NEVADA CITY, CA -- June 12, 2008 -- Full Circle Press received the Gold Award as well as the Grand Award for Best Small Press entry from Printing Industries of Northern California (PINC), for their "German Christmas Greeting" entry. To develop and produce the card Full Circle Press collaborated with PaperSpecs (Palo Alto, California) and Chen Design Associates (San Francisco). Conceptualized by Sabine Lenz of PaperSpecs.com, and designed by Kathrin Blatter of Chen Design Associates, the card is an old-fashioned German greeting inspired by the story of St. Nikolaus as children in Germany would have heard it long ago. Through custom-created illustrations, reminiscent of paper-cut drawings, the twelve-page booklet reveals the beginnings of St. Nick and offers many surprises as the reader opens the French-folded pages. Also included are cut-outs, poems, recipes and fun facts.
 
The Design

"To achieve the old-world, homemade craft feel of the card," says Principal and Creative Director Josh Chen, Chen Design Associates, "we letterpressed the entire booklet and used stitching for the fold-over binding."
 
The Paper
 
Gmund Savannah Bubinga stock was chosen for its wood-like texture, which gave the booklet a sturdy, almost gritty exterior shell to reflect the somewhat dark story inside. The paper's texture also enhanced the design, adding visual complexity and a realistic "woodsy" touch."To contrast the dark cover," says Sabine Lenz, PaperSpecs founder, "we chose Mohawk's Via Smooth Ivory 70# stock for the interior. The smoothness and light color of the pages was very fitting for the cheerful and fun aspects of the story." The 70# weight allowed the letterpress printing to hold on both sides, creating light impressions to show through to the backside of the paper. "The booklet turned out nicely slim without adding too much bulk," Lenz adds.
 
The Printing
    
Full Circle Press ran the holiday card on two presses: The Heidelberg Cylinder press for the illustrations, and a Heidelberg Windmill for the text and perforations.  "We used a metallic ink on both the Mohawk superfine and the Gmund cover," states Judith Berliner, Full Circle Press founder.  "We are so honored to win this award," Berliner adds.  "It was great to collaborate with such a talented group of people. We each brought a special skill set, expertise and creativity to the project to produce a unique and award-winning result."