Forgetting to buy a Valentine’s Day card is sure to cause strife with the significant other, and it’s something that will be remembered for the entire year. The next Valentine’s Day will have to be really special. It’s a ‘two strikes and you’re out’ type of thing.
Students in the Vandercook Club, the self-described “letterpress endeavor,” are selling Valentines that are definitely not the kind found at a Hallmark store. The Vandercook Club is made up of students from the College of Design, and the cards they are selling were made using the letterpress method.
The letterpress is a technique which is often referred to as one of the oldest printing methods. Up until 1950, almost everything was made with letterpress. Needless to say, the technique involves a lot of dedication and hard work.
Club President and graduate student in graphic design Tyler Galloway said by making the cards other members of the Vandercook Club have an excuse to get experience using the letterpress equipment.
Galloway said the club does not have altruistic motives behind the cards but that does not discount the value of the cards.
“I think they are special,” Galloway said, “because these cards are handmade using ‘technology’ that’s been around for 500 years.”
Galloway said each card is a little different from one another. “There aren’t a million copies of each card since we’re not using digital technology to reprint these cards.”
The cards are being sold for $2 each, which Galloway said is still cheaper than some of the Hallmark cards that are being sold.
The cards will be sold until Valentine’s Day, in case you happen to forget what is sometimes called the biggest lover’s day of the year.
Galloway commented about last year’s sales, which was the first year the Vandercook Club sold the letterpress cards.
“It was the first year we did them so there wasn’t that much publicity,” Galloway said. “Students and faculty from the College of Design understood and appreciated them, but the general public of NCSU was a little confused to what was going on and why the cards were so different.”
Galloway said looking at the cards you can tell the difference between handmade and digital technology-made cards.
“We received a general puzzlement by most of the campus population,” said Galloway.
Carolin Harris, a senior in graphic design and Vandercook Club member, said the cards the club makes are so much more personal than what’s sold commercially.
“We’re reconnecting with the original craft of design,” Harris said. “It’s much more valuable to buy something that is handmade, made with love, and made with true ink rather than computer or generic ink that so many people have access to now.”
Harris said the cards are not perfect but that is what makes them special.
“The cards are all different from one another and they have inconsistencies,” Harris said. “It makes them intricate in their own little way.”
Adam Kirkley, a senior in Spanish, was curious about the idea of letterpress.
“I have never been exposed to the idea of letterpress cards,” Kirkley said. “So I am curious to see what they are.”
Letterpress cards by the Vandercook Club are definitely this year’s way to win the hearts of those near and dear to you. While the recipients may try to decipher what they’ve just received they will know one thing — it is unique.
The Vandercook Club will be selling cards in the Talley Student Center and Brooks Hall Feb. 6-14, 12-1 p.m.