Invitation templates / Christening invitations
Block & Print: a christening invitation template
A two-colour linocut, cut and pulled by hand: the brayer rolls the ink across the block, the sheet is laid to the register, and the print comes away with the child's name the right way round at last.
The design
The whole invitation is a relief printer's bench, and the invitation is the print lying on it. A linocut has exactly two things in it, the ink and the paper: what the gouge took away reads white, what still stands on the block reads solid, so the child's name is knocked out of a field of ink, the chatter of the blade is visible everywhere it skipped, and every section is a sheet pulled to its own registration crosses. It opens the way a print is actually made: the bare grey block lies there with the name cut into it backwards, the brayer rolls the ink on, the sheet is laid down and rubbed with the baren, and the print is pulled off the block, suddenly the right way round; then the second plate lands a hair out of register, and is left exactly there, because it always is. As the guest reads, the press roller turns in the margin and lays a line of ink down the bench beside them. They can take a registration pin and set the second plate wherever they like, roll the brayer through the ink slab until it is charged and the second colour of the birth card prints over the first, unpeg the godparents' proofs from the drying line, cut the border of the block with the gouge (a cut never comes back), press an ink tin to pull a trial proof of each dress colour, and lift a photograph to the top of the bench. The reply is signed and numbered in pencil under the print.
Colours and type
Block & Print comes in 5 colourways: Indigo & newsprint, Prussian blue, Madder red, Dusty rose and Pine green, with 2 type pairings: Cut caps and Block slab. The colours and type change in the editor at any time; the layout stays its own.
Who it suits
Made for christening / baptism, baby dedication and naming day, in the Minimal & editorial style.
What is included
An invitation website with the church and the celebration after, the godparents, your photos, a song if you want one, and the RSVP with the number of adults and children coming. You write your own words and add your photos in the live editor, send every guest a personal link by email or any messaging app, and follow the replies as they come in. Free for up to 20 guests, with the full design.
More christening templates
- Painted Tiles: A wall of hand-painted blue-and-white tiles: the panel is set tile by tile, the name goes in last, and guests turn crooked tiles, fire the glaze and repaint the frieze.
- Christening Bells: Two polished brass handbells tied with satin ribbon on white linen: tap one to ring it and the name appears, then polish the tarnish off the brass to reveal the engraving.
- The Christening Cake: A three-tier christening cake in white fondant and sugar roses on a porcelain stand: turn it with a finger, watch the name piped onto a sugar plaque, and cut a slice at the close.
- Written by Hand: A calligrapher's desk: the child's name is written live in pointed-pen copperplate, and the guest changes the nib, blots the ink, tests the colours and tries the pen.
- The Certificate: An engraved baptismal certificate on a leather writing desk: press the brass stamp into the molten wax to seal it, and watch the godparents sign in ink.
- Blind Dove: A thick white cotton card with a dove pressed in without ink: the light rakes across as you scroll, and the dove rises out of the white.
- The Favour Table: The bomboniere table on the christening morning, seen from above: one satin ribbon unspools down the table as you read, threading every favour and tag of the day, and ends tied to your own.
- Fresco Under Plaster: An old chapel wall: a fresco of a May sky and olive trees comes out from under the whitewash, patch by patch, with the child's name painted in the band beneath.
All christening invitation templates