First set of paper-back cards
Today I started making a batch of 9 cards. There are 9 because I am using a set of "we've moved" cards, meant to be sent out to your people with your new address. What's significant to me about this set is that I'm practicing using a new process.
For the first ~40 cards I made, I'd indicate which was the "back" of the card by sticking on a little piece of whatever wax print fabric I'd used on the opposite side, and writing out the card's key info--in our hands cards, the card number, website, recipient charity and so on. It was big news at in our hands cards headquarters when I got a stamp that came with itsy bitsy letters you can arrange into five lines of custom text. I love this stamp. Soon I discovered that the ink wouldn't stick on the glossy card finish that is common on the fronts of the cards I'm reusing. Needing to only use the stamp on matte paper limits how I can reuse cards. Another issue I encountered was that the back of the reused card might be distracting. For example, maybe the back of the card was originally the inside of the card, so there's a message on it. Because of both of these issues, I finally ventured into the bag of miscellaneous paper I've been saving up and I tried covering the back of the card with a glued-on piece of paper bag paper. The end result is crinkly, uniform in colour, looks really cool, and plays well with the stamp ink. I tried this as a one-off on a card recently, and it worked well for the most part. Okay let's back up a bit here. The side of the card that you're supposed to write on, with the resultant card that I've made, is half blank and half covered in a scrap of wax print fabric. I glue the fabric on and then once it's dried it needs to be trimmed to align with the edges of the card. Ditto the new paper bag paper backing, also needs to be trimmed. The first time, I let the fabric and the paper dry and then I had to trim them at the same time, and this didn't work very well. So this time I decided to first glue the brown paper to each of them, let them dry, and then later I'll glue the fabric on.
I love learning by doing and iterating as I try different things with the cards. One thing I discovered today is that I can rip the paper off along the edges instead of cutting, and it gives it a nice unpolished look that matches the crinkles of the glued-down brown paper.
I expect this minutae is only of interest to me. I do feel excited at the prospect of wrapping up this post and tearing off the extra paper along the edges of each of the set of 9 cards and seeing how they turn out.