep and airplane food.  My mom found a food stand and offered to get me something to eat.  NO ONE SPOKE ENGLISH.  I think she said that we were Americans, so they ended up giving us americanos instead of food. Nevertheless, the caffeine was temporarily good, and we figured out how to get ourselves on the correct train at Stazione Centrale, the beautiful, industrial, Mussolini-looking train station in Milan.

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Thank you so much Kelly for giving me my first ever guest blogging opportunity during your couture paper goods series.  I’m Laura Hooper of Laura Hooper Calligraphy and I spend most of my days hand-lettering envelopes from clients around the world as well as creating other pieces of art using calligraphy.

When it comes time to place your invitation order that is when you should consider booking a calligrapher if you choose to use one.  If you have the money in your budget I recommend choosing someone who is a professional calligrapher, because you are more likely to appreciate the end product.  Thanks to the Internet, you don’t have to be restricted to finding someone in your area, especially if there happens to be a shortage of calligraphers where you live.

The type of calligraphy I practice is called “pointed-pen” calligraphy. It is one of the most time-consuming ways of lettering and can be the messiest if you are not careful! This form of writing involves dipping a calligraphy pen numerous times in an ink well in order to form each word. It can be quite difficult to develop an affinity to how to hold your pen and how much pressure to apply. Every person is different and there are hundreds of different pen tips available for that reason.

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Hi, I’m Christine and I’m an invitation designer from .cevd. {custom invitation studio}. First off, I would like to thank Kelly for inviting me to contribute to her blog.  It is so much fun for me to be a part of this series as I kinda live for paper products and I am hoping to show you a bit of what goes on during the design process.

My work is a bit different than some other invitation studios around, so my process is in turn a bit different as well.  I work on a strictly custom basis, which allows for absolute control and creative freedom for the client. I am just there to get their ideas out on to paper. And it typically starts like this:

The number one most important thing to know going into the design process is your budget.  Once you have that figured out, everything will be so much easier. As Becky said in the previous post, there is a significant cost in the set-up of letterpress printing, and this is the same with flat printing and engraving alike, though with flat printing the overall cost isn’t as high. It is good to know this going in so you might be able to weigh your priorities money and design wise. It isn’t a fun conversation to have, but it is always the first one I have with my clients.

After the business side of things has been hashed out, I like to proceed to colors. This is one of my favorite parts as I get to pull out all of my paper samples. I might actually have gone into this business just for the little rectangles of colorful paper; I can’t get enough of them.

After paper comes ink color, and the possibilities are endless. I recently had a client come to me with an old envelope addressed to her grandmother in a dark brown ink that she wanted to use for her invites.  It took us about 10 minutes to decide between about 5 browns that were so close to one and other I kept getting them mixed up. Her invites are currently being printed and I am so excited to see them.

Now comes the absolute most fun part of my job. Sitting down and grinding out all of the details of my clients’ lives. I grill them about everything they do and love, and then i ask them the theme of their event. It always helps to know where they are coming from before I start brainstorming graphic elements. Then, along with the clients, I go through numerous samples and revisions until everything is just right.  During this process my walls are plastered with quick print outs, so I can be absolutely sure of scale and balance.

Finally, the joy of the final approval and the sending off to print. I am typically giddy at this point as I can hardly wait to see everything. It takes about 3-5 weeks for me to get letterpress and engraved invites back, and that timing is cut a bit shorter with flat printing. During this time, I hang the final proofs together so I can keep track of what is out of my office.

After I have looked over every piece of paper that is included in the invite, I package them up and send them out. It is so wonderful to be a part of a complete process and have a gorgeous finished product in my hands in the end.

Good luck with your invitations; it can be one of the most fun parts of the planning process, so enjoy it. I always hear brides say that seeing their actual invitations all of a sudden makes their wedding real. It is the first of a long list of exciting things that take place during the planning of your wedding and you should love them all!

Thanks so much Kelly for allowing me to guest blog on letterpress printing!  I’m Becky from Sugar Plum Invitations and we are so happy to have done printing for Kelly Oshiro Events.

Letterpress printing is a classic form of direct printing that dates back to 1400’s and the Gutenberg press.  It’s very labor intensive, but the end product is unmatched in texture, crispness of the typography, look and feel!  Here’s a little behind the scenes look at this vintage art.

Since these presses are for the most part no longer manufactured, finding one can be tough, especially since they are a bit rarer on the west coast.  Our presses are about 50 and 90 years old, we also have a small tabletop version that is over 100 years old!

All our ink is hand mixed, and we prefer heavyweight 100% rag cotton paper.

Once the press is oiled, and prepped we ink the plate at the top.  You can only run one color at a time, so therefore most letterpress printed work is either 1 or 2 colors.

Once the ink is nicely disbursed we attach the custom plate (we use photopolymer, it is a raised type).  The rollers ink the plate and then the plate is pressed into the paper allowing the depression and transfer of ink (thus “direct printing”).  Each piece of paper is hand fed, and there are countless ways to mess up.  (Let me tell you, we’ve done them all.)

For each color ink you use, you have to clean the whole press and re-set it up to print the next color. It really is a labor of love, but there is something kind of magical when it all comes together and works!

For more information on printing check out Briar Press or Letterpress Print Society.  It’s so exciting to see this art form seeing a revival.

A few tips for brides: Because of the cost of a custom plate, setting up and running the press, higher quantity or single color projects will be less expensive.  If you are a designer, often printers will give you a discount if you are supplying all the artwork.  Our print calendar fills up, so it’s always a good idea to plan ahead for your invitations.  You can letterpress print on envelopes, coasters, postcards, menus, place cards, napkins etc.  If you are concerned about ink colors matching, ask your printer for an ink sample or have them order a specific Pantone numbered ink.  Always ask to see samples of their work.

As Martha Stewart says on her website, “While large printing plants have almost all converted to offset print and computerized typesetting, small print shops using letterpress printing can still be found and can be the source of exquisite stationery.”  Well put.  Thanks so much for allowing me to share Kelly!

Hello there! My name is Megan van den Bergh of Nutmeg Press, and I love to make paper!

For this post I’ll be explaining the Western style of handmade papermaking. There are quite a few different fibers to choose from and they are all very good for different reasons, depending on the purpose your paper will serve (invitations, business cards, etc.). The paper you’ll see me making in the following photos is made of 1/3 hemp and 2/3 cotton (tree-free!). It should be noted that although I chose not to pigment this paper, many colors are possible. Please also note that all the water I use for this process goes through a special filtration system that is pH balanced, making the paper acid-free and archival.

This is a picture of one pound of raw hemp and two pounds of cotton that comes to us in these sheets called linters.

First, I have to cook the hemp in boiling water and rinse it a few times to soften it up.  This process also gets rid of nasty toxins that would make the paper darker and less archival. While the hemp cooks, I let the cotton soak in water.

Once the hemp has cooked and the cotton has soaked, I place each fiber in a Hollander beater by hand.

The beater sends the fiber around in a circle and through a device that looks like a water wheel, chopping and pounding the fiber up into small, tiny bits. This creates a fluffy slurry of material called pulp.

The pulp is drained from the beater and put into a large tub, or vat (if I’m making colored sheets, this is the time where I would add ground up pigments to the mix). Now it’s time to form some sheets!

I use wooden frames covered in mesh to make sheets. The mesh allows water to drain out, while keeping the pulp on top. All it takes is one big dip through the water and you have a sheet!

Next, I wait for the water to drain out the bottom (you’d be surprised how heavy this actually is — this is where you need some serious muscle)….

… and then I place the frame with your sheet attached on top of a soaking wet piece of felt. It’s important to press really hard so the sheet doesn’t have air bubbles or stick to the frame.

Yay! Look at that! A sheet of real, handmade paper. Beautiful, right?

To dry the paper, I first put it in a screw press overnight to let most of the water drip out. The final step is to put each sheet between a series of blotter papers and under the pressure of a hydraulic jack to ensure the paper dries flat.

While the process looks fairly simple, it’s extremely laborious; it takes 5 days to make one batch of paper (about 30 sheets). Handmade paper is truly unique and gorgeous, and absolutely worth all this work, though! Not to mention that it’s totally fun and exciting to make.

I would love to make custom paper for you, so please email me, at megan[at]nutmegpress[dot]com with any questions about sizes, colors, thicknesses, prices — anything, really!

Thanks so much, Kelly!

This week I’m having a series of guest bloggers write about one of my favorite things– couture paper goods! From papermaking, to letterpress, to invitation design, I’ve got a guest blogger on each topic… just who you ask? You’ll just have to wait and see!

[image via Sugar Plum Invitations]

I just got photos from Angelina & Jeff’s wedding shot by Sweet Monday Photography. You can check out the full gallery here.

Today I’m guest blogging over at Sparkliatti for the lovely Sasha Souza while she is away planning an event in Malibu. If you haven’t been to Sparkliatti before, you must check it out! Sasha is hilarious and has great color and decor ideas. Enjoy!

I just got my latest email from Town and Country Event Rentals and they’ve added even more fun pieces to their collection. The first (and my new favorite) is the Amalfi Cabana. I love the contrast of the sheer fabric swagging with the dark masculine wood. I can’t wait to use it!

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I didn’t realize it yesterday, but it was my 100th post! How time flies when you’re having fun blogging.