Presentation Envelopes - Handmade Process

I began creating my presentation envelopes by choosing a really lovely and rather expensive 300gsm Somerset high grain stock. I chose this stock due to its high quality, lovely texture and I thought it would help add to the professional aesthetic I was aiming for once the envelopes were assembled. I knew the stock itself had to be heavyweight in order to help do its job and protect the prints housed inside and this Somerset achieved just that.

As well as the Somerset stock, I also bought some heavy grey board from the print resource. This was to back each of the envelopes in order to give them extra support and stop any bending of my final prints. The greyboard had to be sliced to a size just a little large than A2 (450mm x 610mm) this being the dimension for all 3 envelopes to work from. I chose this size otherwise the prints may have run the risk of not fitting in the envelope once assembled.

I spent a lot of time cutting my stock to size and being careful to get measurements exactly right.

Once the large A1 sheets of stock were cut to a smaller and more manegable size, I could begin cutting it into nets that were then to be rapped around the greyboard. I created each net with 3 flaps, 1 for each side to be folded and stuck to the greyboard, and one flap for the bottom creating the pocket. The stock itself was extremely difficult to bend and even harder to cut, not matter how sharp my scalpel.

Once my net was complete, before sticking it into place on the greyboard, I wanted to include a little personalization which would be in keeping with my chosen author Italo Calvino and his book I have been visually exploring - 'Invisible Cities'.

I began by choosing a font consistent with previous work in this module such as the text that features in my animation. "Savoye" is a great delicate script typeface which has a lovely look to it. I created an Adobe Photoshop document, created my text, mirrored the image so that the text was in reverse and printed this out.

I included extra details taken from my final prints as a test to have the option of cutting these out from my envelope stock also if I get chance. The extra details and titles in black would be cut from the stock and backed with black car, whilst the main ‘Invisible Cities’ title would be cut and backed with gold.

On the inside of each of my envelope nets I transferred my text design and cut the text out, so that when the net is stuck to the greyboard, from the front the title of my presentation pieces and prints would read correctly.

Transferring the text onto the nets this way made it easy to keep the position of the text consistent across all three envelopes and keep its professional look. Cutting from the inside like this meant that any unwanted marks would only appear on the inside of the envelope out of side, and when paper cutting I know that the cleaner line always appears on the reverse side after cutting due to the way the scalpel treats the material.

I mentioned that cutting the Somerset stock into nets using straight lines was extremely difficult due to the high grain fibers, and cutting he curves of each letter in this typeface was even more difficult. The cutting didn't come out as clean as I would have likes and a few of the letters frayed – I hate my pickiness!

After each envelope had had the text cut out, I backed each area with the same gold stock used in my final prints. Gold features heavily throughout the work for this module and my choice in palette/print stock etc, therefore choosing gold helped bring everything together and remain consistent. Spray mount was used for a clean adhesion and strengthened using masking tape.

Once the envelope covers/nets were complete I was able to stick these on to the greyboard by attaching double sided tape to the relevant net flaps and folding around the grayboard backing. Once this was complete, I made my top opening flap for the top of the envelope and attached this to the greyboard in the same way.

Now all to do was neaten up the back of the envelope and cover up any tape/grayboard. I cut a final sheet of my Somerset stock to a size a little smaller than the greyboard and spray mounted this to the back of it, covering all messy edges and neatening up the presentation.

In terms of the tie envelope, I manage to source a rivet clamp, rivets and wax cord in a variety of colours, a different colour cord to be used for each of the three envelopes.

For the buttons in which the cord is to wrap around, I cut discs out of Somerset stock cut offs and stuck them together to make a sturdy button. I then topped this button with the same gold stock used to back the title font and used the rivet clap to attach these to the envelopes.

Final Presentation Envelope