Hello Print fans,

If you read my last blog you would know that there are some big things happening here at Capital of London, and I finally get to share them with the rest of the world. If you are a regular reader you would have heard me go on and on about the sad demise of engraved printing and die stamping in this country. I believe that there are ways to reverse this, but steps must be taken before it becomes too late. The first step, education, was taken with this blog, but telling people of the skills and traditions that they stand to loose is not enough, we need to bring engraved printing into the 21st century.

I thought long and hard about how we could do this, and I came to two conclusions:

1) That we would need to encourage a new generation of people to start using engraved printing

2) We need to make the printing that we do affordable to everyone.

In this line of thought I am very excited to announce a new range of pre-printed stationery  that I get to preview today and will be available to order online from the beginning of next week.

As they say, “a picture is worth a thousand words” so: -

These are letterheads, it was printed on a vellum paper in brown ink to give it a slight vintage look, to match the vintage car for the motif.

With summer just round the corner (if it ever stops raining) I thought these butterfly letterheads would be a great addition to any stationery collection or an ideal gift for someone

These correspondence cards would be perfect for any musicians or even as a gift to a young boy

These pink correspondence cards were created to be given as gifts to a young girl

These have been my own little babies, and it is just the start of what we intend to do. I hope that these can go someway to getting fresh blood into engraved printing before it dies out in the U.K.

As I menitoned this is just the start, I want everyone to get involved, and the best way I could think of doing this is by giving you a say in what we print next. So, in the spirit of all thoses horrendous reality T.V. Shows welcome to the first week of Capital’s got Talent! The aim is to get your input on what we wil print next for our pre-printed range. I will be including all of the motifs that we have to choose from as a starting point, but don’t let that limit you, if you have any of your own ideas and would like to design something yourself feel free to email me with them and will make sure that we upload them to this blog so everyone can get a chance to vote on your design.

The rules are simple:

* All entries must be received by the 21st of August 2009

* Voting will close at midnight on the 31st of August 2009

* The new stationery will be printed and ready for the 14th of september 2009

* If you do design your own image or come up with a unique idea, you will get design credit on all of the staionery and we will also supply you with a pack of your own stationery and envelopes.

* You will be designing a letterhead with dimensions 210mm x 156mm (height x width)

* Please vote by leaving a comment at the bottom, this way everyone can see what other people are voting for

This week I will be uploading the motifs take your time and look through them, and then make your choice on whats your favorite. Remember you have bags of time to vote so don’t rush you never know what else might be added when/if people start submitting there own ideas.

This week I thought I would include the motifs we had shortlisted for this so far:

Dual Flags - UK & US            Boom Box

Bull                        Celestial Sun

Laughing devil                    Dragon

Eagle                                           Salmon

Headdress                Kickboxer

M.C.                              Panda

Pisces                           Racing Car

Running man                     Skateboarding

Skull                      Thistle

Trainer                                  Vinatge B-17

These are the 20 motifs that we have shortlisted, I have left them in black and white just to make the details a little bit clearer, we will go onto discuss colours in a little while. Let me know what you think of them even if you do hate them. If there are any motifs that a really unpopular I will remove them and replace them with something else so feel free to be honest.

Lastly, before I let you go as I mentioned if anyone wants to design there own motif or sees something they really like feel free to email it to me on wayne@capitaloflondon.com I will then take what you have given me and add it to this.

Stay tuned as I will post updates as this progresses.