Invitations close to done

Well, I've been busy lately. Instead of sketching my creative time has been spent on wedding invitations for our daughter. My calligraphy originals went to the printers for the invitation, RSVP card, Reception card and Map card, and we like the results. Now it's time to address the envelopes. The finished product is shown at the left. I used some watercolor pencil to add a splash of color on the owls. At a bit over 100 invitations, that is 200 owls! That took me a while. The folder is creased (got to buy more gear!) and folded. The map card is creased and folded. Then I used transfer tape to glue the invitation to the backing to the folder. And, because of all the paper being cut (the invitation backing sheet plus misc.), I bought a nice table top rotary paper cutter.

As for addressing the envelopes, my corner of the basement is shown below. It's nothing fancy or expensive, but I like it. I have my hot tea and nice music and my quaint little domain. It's a slow process but it's worth it.



I'll be getting back to sketching after we get these in the mail. We had a quick trip for Spring Break to Seattle where our son just got a job. No time to sketch live, but I took pictures so I could work up the sketches later. That's in the work. Just not enough time.

More later.

To The Printers

Our girl's getting married and I'm taking on the invitations! I've dabbled in calligraphy for years and love it. My first big project was twenty nine years ago when I addressed envelopes for our wedding. I have a standing offer to my nieces and nephews that Uncle John will address their envelopes as a gift. Some have taken me up on it, and they were rewarding to do. Being of German descent I really enjoy writing out some of the traditional names. They look sharp in calligraphy.

For Amy I wanted to do it all from scratched. I pitched the idea after coming up with comparative costs to commercially available offerings, and they "gave me the job". Amy went with a pocket fold format, with individual cards for RSVP, Reception and Map. With invitation they are folded together in a pocket fold envelope. She had the idea of the owls, so I came up with a simple sketch after looking over the Internet for sample owl sketches. I needed to find out what "makes an owl" with minimum line work. All my work is done large scale and scaled down by the printer. I've gone with an off-set printer (good stuff) because my dad was an off-set pressman and I wanted it done in a way he would be proud of, since he's not here to see the event.

The last picture also has a mock-up I made to illustrate the concept. I'll have more pictures later of the finished product.

PS: I finished the roto-tilling this weekend and didn't blow my cool once!