Front of the case. (C) 2009 Stu Griffith
Clients of mine are having a Memphis wedding in September. A friend of the family created a Memphis-themed mix CD for the occasion and offered to make a copy for all of the wedding invitees. The groom, a graphic designer, whipped up a design for a few faces of a ready-to-print chipboard CD case, and they asked me to letterpress print them.
Inside with invitation details. (C) 2009 Stu Griffith.
Every step of this project had an unexpected twist. The design was saved as grayscale and the people at Owosso had trouble making the printing plates (LOVE the people at Owosso, by the way). And the CD cases were backordered at Stumptown (LOVE the people at Stumptown, too). I used a beautiful silver ink from NA Graphics (you guessed, LOVE them, too), but it was much more difficult to work with than the basic blue, black, and red I'd used in the past.
The playlist (back outside cover). (C) 2009 Stu Griffith
I was encouraged along the way by the talented Moira, who told me that these challenging projects will make one a better printer. I thought it was a wonderful attitude with which to approach the remainder of this unwieldy project, and I'm so glad I took her advice and stuck with it. At the studio last week, I ran into issue after issue with the press. But I found a solution to overcome each obstacle. When I left the studio that day with exactly the right number of printed CD cases and a whole mess of errors, I had one of those moments when I felt like an artist - or at least a skilled craftswoman. It was beautiful. So thanks to Dorris and Stu for being great clients and giving me the opportunity to jump into this challenge! All the best for a beautiful wedding and long happy life together.
