Saturday, November 8, 2008

Coasters from Crane's New Letterpress Weddings Album: A Transformational Design Challenge

I love letterpress. I love its three-dimensionality. I love the images sculpted in fluffy, bulky cotton paper.

Crane has just launched its new Letterpress Wedding Invitations album, which I will write more about shortly. It's beautiful stuff, and I hope all you nearlyweds out there will include this album in your deliberations.

When I received my samples from the album I noticed something new; items not found in other Crane wedding albums - coasters. Coasters personalized with letterpress. Here they are:



Now, I have been known to use a coaster on occasion for its intended purpose, but seeing these I began to wonder what else they might become. How else might they be used in a wedding celebration? How might they arise from beneath a wine glass?

All you Martha Stewart fans - and I count myself among them - have seen such transformations as she employs her creativity, imagination and vision. Now it's your turn.

Here's the challenge: Create something to personalize a wedding using these coasters as your starting point. I can't send you all actual coasters to work with, so here's a link to my Photobucket page where you will find images. In real life, they measure 4 inches across.
There are two ways to send in your entries: via e-mail (jpegs or pdfs under 5 megs please) or if you prefer, you may mail your entry to me at:

Peter Hopkins
Crane & Co., Inc.
30 South St.
Dalton, MA 01226

Entries will be accepted until midnight on December 8. That gives you a month to play around. The winner will be announced just before Christmas, and the present will be 50 engraved social cards as well as the fame that accompanies the announcement of your victory here at The Crane Insider, of course.

If you have questions, and I'm sure you will, please leave a comment below and I will respond so that everyone will have the benefit of the answer.

4 comments:

amy said...

I love the new letterpress book. The coasters are lovely too. I'll have to brainstorm some coaster alternatives to condensation soaking. It seems like there would be plenty of opportunity for anything letter-pressed on pretty paper!

Have you had any responses yet?

amy said...

As an avid procrastinator, I plan to submit my ideas at midnight on the dot. Are drawings okay?

lettera_magica said...

Adhesive Gilding Edge ????

Hello,
I watched video about Crane’s products;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfC4UwmHu8U
Can anybody here tell me what kind of adhesive is used by a person
from Crane, adhesive in sheets I mean that is used to paint golden
which is cut and then put on the age of paper,

Do you know any company or a sales representative? Please give me any
contact data, it is an emergency!

best regards
Marek

Peter Hopkins said...

Dear Marek:

This adhesive that you saw on the video is proprietary to Crane, so I won't be able to help you with any details.

Peter