#PutAStampOnIt , The 2018 National Stationery Show Project

Here's your sneak peek at the 2018 National Stationery Show promotion project with the theme of Stamps! The project is well on its way. The designers have been selected and papers are now being chosen. We're so excited to be working with Sarah Schwartz from The Paper Chronicles and Stationery Trends, Parse & Parcel , the Stationery Show and our packaging designers, Rifle Paper Co., along with 22 designers to carry out the project.

Here's the crew: Hester & Cook; Pinwheel Print Shop; ilootpaperie; Halifax Paper Hearts; Pinky Weber Studio; Paper Bandit Press; Up With Paper/UWP Luxe; Page Stationery; Typoflora; Good JuJu Ink; Smarty Pants Paper; Boss Dotty Paper Co.; Gotamago; Lily & Val; Ginger P. Designs; Inklings Paperie; The Regional Assembly of Text; The Imagination Spot; Euni + Co.; Collen Attara; Albertine Press; and Fresh Out of Ink.

How does it work? Be sure to attend the National Stationery Show beginning May 20th. Grab your checklist that will be given out at the show with the full list of designers and their booth numbers. Stop by each booth to collect their stamp. Once all the stamps are collected, swing by Legion's booth to collect your box made by Rifle Paper Co. to store the 22 collected stamps.

There will so many different designs, printing techniques, papers, shapes, sizes all within one box. Here are just a few of what you'll see. 

Typoflora's Stamp Design that will be printed on Canson Infinity Paper.

Up With Paper's Design printing on Stonehenge Paper.

Good JuJu Ink's design that will be printed on Rising Museum Board.

Stay updated on more designs to come! Let the countdown begin!

NSS 2017 Promotion: Show us the Money!

We're getting ready for yet another National Stationery Show promotion project with Sarah Schwartz from The Paper Chronicles and Stationery Trends, Jill DiNicolantonio from Parse and Parcel and NSS. After working with 32 designers, the set is almost complete and ready to go for the show. 

Attending NSS? Here's the deal...

Collect the trading card from each participating exhibitor using the checklist designed by Underwood Letterpress. Once you've collected all 32, bring them to Legion's booth (Booth 2633) to stash your money in the wallet beautifully designed by Reyn Paper Co and printed by Henry + Co. 

Don't forget to snap a photo of your set and tag us @legionpaper ! 

Arturo Stats with Good Juju Ink!

Good Juju Ink chose Arturo Buttercream 260gsm for their NSS Class of 70 trading card. Here's why...

How did you come to select the paper you used? Have you worked with it before?

I selected the Arturo Buttercream because I've only had a limited experience working with colored paper as a medium for dual printing processes (foil stamping + four color digital), and I was genuinely excited to use this project as an excuse to branch out from what I'm used to! In this particular situation, I wanted a yellow paper with texture to give the trading card that "old school"/vintage vibe of ye olde paper goods. I wanted an authentic mellow yellow for our class of '70!

What was your experience with the paper? 

Since I'd never used the Arturo Buttercream, I was a little skeptical of how it would take to the digital printing...but it turned out spectacularly. The colors showed up crystal clear and maintained the richness of pigmentation they would have had on white paper, and the "Golden Gate Bridge" orange foil pressed beautifully atop the texture of this thick stock. 

How did the paper affect the design of your baseball card?

While I created the design before I knew what paper I would be using, I can honestly say the paper was what made the card's design truly some of my best work.  It has given me the confidence (and the excitement!!) to move forward with using more colored papers in the future.  The paper adds such a level of sophistication, whimsy, and genre authenticity that you simply can't reproduce using your average printer's house stock---I can't believe I haven't dabbled in the realm of colored papers until now. This could not have been a better experience. 

Reyn and Co Chooses Cocktail for NSS Trading Card Matchbox

Legion was thrilled with both the design by Reyn Paper Co and the production by Henry & Co of the packing for the National Stationery Show trading cards. Reyn chose to use Cocktail Black Russian 290gsm, which foiled beautifully and created a stable box to hold the set of 30 cards. Here's what Reyn has to say about their choice...

When Reyn Paper Co was asked to create the box for legion paper’s #nssclassof70, we were excited to get our hands on paper that was specifically for packaging! I knew that I wanted to have a high contrast look with gold foil, so I started by selecting black papers available in heavy enough stock to make a sturdy box. When I came across the Cocktail Black Russian paper it was love at first sight. I knew it was the one almost immediately. It had this beautiful shimmer that added just the right amount of glamor to the design, without being too gaudy or distracting.

The flexibility of printing applications was the next reason I was drawn to this paper, as it allowed me to utilize both foil and metallic offset printing in the design without sacrificing quality in either. I loved using foil in my designs, and I would have loved to make the entire project gold foil, but I knew it wouldn’t be practical for the insert information card because of the amount of information we had to fit into such a small area. So for the insert we utilized offset gold metallic ink to get the glitziness across in a more practical form.

And lastly, when it comes to designing packaging, durability is paramount. I knew this piece would be receiving a lot of wear and tear over the course of the show, people sliding it open and closed again and again as they went around collecting the trading cards. So when I found this paper I took my sample and really tried to rough it up. Folding, rubbing, scuffing--you name it, I tried it. What I discovered is that the Black Russian paper is as resilient as it is beautiful.  It can really take some abuse. It showed very little wear after i worked it over, and the shimmer quality of the paper never degraded. I want people to be able to keep this as a collector's piece for many years to come. It’s a huge responsibility, protecting all the beautiful trading cards designed for Legion Paper, so we wanted to make sure our box could measure up to the task. This was my first time working with Cocktail paper and, needless to say, I can’t wait to work with it again! 

Kristen Reynolds, Reyn Paper Co.

ilootpaperie Made the NSS Class of 70's Trading Cards Shine

Ilootpaperie chose Mirri Pak Silver 16pt for their National Stationery Show Class of 70' trading card. The reflection of the Mirri Pak along with the design gave the card the full 70's effect. 

How did you come to select the paper you used? Have you worked with it before? 

When we found out that we could choose any of the stock from Legion Paper - we eagerly scoured the offerings like kids in a candy store; there were so many and all so beautiful! Although we had never worked with the Mirri Pak Silver 16pt, it stood out immediately as we thought it really embodied the theme of NSS Class of 70s, conjuring up visions of disco balls.  

What was your experience with the paper? 

We loved it - it was really fun to play around with such a different paper stock. 

How did the paper affect the design of your baseball card? 

It really enhanced and elevated our trading card design - it allowed us to achieve a similar impact of foil printing but in a different way altogether. So funky! For another layer of pop, we were really excited to be able to experiment with printing white ink on the Mirri as well. We felt all these elements really took Pierre our Bandit's rookie card to the next level. 

What print methods did you use and what worked well with the paper? Any particular challenges? 

Our trading cards were printed using the HP Indigo Digital printer; we did ask Legion Paper to provide the version of the Mirri Pak with the sapphire coating that is required for paper used with HP Indigo printers. Once we got the paper with the Sapphire coating - the ink coated on beautifully.