The Stationers Guild

If you are seeking engraved stationery, now might be a good time to drop into your neighborhood stationery store to take advantage of Crane’s signature event engraving die sale.  Order 100 or more engraved cards, notes or stationery and receive you name or monogram die and return address die for free.  This is a savings of $96 and those dies are your to keep so you continue to save money on future stationery reorders.  Personalized stationery is a great gift for this Valentine’s Day.  Alternatively,  you may receive a free return address on thermographed personalized stationery on orders of at least 100 sets.  This sale ends on April 12, 2010.

Crane & Co. has one of the most extensive lines of stationery in the industry and this 200-year privately owned company is renowned for its close-registration engraving, beautiful cotton papers and strong customer service.  When purchasing stationery, we strongly recommend visiting an experienced stationer in your neighborhood to touch and feel the paper stock and see how ink colors change depending on the printing process used.

Richard W. May
Therese Saint Clair

Blogger and Crane & Co. historian Peter Hopkins posted an interesting article on his “discovery” of several thousand old engraving dies at Crane’s printing facility in North Adams, MA.  Accompanied by Gayle Driggers, Crane & Co.’s Product Manager for Personalized Stationery, Peter uncovered some stunning steel dies from times past.  Samples of some these beautiful designs may be found on his blog.

While most dies are now etched on copper, engraving continues to be a popular and elegant form of printing.  Skilled artisans at Crane & Co. have years of experience in creating dies from their own proprietary designs or entirely new dies from artwork supplied by their clients.  Sheila May of Therese Saint Clair remarks “that Crane has produced some stunning dies based on ink drawings of stately homes, the recreation of family crests from old papers and even four-color plates for golf stationery.  Since each color requires a separate die and press run, it is quite remarkable to see these skilled craftsmen operate the presses to achieve the close-registration required in most multiple color print jobs.” 

The opaque color of the ink, raised printing and the slight bruising on the back of the paper is a sign that your stationery or invitation has been engraved.

Sheila May
Therese Saint Clair

In anticipation of the peak period for wedding invitations, Crane & Co. has released a new album with samples of letterpress wedding invitations.  While perhaps better known for its engraved invitations, Crane’s new album reflects the increased interest by bridal couples in this most traditional form of printing.  With letterpress, ink colors are pressed into soft cotton paper using polymer dies. 

This printing process is extremely popular on the West Coast but Guild member stationers throughout the United States report strong interest in the subtle colors and pleasing designs of letterpress printing.  The new letterpress album is faithful to Crane’s traditions of superior craftmanship.

As with all printing, ink colors tend to change appearance based on the printing process.  Given the low resolution of internet images, it is impossible to faithfully recreate the colors of custom letterpress printing.  If you wish to see Crane’s new letterpress album, we strongly recommend that you consult a Guild member store in your neighborhood.

Richard May
Founding Member