Shiny, happy paper having fun

Just in time for the Holidays, we've come across two unique lines of paper ideal for the project your boss hasn't told you about. By that I mean the company Christmas card. The one that needs to be mailed the first week of December. Which is sooner than you think.

CTI Paper USA provides the following prose to describe their ASPIRE Petallics line, and I will quote verbatim being somewhat adjective-challenged on my own:

Capture the essence of life’s finer things with ASPIRE Petallics. A distinctly elegant canvas for your most discerning creative, ASPIRE Petallics sets the standard for sophistication.

The most impressive part of this flowery statement is that it's true. The distributors stocking information for this paper describes it as having a "Mica Finish", and if I had the shorten the description to two words those would do it. This stock comes in a white digital-compatible color which they (inexplicably) call "Beargrass", as well as several others certified for offset printing. Matching envelopes are available in three "A" sizes.

So far we have run business cards and a dinner program on this paper at our shop and the customers loved the results. (I've also seen some Holiday cards run commercially that were also impressive.) Please contact me directly to see some samples.

ReichPaper has similar superlative language to offer regarding their SHINE line of papers, and, again, I'm forced to admit they can be forgiven their enthusiasm:

SHINE brings a subtle shimmer to every design, combining natural minerals with organic pigments, for a rich, luminous effect.

Both of these stocks feature a bright, shimmery finish capable of adding a three dimensional feel to even a very plain vanilla design. Because they behave like a coated stock the printing colors, offset or digital, remain bright. The only drawback is fairly high cost, but these runs tend to be short, and therefore not much paper has to be bought. I think people are getting a lot of visual bang for the buck.

Please let me know if you would like to see samples of these papers...the personality of each finish is just not possible to convey online. We think there's going to be a lot of people wanting to try them out!

I've been looking at printing paper for almost thirty years and have never seen such a scarcity of interesting brands. Consolidation and belt tightening in the paper business are absolutely ruining the selection, and that is a major reason why these two lines are so exciting! This can give you an ace in the hole when the design request shows up at the eleventh hour!

Thanks!

Hugh Butler
Your friend in the printing business

Aspire Petallics and SHINE are registered trademarks of their respective manufacturers