I don’t usually enter design contests.  I actually can’t remember ever entering one, other than the Arkansas state fair art contests I used to enter my paintings in as a child.  Mostly they were paintings of ducks.  I was weird.

So it took a little encouraging from Jessica, my enthusiastic rep at Clampitt Paper, to convince me to enter their wine label design contest.   “C’mon, you could win a trip for two to Sonoma, California!  Your label would be printed on 600 bottles of wine!”  I think before the second sentence I had started day-dreaming about it.   So, I spent a little time re-purposing a design that had only been used on a wedding invitation suite which I was always very sad had the misfortune to be coupled with royal purple.  I called it “Kiss Register Red,” which is an inside joke about color printing, describing when areas of color that touch without any overlap on the edges. Assumes perfect registration. – a kiss.  But it also sounds romantic. RIGHT? I WAS GONNA WIN THIS THING!

The harder job was trying to find a way to print it on black paper.   That actually turned out to be the big prize in all this effort, because, spoiler alert, I didn’t win the trip to Sonoma.  The label did get Best in Show in the Austin and San Antonio contest, but lost ultimately in Dallas last weekend at a lovely event on White Rock Lake.

But back to the printing!  Thanks again to Jessica, I discovered the HP Indigo 5500  press at Capital Printing, which can print white ink, and had the  greatest experience with the folks there.  The company president, Brad, gave me a tour, and took a personal interest in my little project.  Zack, in production, explained they could print a few passes of white ink under my design which would allow me to print the gold and silver on top.  This may not seem like a big deal, but believe me, it IS.  So many cost-reducing, production possibilities for my clients! Plus, Brad basically gave me faith in humans again.  They even donated their work, as they are very supportive of Austin artists.  So, I just want to thank them here, for all they did for me.  Even though ultimately, I should have maybe stuck to ducks.  I did always win at the state fair.