New Products: Inkello Letterpress

A couple weeks ago I got a chance to purchase a whole bunch of products from Inkello Letterpress in Lawrence, KS. And now I can share my finds with you. Christine M. Schneider is an illustrator and designer running creating beautiful paper goods in her print shop when she’s not illustrating children’s books and art directing a medical magazine. Truly multi-talented!

First up is the Matchbox Calendar ($8.50) which is slightly larger than regular business cards Its 3.75″ x 2.5″ with a flip cover like a matchbook, with silver metallic ink on the cover plus black and each page inside is  perforated. The booklet might stand up on your desk for a bit or each page could be perf-ed out and pinned up. It could be carried in your bag for quick reference or the thick cardstock pages could be pasted into a journal or notebook for reference. The letterpress calendars are classically typeset and the price is just right. I couldn’t pass it up.

Next was the the Rainbow Monogram Jotter ($6). It is 3-7/8″ tall x 2-1/2″ wide with 20 sheets of heavy cardstock paper (4 sheets in 5 colors: red, orange, yellow, lime and bright blue). The jotter comes with a small golf-sized pencil which I immediately misplaced. I purchased the jotter at a print show and the only monogram left was the letter “P” in the rainbow paper. I could have waited and ordered one with a more appropriate monogram but patience is not a strong suit. P is for Pen. P is for Pencil. P is for Patience of which I have none.

Inkello also offers the Monogram Jotter with plain white paper if you prefer something more subdued.

If you want plain paper, there is also the Gingham Notepad ($5.50) with string-and-button closure and a more traditional paper stock rather than cardstock. This notepad is a bit larger at 4.75″ x 3″ with 64 pages.

I put this paper to the test and it came out with flying colors. There was no show through or bleed through in my quick writing tests. Not bad for a pocket jot pad!

What got my super excited was the Inkello Weekly Planner ($20).  Its an undated weekly planner in a compact A5-ish (5.5″x8.5″) format. Unfortunately, its not yet listed in her shop.

The Planner has a Sunday start and features same size boxes for all seven days. At the bottom of the right hand page is a space for tasks for the week. That’s it. 52 weeks of efficient pages.

Then in the back are monthly calendars for 2018-2021 and a few pages for notes and that’s it. No excess bulk or things you don’t need. The covers are double weight card stock.

The info sheet on the back is lightly tipped on with (what we in the industry call) booger glue so it can be easily removed so you can a clean back cover. The only graphics on the back is the Inkello logo stamped in letterpress so you remember where you purchased the planner.

I used one of the notes pages for pen tests and had fairly good results. The paper is smooth with very little tooth. The only show through I got was with the brush pen and that was more a result of how heavy and dark it was rather than that the ink bled.

The last item I purchased was the “One-of-a-Kind Calendar” ($22). It is a Draw-Your-Own Hanging Calendar. At 9.5″ x 6.75″, it is perforated down the middle and made from 100% cotton paper.

One half of the calendar has a blank letterpress calendar on it and the other half is blank so that you can draw, paint, collage or doodle on it.

Being able to separate the artwork from the calendar portion would allow the artwork to be saved, mailed or framed later. This could be a great way to involve your kids in making art, or a way to have a calendar serve double duty — calendar now, mail art later?

The One-of-a-Kind Calendar is not yet listed on the Inkello web site but if you are interested in purchasing it, email their Contact page (listed on the bottom of their site) and let them know you were interested in it.

There are lots of other great products available at Inkello and I had a hard time not buying ALL her products. I hope you enjoy browsing as much as I did.