And so, the moment has arrived: our new cards are complete! I previously wrote about much of the process that went into the design and creation of these cards. I won’t repeat myself too much, but when we left off, the plates were made, proofs had been printed, but the run had not been completed. In preparation for the final run, we assembled our cronies from The Night Shift at the International Printing Museum, and cut stacks of double-thick (duplexed) Plike paper into precise blanks.

Precision was absolutely necessary in this run, due to the very tight die line surrounding the design. It’s extremely difficult to print within such tight tolerances, but Mike Mische, printer to the stars, persevered, and after some very careful tweaking of the die position, we were able to run approximately 250 of each card design with relative ease.

To complete the metal nameplate look, the final touch has to be applied by hand. My wife Alyssa learned about the extraordinary utility of dental dam punches while experimenting with ways to punch small holes in leather. When we started thinking about creating tiny holes in the business cards, the dental dam punch turned out to be just the tool for the job. Its adjustable hole size allows for a slightly smaller set of holes in the smaller card.

The “generic” version of the card is 3.5″ wide, and small enough to fit within a standard business card holder. The card with my name and e-mail address is what I’d call the “egotist” version, 4″ wide, and ever so slightly too big to fit into a standard case.

To carry these around with me, I purchased a vintage German cigarrillo case, which just so happens to fit two nested stacks (one stack of each card versions) perfectly.

I could not be happier with how everything turned out. Major thanks to Mike Mische at Walnuts & Rice / The International Printing Museum.