My sister and her fiance are having their wedding in Lancaster County, PA in a barn so using hex signs was a good visual element that was fitting to the location and folky atmosphere. Whew, finally finished!

A couple of things learned from the second part of the save the dates (here was the first part):

1. Pressboard, pressboard, pressboard! I had no idea how important pressboard is for the packing. I hadn’t used pressboard before because it wasn’t convenient or cheap to buy it so I just had a substitute of poster board which was just ok…until I bit the bullet and bought the pressboard folders. The ease of pressing now is amazing! The ghosting of the plates is gone!

2. Big plates with a large surface area do not press well. At least, I don’t know how to get it to press consistently and deep. I had to break up those hex signs and do 3 runs of them instead of one. :( Does anyone have any tips on this? Or because I have a tabletop press, I’m limited to the type of plates I can use to have a successful press?

3. Bleeding: Well, of course I should have made the hex signs have a bleed so I didn’t have to be perfect with lining it up with the edge of the paper. Oh well — it just took a bit more care.

4. I found some success using tissue paper in the packing on top of the pressboard when trying to press the largest surface area hex sign. Not sure if that was a good idea, bad idea… anyone try that before?

My photographically talented boyfriend documented the process of the save the dates creation and compiled them into a little movie! Wanna see?

(Clearly, I’m very excited learning and completing a letterpress piece!)

Happy Camper Save the Dates! on Vimeo.