This year I created a series of custom lettered cards for Christmas and the Holidays. I wanted them to be as hand/custom crafted as possible and I wanted to print some of them myself as well! The theme for these cards was based on simply being inspired. Inspired by the beauty of Christmas and the excitement of a New Year with new possibilities.

Starting with a series of loose sketches I quickly work out my concept and find the right flow/feel for the scripts and type. With tracing paper and more pencil or ink, I work to refine. Two of the designs I took all the way through to vector while leaving one to be completely hand refined.

With the Merry and Bright cards, I experimented screen printing with the stencil method. I used a plotter to cut out the finalized vector version of the custom script I created. The stencil went on the bottom of the screen reversed so it would print correctly. It works ok but I did find that it was only good for the short run I was doing and much much more. ha! The ink wanted to collect and creep under the vinyl over time.

The Peace on Earth cards was screen printed with the traditional emulsion method. This was my first time setting up an emulsion screen from start to finish. I was pretty intimidated by the whole exposure process but to my surprise, it only took two tries to get it right! The Printing process went well though a bit slower due to not having an actual press for alignment. I created my own manual method for lining up the prints and kept things moving at a decent pace once I got rolling!

I wanted to complete a lettering piece that was fully hand-lettered rather than refined and finalized in a program. I hand-lettered the New Year cards and refined the lettering and design fully on paper.

I hope you find yourself inspired creatively and in all facets of life as this year ends and in 2017. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!