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Sun-Printed Wedding Invitations

sbreckenridge, member

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Despite my initial instinct that a DIY Bride is a crazy bride, this spring, I made my wedding invitations using cyanotype (aka sun print) paper. The wedding was in a seaside town, so I wanted something that evoked a beachy, sun-washed feel (ironically, it poured rain on the big day!).

With the help of a graphic designer friend, I designed two Photoshop templates—one for the reply card and one for the invitation—decorated with some sea shells from a Dover Editions clip art CD-ROM. Then at Kinko's, I had the templates xeroxed onto transparencies—effectively turning them into negatives.

Next, I exposed each piece of paper to the sun under the negative (about 90 seconds per page), then "developed" them in a bath of water. When the sun prints were dry, I attached them to flat A7 and 4-bar cards in Bluebell from Paper Source. The coolest part of it (aside from saving a ton of money) was that each invitation was unique, because of variations in the exposure time, the weather the day it was exposed, or how I handled it in developing.

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Comments (8)

smithking writes: What a unique and fun way to make it personal. I can't wait to play with this "sun print" paper.
Posted: 1:56 pm on November 8th

swelldesigner writes: what a neat concept and a twist on traditional paper crafts.
Posted: 9:13 pm on July 29th

sbreckenridge writes: Thanks! I made about a hundred of each--though the reply cards went faster because I could do two at a time. The printing was actually pretty fun; the most tedious part was centering the sun-print paper right in the middle of the cards. That was the only part where I started to question my sanity a little bit. I pretty much did them all myself, but I'd definitely recommend recruiting help for the cut-and-paste phase. Oh, a rotary paper cutter was also a godsend for these.
Posted: 3:52 pm on July 18th

delilahiris writes: Wow this is a really cool idea. Very unique!
Posted: 8:47 am on July 18th

MaeveQ writes: LOVE! But for real, how many did you have to make? I am getting married next year and I have definite DIY bride fear. I feel like 'I could make a dip for the reception' but that's it. Yet , I love it when other brides DIY. Maybe just maybe? Did you have much help? Thanks.
Posted: 7:44 pm on July 17th

crafty_gal writes: WOW! I am super impressed. How many did you have to make?
Posted: 7:37 pm on July 17th

OnePrettyThing writes: Wow sbreken, these are fabulous! I am SO linking to these! Your wedding must have been so fun-despite the rain! Crafty brides are the best!
Posted: 6:53 pm on July 17th

jodied writes: that's awesome Sarah! sounds a bit tedious unless you are doing 10! was it? I will definitely have to try this (for a SMALL dinner party!)
Posted: 2:55 pm on July 17th

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