Wedding Blog
I spent Saturday morning making Save The Date Magnets. Here’s how they turned out:
What I used:
- Print Gocco and Supplies
- 1 roll of magnet strip with adhesive
- Cardstock (Grey and White)
Here’s How:
Design your image. I used a cute graphic purchased from Istockphoto.com, and arranged the text all in Photoshop.
Next, convert your image layers to BLACK. Separate any layers that are overlapping and print each layer on a separate sheet. Take these images to a copy house and make copies that contain CARBON INK. Any black and white xerox machine should use carbon ink.
Here are the Gocco materials needed, clockwise from top left: Flashbulb housing, Gocco Machine, Inks, Ink Blocking, Flashbulbs, Screen, Blue Screen (Mine is homemade, I don’t reccommend it. Use a Genuine Riso Blue Screen.)
For ease of positioning, cut your master to the same size as the paper you plan on printing on. Place it on the sticky pad and tape AROUND a corner, that way you have a PERFECT line-up every time. See how I’ve done this, below (avoid clear tape like I used, go for a translucent tape, or use paper, like I ended up doing, later):
Flash your screen. A successful flash should make your master stick to the screen, like this:
Ink block your image. Is ink blocking necessary? Technically, no. But I always use it. It will give you a more even print longer.
Ink your screen, load it back up, and begin printing. Here you will see how I used 2 strips of paper to form a right angle so that my paper is placed in the EXACT same place every time. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT if you are printing more than one layer.
Flash, ink up and print any additional layers. Keeping your white strips in the exact same place, you should be able to flash your additional layers in the exact same position as your first layer.
I adhered the save the dates to grey cardstock using a Xyron sticker maker. Using a coil of self adhesive magnet, and some card stock, I turned the STDs into magnets.
Here ’s what the back looks like:
and the front:
Budget Breakdown:
75 pieces luxe white 4 bar cardstock: $9.75
75 pieces gravel (grey) 4 bar cardstock: $8.25
Gocco Supplies (approx): $12
Magnet Coil: $7
Xyron Sticker Refill: $12
TOTAL: $49
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Thanks, Miss penguin. These look great. I am in the process of preparing to buy a gocco machine and trying to figure out what exactly I need, so your post helped a lot. One question - have you ever mixed ink colors? If so, did you like the result? Also, do you need a new blue riso screen for every print or can you re-use them? thanks!
Pancy - I used to make grey ink mixing black and white, but i gave it up…you waste a lot of ink doing it (because you want to mix more than enough for your project, to make sure you get even color through your whole project…because its impossible to remember your exact color mixing combination), and if you dont mix PERFECTLY, youll get some marbling. Gocco ink comes in so many colors and is fairly inexpensive (I get mine for around $3.50 a tube) so to me its not worth mixing. If for some reason you cant find the color you want, then definitely experiment with mixing! I like to squeeze inks into a bottom corner of a ziploc bag, knead them with my hands to mix, and then snip off the tip of the bag and use that to squeeze ink out onto the screen.
The blue screen is reusable, forever.
Just as an FYI, if you have an HP inkjet printer, or any laser printer, the black ink is carbon based. Techincally, all inkjects use carbon based ink, but apparently in some brands like Epson it is too faint to use for Gocco. Do you get a particularly better screen from using xerox ink??
I dont think my inkjet uses carbon ink (Epson), but I know that all laserjets use carbon ink. I have no experience with home printing and Gocco but have heard that ill tended laserjets have a lot of “carbon dust” that muddle your print.
I have had 100% great results with Xerox copies, despite having a laserjet printer (Samsung…a cheapy, i think) at home…I guess I dont like to mess with success 
Any goccoers out there use their home printers for their masters?
Could you tell me how to find that graphic at istockphoto. Ive been searching for it for months after seeing it at cardsandpockets.com.
The graphic is here:
I purchased it and manipulated it a bit to get the look i got.
Your STD looked great. We are also gettings magnets made for out save the dates that tell the date and place on them with a picture of my fiance and I. I am conflicted with how I should send them. Any suggestions? I’m thinking of just taping them to some colorful cards with matching enevelope. What are you thinking?
very nice! i like the magnet idea too! i mean why not make your own right!?
i love the design and also love the bird details at the top! im loving the bird themes everyone is coming up with!
great job!
Very cute…I love the little kissy birds up at the top! You’re such a good gocco-er!
okay, i’ve got to get my hands on a gocco. yours and mrs. lemon’s projects came out awesomely well!
does anyone know how much they actually retail in japan?
Really nice Miss. Penguin and thanks for the awesome gocco tips. Now I feel that I have more confident to work on my upcoming project for a friend of mine who is getting married soon.
I soooo wanna get a gocco!! its killing me to see all these gocco projects!!! i wanna do it too!!!
Oooohhhh! I just bought the same image on istockphoto with the same intent. But I don’t have a gocco so I have no idea how I’ll be printing it yet! Anyway, your STD looks great — thanks for always posting such detailed descriptions of your projects. You’re so helpful!
Oh my gosh, Miss Penguin, that is so funny - I am using the exact same graphic for my stds/invitations! And you answered my question about gocco on the boards today! I guess great minds really do think alike.
I got my Gocco 4 months ago and managed to play with it a pathetic one time. You’ve inspired me. Thanks!!
Oh wow… the illustration you chose to use is actually from my collection at istockphoto …! It is a funny coincidence to see a bride using my illustrations here on weddingbee - what a nice surprise! Thanks!
And guess what - I am also the person who created your Miss Penguin icon 
isn’t that funny?
Hi Irene! Bee turned me onto your work recently! I LOVE MY PENGUIN, and I love your art! …looks like lots of girls do!
Kel and Mtyf…you ladies will have to share with us your creations!
Ooo…oooo…oooo I have a question…
Talk to me about the Gocco…do you ink it up each time? If not, how many prints can you get per inking. If you were doing 100 STD’s with only one ink color…how many tubes would you recommend using?
thanks so much.
–Mrs Corn
Thanks Miss Penguin! I was wondering how I was going to mix all those colors…
can you recommend a good local place to purchase the tubes of ink? i recently purchased from feltcafe off of etsy (she is super nice if anyone is interested in purchasing a gocco) but i don’t think i want to pay for that shipping from Japan each time i need new inks…
Mrs. Corn: great question, i was wondering the same thing!
Hee hee, I PM’med Mrs. Corn to answer her question, but since there is more curiosity, heres that answer:
You dont ink up every time. I usually start to experience fading around my 50th print or so. You usually just “touch up” the ink at that point…some of the areas will last through 100 prints!
I used about 1/3 tube of ink per color for my 75 prints. this will vary depending on how large of an area your design is…since I’m assuming you dont buy your ink from a local seller, I would err on the safe side, and if youre only using 1 color for your project buy 2 tubes….dont think you’ll use it, but you’d hate to run out of ink midproject.
I buy my ink online. Paper Source has resumed selling goccos and supplies, but I’ve yet to see them in store (online only) and they are expensive.
I buy my ink from
http://stores.ebay.com/print-addict
she sells 7 tubes for $26 plus shipping. I know theres cheaper ink out there but she seems to have ALL the colors out there, which I like….unfortunately she ships from Japan, but I think I paid $5.33 last time I got a shipment from her, which isnt bad at all.
All the ink colors are available here as well, with good prices and great shipping (ships from US, not Japan).
http://northwoodstudios.tripod.com/
Excellent work! Your save-the-dates are so pretty, and not to mention inexpensive.!!!
Miss Penguin, your post couldn’t be anymore timely!! Your S-T-Ds are beautiful!
We wanted to do magnets for our S-T-Ds too, but instead of the ones that print directly on the glossy magnetic paper we saw online, we were going to just add a magnet to the back of the S-T-D cards we were having made. At Staples, we saw pre-cut adhesive magnetic rectangles the size of a business card (that’s what they are made for). We were thinking of just sticking that to the back of our S-T-D cards (our cards are bigger than a business card but we figured that was enough ‘magnet’).
Do you know how thick the magnetic strip magnet you used is? Do they come in different widths? The magnet from Staples is .03″ thick and our only concern was that it would be a little flimsy (that’s part of the reason why we didn’t like some of the STD magnets we found online).
If anything, the strip seems less expensive and looks stronger/thicker than the staples magnets ($25 for 100 magnets)
I am so inspired
Thank you!!
Trinjay - I’m not sure about how thick the magnets are, but they do come in different widths (mine was .5 inch wide) and you can take a closer look here:
Theyre called ProMAG adhesive magnetic roll
http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=gc0467
I bought mine from Michaels, its a 10 foot roll and I used all of it (for 75 STDS). I’d pop in to your local craft store and see if they have it before ordering it online, it seems to be a pretty common product. Regardless of how thick it is, it sticks just fine to my fridge. hope that helps!
Can I ask you what the name of your Graphic that you bought from IstockPhoto was.
I’ve been looking to find a good one for our invitations, and I like this style. So I was thinking maybe that designer has something else simmilar ( not the same as I don’t want to rip your idea off)
Miss Penguin - that’s really helpful, thank you!!!
I definitely think we’ll go with the magnetic rolls.
I am such a fan. Thanks for posting this! Do you have any suggestions for type of paper?
Maria - you can search the artist on Istockphoto. her name is Ceneri. Here is that specific graphic.
Annie - I use Luxe White paper from the Paper Source (www.paper-source.com) I’ve had a lot of success with it!
GL!
Those are so adorable! Now get them in the mail!!
Miss Penguin - One more question….Will you just be mailing them in a regular envelope? I was concerned about it “sticking” to anything metal in transit.
The place that I’m having them printed at suggested putting it in a kind of holder (like an inner, slightly thicker envelope) and then putting that holder in the regular envelope.
Trinjay-
I sent out magnets for my Save the Dates as well, and sent them out in just one thick envelope without problems. It was definitely thicker than your standard business-type envelope, but no inner envelope or anything of the sort. I believe we sent out 92 of the STDs, and 91 of them successfully made it to their destinations, so the magnet acting on other metals definitely was not a problem.
Trinjay - oh my gosh, i didnt even think about this! And I just threw them in the mail this morning! I used envelopes from Paper source, so theyre like “greeting card” weight envelopes…I’m not too worried about it though just because we’ve recieved several magnet save the dates for weddings in the mail, and they were in regular envelopes…but I guess its too late for me to worry now! I’ll have to check with my guests to see if everyone got them.
Julie, Miss Penguin - Thank you both for your insight! I had a feeling I was being a little paranoid. I’ll just make sure our envelopes are the thicker kind…. Thanks again
Did you have problems w/ the luxe paper and bleeding of your inks? I was thinking luxe but then heard some bad things…
How did you search on istock? There is SO MUCH STUFF to see!
Your STDs turned out lovely! Am curious - what fonts did you use?
Hi Melissa!
I used the fonts:
Bailey Sans ITC and Attic Antique
[...] a Discount, Save the Date by Miss [...]
[...] Save the date magnet [...]
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Mrs. Penguin, Northern California
Age and Occupation: 27, Weddingbee Editor in Chief
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Doctor of Physical Therapy
Engagement Date: January 29, 2007
Wedding Date: June 7, 2008
Blogging Since: September 14, 2007
Venue: Winery in the Gold Country
About Me: I love the Spice Girls, dogs with underbites, bean burritos, making messes, high fives, avoiding showers, crossword puzzles, blogs, weddings, and blogs about weddings!
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