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 Museum of Papermaking

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.

Weddings: The Stationery Crystal Ball

When I started posting as The Crane Insider, I promised I would bring you trends as they were emerging in the world of stationery. We took a look at correspondence cards as letterhead, explored the designs selected by writers and editors of national bridal and lifestyle magazines and, most recently, we covered the phenomenon of the social calling card.

So, what’s next? What's just over the horizon?

It’s another little piece of paper with a big impact: Within the Ribbon cards.

For those unfamiliar with these cards, here’s what Crane’s Wedding Blue Book has to say:

“Church pews (or rows of seating in other wedding venues) may be cordoned off with white ribbons or cords to indicate a special seating section. When this is done, small cards reading "Within the ribbon" are sent with the invitations to those guests who will be seated in that section. The guests then bring the cards to the ceremony, which enables the ushers to seat them in the appropriate section.”

Ribboned seating areas are generally reserved in front for the closest family and friends, and especially those who may have difficulty hearing the ceremony.

Within the Ribbon cards are nothing new; they’ve been around for generations. But just like calling cards, they are enjoying a resurgence of popularity in the 21st century. And just like calling cards, they can be as formal or fashionable as you want, to coordinate with your invitations and other wedding stationery.

Within the Ribbon cards are a great stress-reliever for everyone involved in seating guests at the wedding. And they are a respectful accommodation for those most special to you on this most special day.

Keep your eyes open; you'll be seeing more of these little cards in the future.

Busy Day at the National Stationery Show

Both Ms. Bliss and I had such high expectations for being able to blog in real time from the National Stationery Show. Reality has interfered. Not that reality is a bad thing. We had no idea how busy we would be at the show.

One of our main jobs for Crane at the show is to invite and host members of the national media and introduce them to new products and trends that we have identified with stationery, etiquette, weddings and general correspondence. We were very pleased with the number of editors from these magazines who made scheduled appointments. We never expected to see so many of our editorial friends stop by. We had fully expected an hour here and an hour there to put together some information and photos for the blog.

But to give you an idea of how our time has been occupied, here's a list of the magazines and other media outlets we had visits with just today:

The Knot - Magazine and TV

Pen World

Lucky

Getting Married TV

Country Living

O, the Oprah Magazine

Real Simple

Bridal News Network

Elle

Stylus

All You

Modern Bride

Bride's Magazine

Bridal Guide

Vogue

Here are some scenes from the show:

Dragonflies join butterflies and ladybugs in Crane's extended hand-engraved bug collection.

The Search for the Cure pink ribbon stationery sets.

Gayle Driggers, product manager for personalized stationery, is interviewed by Kim Sunshine for a segment on The Knot TV.

Darcy Miller, left, Editorial Director of Martha Stewart Weddings, discuss new Crane stationery collections with Megan Kuntze, Crane's Brand Director.