I am feeling a bit blog happy today so before I post the invitation suite to correspond with yesterday’s inspiration board I thought I would do an entry on our menus.  We have a lot of brides thinking about menus right now and, like programs, there are so many way to go.  We, as can be expected, kept it clean and simple.  Our menus were designed to tuck into folded rectangular napkins so they just peeked out as our guests took their seats.  We used the same colors for these as our programs: pewter and pale pink.  The napkins were eggplant and the tablecloth linens were pewter so you can sort of imagine the whole look together (we are still waiting on pro pics!).  To keep with our rustic-romantic feather/bird theme we designed some speckled eggs to hang out all adorable and cute in the corner.  Eggs just seemed right for this card, I don’t know why, but I think they worked well here.

We also experimented a bit with this card, since it was our own and we only have to please ourselves.  The eggs also seemed like good images to test the limits of Roxy and we decided to see how deep of an impression we could pull.  We added several sheets of extra packing behind the eggs and wow!  Look at how intense that impression is!  I love a deep impression as much as the next paper-loving-bride but I think we went a little too far on these.  They definitely throw a mighty shadow and POP but I don’t think I would do this normally.  This kind of impression also just isn’t possible for every piece.  Since the eggs were so isolated in the corner, with little pink text around them, they were able to suck up all the pressure of the press to create that look.  When there is a lot of text or other images on the page the pressure is more evenly distributed and the impression is more even all over and not as deep.  Doing something like this also isn’t so great for Roxy since it does put some serious strain on her antique body and she isn’t really designed to do that kind of work.  Back in the day a “kiss” impression was what was fashionable with letterpress- just the slightest impression, so it is just barely noticeable.  Many of the older letterpress artisans still operate this way and will refuse to do a deep impression- they would probably have a stroke if they saw my menus.  This just wasn’t done.  But, C and I love the feeling of a luxurious and noticeable impression and will keep pressing that way.  This is what our clients are typically looking for too, and that is important to us.  So without any more lessons in letterpressing, here are our menus, crazy deep impression and all:

Those eggs are making a statement!

POP!

Check back later today for our inspired bow invitation suite!

xox, A