Tuesday 30 October 2007

paper chasing

Now that I received my delivery yesterday, inks are covered. One pound each of VanSon rubber based ink in the basic colours are going to last me a sweet long time. An update on the paper debacle:

Yesterday morning I tested out my Crane Lettra sample. The results were glorious and so I set off in search of a dealer. I contacted a Crane rep who deals with Canadian inquiries and told him that if I can avoid ordering directly from Crane, eliminating the UPS brokerage fees, then I'd like to. He recommended Coast Papers in Mississauga. I called them and they don't carry the paper I asked for. The most they'd be able to do is order it from the mill and sell it to me in reams. I went to the rep's second option of calling Orange Art in the US. I called them, they have the paper in stock but aren't allowed to sell to customers who aren't buying wholesale. So it looks like I'll be paying outrageous brokerage fees again to get paper across the border.

Now - that I've selected my paper, I'll need envelopes. I'm not convinced that the envelope needs to be identical to the paper. I'm opting out of matching envelopes and sought interesting samples from a local retailer. Hopefully I won't be disappointed.

Also, now that I've selected my paper, I'll need a way of scoring them. I took my old flimsy paper trimmer and ran a dull butter knife down the Crane paper using the indent in the trimmer as a guide. Works perfectly.

Lastly, now that I've selected my paper, I'll need a way of cutting it to size. I found a heavy duty stack cutter on eBay that should do the trick. It's a bit industrial for the décor of my living space but I'm willing to make do ;)

2 comments:

Poppy Letterpress said...

I feel your pain with sourcing paper. Here in Australia, no-one sells Crane's Lettra. I can get it shipped directly from Crane, but the minimum buy amount plus postage would be ridiculous. I'm now using BFK Rives and it seems just as good as the Crane's Lettra greeting cards that I've bought from the US.

And I'm very jealous you're getting a stack cutter! I'm still cutting by hand for now... augh!

t a n y a said...

I looked into Rives paper and I think I'll revisit them. It'll be nice to have some more options.

The cutter was a bit costly! But I think it's a good idea to make the process as easy as possible for me. I tested it out yesterday and the perfectly cut stack of Lettra on my desk was well worth the money. I couldnt imagine cutting paper one by one. I highly suggest investing in one if you're going to be doing this long-term.

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