Thursday, May 14, 2009

Fail.

I'm about thisclose to completely giving up on invitations all together and just visiting people door to door informing them of the wedding.

Seriously. Thisclose.

Yesterday, I had time off work, so I thought I would utilize it by beginning the envelope calligraphy. It sounded easy enough: format the envelope, type in the address, print in a light blue, trace in white India ink. Done.

But really, nothing is ever easy for me. EVER.

I began by formatting the envelope and entering in the address. I was using my parents' address as my test dummy, because I knew (hoped) they wouldn't mind a lame attempt.

Everything was set, the printer was formatted, I hit the print button.

I heard printing. Success!! I was so excited!

Until I saw what was printing on one of my beautiful envelopes that I had spent HOURS lining:



Tom's PowerPoint presentation. Seriously?? Why don't printers automatically reset once they're unplugged and moved 30 miles?? I don't get it. But, I figured I would take advantage of the mistake to practice using the calligraphy pen and white ink.

You guessed it --- another FAIL.



Ugh. I spent $15 on 2 bottles of this stupid ink. WHY is it not appearing dark? And WHY is it so runny?

Whatever. I'll try printing another envelope and tracing it and see how it goes.



What?? Paper Jam??? You have GOT to be KIDDING me!?!?!?!?

Apparently the envelope is too thick with the liner to feed properly.

So now we have a few choices. We can trek over to my parents' house who have a nicer printer (albeit a little moody) and give it a shot there, we can buy a new printer (which we've been discussing anyway), or we can just kick and scream and cry, then pay a calligrapher $2 per envelope.

What should we do?

3 comments:

Nic said...

Oh Bethy, I'm so sorry. This must be frustrating. . . GO TO A PRINTER! Just pay the extra money, tell them to print the invitations and address the envelopes too. (The addresses don't have to be in white ink, do they?)
Use your internet skills to find the best deal, and let them deal with it. Paying the extra money right now is worth not having this extra frustration, right?

Unknown said...

You could cheat with the calligraphy. Print the names with white ink on clear labels (in a font that is looks like calligraphy or close enough) and cut them out and put them on the envelopes. We might still have some from our wedding. That is what we did for the inside.

Our try using a calligraphy marker. They have ones that have the same edge as a calligraphy pen but you wont have the ink problem.

I still have a card for the printer I used if you want it. He does quick work. Though some of our invitations were a bit off center and it drove me nuts. I know it would drive you nuts too.

B said...

Thanks, Marie -- but the problem with the white ink is that it won't print at all on a standard printer --- regardless of labels. It's not a standard color. Also, they don't make calligraphy markers in white.

Don't worry -- I think I've fixed the problem. More tomorrow!