After having one of the most amazing weeks of my life, I began reflecting more on 2009 this morning. I have been surrounded by so many talented friends who have truly rallied around the work done here at the Momental Studio. I’m a big dreamer and an even bigger doer but those I have met over the last year and their reactions to my work make the experience truly meaningful.
After sitting down to write an honest post last August about how my hand painted wedding invitations came to be I was floored by the response. During the last 6 months I came to realize that artwork in any capacity, even adorning custom wedding invitations, can have a meaningful impact on people and facilitate connections otherwise impossible.
So thank you for joining me along the way and know that I look forward to many more adventures to come.
The original post that started it all…
Say the phrase hand-painted wedding invitation and most do a double take…then ask “for small orders right?” or inquire “well you reproduce each one on the computer?”. All of these are valid responses I admit as the thought of individually hand-painting hundreds of pieces is initially mind boggling. Let me be the first to tell you, it is mind boggling, requires tremendous patience and skill, but YES, here at Momental Designs we have been hand-painting each and every invitation since our beginnings in 2003.
I thought I would take a moment to further explain the painting process and give a peek into the world of Momental hand painted wedding invitations.
Shortly after my wedding in 2000, I began Momental, very humbly. I worked another full time job, where my lunch hours were spent crafting the perfect business name, reading business books and sketching invitation ideas. My goal was to offer artistic invitations, featuring my original artwork, but to take the concept one step further. While many invitation designers at the time offered original illustrations none were hand-painting, exclusively – so the Momental Invitation was born! I sat for hours perfecting simple little illustrations that could be repeated entirely by hand over hundreds of pieces. Several weeks ago I blogged about Kelley’s hydrangea invitations, where I shared a sample hydrangea from the very beginning. We still create invitations that are entirely hand-painted much like Carrianne’s, where over 30 strokes per invite were used!
Over time brides seemed to be requesting an increasing level of complexity in their artwork. I adored creating detailed watercolor illustrations but knew I simply could not re-create the complexity of the paintings across hundreds of items. After much research I found the perfect way to accurately reproduce the pieces onto each invitation.
Each Momental Invitation begins with my Original Watercolor artwork. After reproduction of the original hydrangea above, tiny hand-painted strokes of sheer shimmer are mindfully added on each invitation to capture the depth and complexity of the lush bloom.
The Momental Girls sit for hours adding the perfect touch to each stationery piece.
I also create simple black and white illustrations – more sketchy; pencil or pen on paper. After reproduction of my original Poppies above we added ivory hand-painted details to each.
The Vintage Stamped collection is perhaps our most loved. Vintage Tree, Lacy, Lotus, Posie and Petal artwork is entirely crafted by hand, where the signature pattern is pressed into paper and hand-painted details are layered throughout.
So there you have it – if you made it through my mega post – thanks for reading. My hope is that you will see beyond the photos, color and artwork and notice the passion that drives it all ; passion for the business as it has grown, passion for a team I am eternally grateful for and passion for creating invitations as fine art; mini-works that become more than paper and text, but capture a moment, tell a story with every little brushstroke detail.