The Paper Making Process

I spent the past week learning about paper making, a process that is the foundation to most of the stationery and invitation industry. Curiously enough, we don't always think about where the paper we use in our creative process comes from, or how it is made. We just want it to be "nice."

Paper essentially goes through five steps before it gets to the creative professionals who use it in their daily lives and art. The process varies from manufacturer to manufacturer (and from country to country) but basically, the list goes like this:

1. Pulp is made from a mix of wood, and sometimes, recycled paper.
2. The pulp is laid onto wire and its consistency is regulated
3. The watery wood slurry gets pressed into a series of rollers that use heat and pressure to make... well, paper
4. The edges of the paper are usually trimmed off and the paper is turned onto a roll.
5. The roll gets cut down to sheets and shipped to you and me!

Before this week, I had a general sense of how paper was made, but I didn't realize how much the process impacted the feel and look of the paper itself.

Look and feel are incredibly important to the printed product. eInvite uses a luxury paper to do our photocard printing, to ensure the best possible quality for you and your loved ones. Many of our competitors use a standard, glossy paper similar to magazine print.

eInvite uses a velvety, thick, matte paper, to underscore the importance of your message and photos. If your event is important enough to be remembered, then we want to be sure that your invitations embody that importance. After all, you can't hand down a wedding email to your grandchildren.