Linocut Love Bird Envelopes 🌱

This season is so full of little tasks and decisions and crafts that I’m working on for our wedding— I’ve barely had time to slow down and take it all in. Today, I’m stopping to smell the roses, or rather, the Laelia orchids.

On Pinterest, I’ve been seeing these lovely illustrated envelopes people have used for wedding & special events, featuring all kinds of designs like: doves, swans, olives, sardines, flowers, bulls, hearts, scrolls, etc. Tons of styles. So, I was inspired to carve out an envelope-size stamp with a bird motif for our wedding invitations.

Heralding Love ✦

It’s kind of a dove, kind of a messenger pigeon, kind of not. In my mind, it’s just a love bird mid-flight, with a Laelia orchid stem in its mouth. My goal is to print these on the outside of each invitation envelope. They’re like little heralds safeguarding our proclamations of love. 🤎

I knew I wanted it to carry flowers or a bouquet of some sort. And Laelias are the family of orchids found in the Americas and especially Mexico, so it felt like a perfect fit. They are representations of new beginnings, passion, beauty, and strength. [See: Orchid Bloom Sweater Transformation 🌱]

Carving Out Time ✦

Once I nailed down my design, I printed it out and used the old-fashioned tracing paper method to transfer it to a lino block. And away I carved!

It took a couple evenings to get all the way through, especially since I didn’t have a larger nib for the bigger sections. I just have one small, extra sharp tool.

The repetitive motion of carving out the linoleum is so satisfying. It scratches a tactile, almost grooming instinct. To pick and peel away at something for art.

Homing In ✦

I’ve done some test prints to see how it’s looking. I love the design, even though I think my line work could be thinner in some areas. I’m going to go with it and embrace the thicker lines for now until I change my mind.

The plan is to print in hunter green ink on my hunter green envelopes to create a low-contrast look. Because I’m planning to use a white ink gel pen to write the addresses on top, so I need as much contrast as I can get so they don’t get lost in the mail!

Last week, I made the decision to include the bird as a cutout on the inside to serve as our welcome soirée invitation (for folks who are coming in from out of town). So there will be a nice continuation of the bird motif on the outside (which will get thrown out) and the inside (maybe they will keep).

I like to think of it as an extra little gift, an art piece from me, since the invitation text will be on the other side/not visible when you look at the bird.

Hand Cut, Pressed & Printed ✦

The process of inking and printing each one will create a beautiful, slightly-raised texture. And each one is a little unique since it’s hand-pressed. I’m still working on perfecting the color contrast to be more subtle. I did these tests in black ink, but the end result will be much closer to the envelope color.

Just seeing the test prints is making me giddy. I’m in love with these love birds! If I hadn’t gone to the Harrisburg arts fest last year, I would never have taken the leap to linocut a stamp for our wedding [See: Trying Linocut at the Arts Fest 🫘]. That experience gave me the confidence to take on something like this, and I really want to explore more with this medium!

Future Iterations ✦

These birds would be so cute in other colors too! Next year, I might try to make some Valentine’s cards/envelopes with these just because.

Follow along our wedding journey: Junk Journaling Our Engagement Chapter 🫘 | Taking the Initial Leap into Wedding Planning 🫘 | Wedding Updates + Flower Garlands 🌱

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