Cardmaking – One Of The Easiest Crafts Ever
Making homemade cards is one of the easiest crafts to do when it comes to celebrating any special occasion be it a birthday, wedding, holiday or any other every day event. Greeting cards range from invitation cards, thank you cards to get well soon cards.
History
The primeval Chinese and Egyptians had the earliest traces of sending greeting cards as a custom. In ancient China, people celebrated New Year by exchanging messages of prosperity and good will. In Egypt, people delivered their greetings that were written on papyrus scrolls.
In Europe, it was in the 14th century that the Germans began to print from woodcuts their New Year’s greetings. Handmade paper Valentine greeting cards began to be exchanged in the other parts of Europe from the start of the 15th century.
In 1843, Christmas cards first appeared in published form when Sir Henry Cole of London hired an artist by the name of John Calcott Horsley to have a holiday card designed which he intended to send to all his dear friends and acquaintances.
By the 1850s, due to printing and mechanization advancements the greeting card underwent a great transformation. From being a somewhat costly and handmade gift that was hand-delivered, it evolved to being a famous and inexpensive method of personal communication.
In 1930, technical developments such as color lithography pushed forward the industry of manufacturing greeting cards.
By the 1980s, another trend shift began as consumers looked for entirely unique greeting cards compared to the standard ones. It was in the late 1990s that the three different segments of cardmaking were realized which are as follows:
- Premium handmade cards;
- Mass-produced cards; and
- E-cards.
There are also the other variations of handmade cards such as decoupage. Commonly known as 3D, it is characterized with a design which is printed several times. Some portions of the design are then cut and layered and placed on top of one another using sticky foam squares that are double-sided. Such mounted layers create the 3D effect to make a very striking greeting card.
Here are the most commonly-used materials for making cards:
- Cardstock;
- Vellum;
- Stencils;
- Tissue paper;
- Markers;
- Rulers and t-squares;
- Glue;
- Rickrack;
- Sequins;
- Ribbon;
- Foil; and
- Beads.
Today, making greeting cards has become a multi-billion-dollar business. In the United States alone over seven billion of such greeting cards were distributed last year.