The Paper Virgins’ First Time

The Paper Virgins’ First Time

August 10th, 2008 @ 2:02 pm by Mrs. Avocado

You probably want the wedding whirlwind recap to be over as much as I wanted the day to be over while it was happening. I was exhausted by this point, and not interested in the least in the idea of dragging myself over to Paper Source. You see, I’m what you might call a paper virgin.

Paper Source does know how to cater to an audience. This paper and ribbon wedding dress on display perked me up a little bit.

After admiring the paper wedding dress, I spent a little time looking at the sale rack to break myself in. I then spent some time browsing through the notecard section, but wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself once I turned the corner and saw this…..

So. Much. Paper.

I am working with someone (to be revealed shortly) on our invitation design, and I was glad they had taught me about the two different types of paper to look for, Paper Source and Luxe. The price estimate they sent me showed a difference of $170 for total supplies between the two paper types, and I was sure that I would want to save the money and go with the Paper Source stuff. I thought that the Luxe was an unnecessary expense that no one would notice.

Then I grabbed two sheets of cream and held them next to each other and realized my mistake. When you compare them side-by-side, there is a noticeable difference in both the texture and appearance. In the photo below the Luxe is on top, and the Paper Source is on bottom.

Click to enlarge

It took several tries, but I was able to capture a shot that illustrates the difference between the two papers. It may look subtle, but you can instantly tell the difference when you run your fingers across it. The texture on top is that of the Paper Source, and below that you can see the porous and dreamy Luxe.

Click to enlarge

I can now see why everyone gets so excited about this store; once I got over my initial apprehension I could have spent a few hours browsing through all of the products. After I came out of the store my mom revealed that she knows of a wholesale paper warehouse, Paper Zone, where we should be able to get the Luxe quality without the primo price tag. She is going back over to Seattle to pick everything up for me this weekend, which means I will begin printing and assembling next week!Anyone else think nice paper was unnecessary until they held it for the first time?

Tags: seattle, stationery |

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11 Responses to “The Paper Virgins’ First Time”

Bee

Miss Sweet Tea (message) 461 posts, Helper bee

Completely- well, that’s how I felt about letterpress anyway. And I did go to some lengths to get good paper… which I will reveal shortly!

8/9/08 @ 8:21 pm (reply)

Guest

Kaleigh

Oh the paper zone is amazing! They used to be located about 3 minutes from my house in bellevue- my heart broke a little when they moved downtown haha.

8/9/08 @ 9:06 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Shortcake (message) 446 posts, Helper bee

I was lucky enough to snag some of white aisle’s arturo paper (the stuff they use for letterpress) - be careful about thick, porous, “dreamy” paper - it is a *%#*#%&#%*&#$@*!#(!#@(%$*%$*!#(!#$ to print on because the uneven texture causes ink jet printers to grab it crookedly. Again, and again, and again.

8/9/08 @ 9:10 pm (reply)

Guest

willworkforpeonies

Does paper zone carry the full line of paper source papers and colors? I can’t seem to find the luxe equivalent on their website.

8/9/08 @ 10:31 pm (reply)

Bee

Mrs. Daffodil (message) 561 posts, Busy bee

WOAH, i cannot believe that dress is made out of paper. AMAZING!

i love paper source!

8/9/08 @ 11:39 pm (reply)

Guest

elizabeth

@Miss Shortcake: I read your comment, and a million flashbacks to my time as a copy slave in OfficeMax and Kinko’s flooded my brain. We always made our clients provide us with extra sheets when running them through the copiers, because even with all of the adjustments we could make, a paper still could jam up the system and end up covered in toner (along with the associate who would be ready to bash the machine with the fury of the guys from Office Space.

Miss Avocado (and everyone else): if you’re going to print onto these heavier papers using a printer, the first thing you HAVE to do is make sure the settings on your printer are set to handle that heavier paper–if you go to printer setup, usually you can futz around and check paper type. It’s essential in making sure the printer knows how to handle the paper to avoid it getting jammed incessantly–which is the most !@#^-ing frustrating thing known to mankind.

8/10/08 @ 12:13 am (reply)

Bee

Miss Avocado (message) 1,407 posts, Bumble bee

@Miss Sweet Tea: I’m so excited to see your invites!
@Miss Shortcake: The paper we got from Paper Zone isn’t quite as porous as the Luxe. I am hoping it is a little bit easier to print on? We are goccoing as well though.
@willworkforpeonies: My mom just brought home my paper last night, and she went with the textured finish Nekoosa linen. It is not EXACTLY the same as Luxe, but it still has a really nice texture to it (and it literally cost HUNDREDS of dollars less).
@elizabeth: Thanks elizabeth! I’ll be sure to do a few test runs before we get things under way.

8/10/08 @ 4:52 am (reply)

Guest

missrae

i found with softer/more porous paper that it helped to experiment with push times on the gocco.. When you have a pretty solid area of coverage, it helps to jam down and release really quickly since that type of paper is so absorbent.

8/10/08 @ 1:18 pm (reply)

Guest

Heather

@Miss Shortcake: @Miss Shortcake: Agreed! I designed/printed my friends wedding invites and got the Luxe… I had to hand feed each sheet through the printer! 140 invites, 140 reply cards and 140 direction cards! Took forever and my arm had the worst cramp after! (they did look beautiful though )

8/10/08 @ 7:13 pm (reply)

10.

Guest

beelight13

what are you goccoing? where did you get your gocco?

8/25/08 @ 3:38 pm (reply)

11.

Bee

Miss Avocado (message) 1,407 posts, Bumble bee

@beelight13: I am not sure if I will be using the gocco or not, my mom has had one for about 15 years, so if I do want to break it out, she will have everything I need. Try etsy.com, I’ve heard you can get them there!

8/26/08 @ 5:07 pm (reply)