Letterpress: Symbol Cards
These first started as a set of doodles in May of 2017! Yikes. Sometimes I get ideas and it takes me a long time to act on them. I scanned them in and got them made into magnesium cuts and then just sat on them FOREVER. I actually sat on them so long that they began to oxidize. You can see the oxidation happening on the edges in the photos of them.
I wasn’t sure what size card to print the finals on, so I had a friend help me slice the cuts into pieces so I could play with them. I also figured then I could reuse them a bit and play with colors in a way I haven’t in the past. That said, THAT idea might take me another TWO YEARS to finish!
I set up and print all these at home after testing them for a pass at the studio whereI teach. I first ordered some 100% cotton paper and then used my favorite grey ink to bust through a few hundred one evening.
Once they dried, I printed the backs of each card and then divided them into packs. I made a little label for the back so customers could see what the designs were inside the plastic case.
Each phrase is paired with a pattern that reminded me of the words above. A little asterisk for “just because” & plus signs for “happy birthday” - like you were adding another year! My favorite ended up being the “congratulations” paired with the “bubbles” like champagne.
Hera are all the little symbols in a bundle. They play off each other so simply.
You can buy the sets of cards in packs sold in a plastic sleeve. If I ship it though I might flatten the plastic so it doesn’t crack in the mail.
Of course if there is just one design you like over others, you can pick up an individual card from Etsy at any of the links below.
I’d like to work on some more minimal ones in the future! If you have ideas for some other phrases or simple cards, let me know.
