Fascinating Facts About His Dark Materials & de-Light-ful Materials

Today, we've been inspired by His Dark Materials to pull together our favourite facts about the trilogy AND the materials used to make Stikins ® name labels.

Name Labels – Fascinating Facts About His Dark Materials

• The trilogy has three major literary influences; On the Marionette Theatre by Heinrich von Kleist, William Blake, and John Milton’s Paradise Lost.
• Pullman wanted to turn the story of Paradise Lost on its head. Instead of a fall after the loss of innocence (as Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden for eating from the tree of knowledge), His Dark Materials celebrates loss of innocence as Lyra grows up to defy the all-powerful order of the Magisterium.
• The trilogy’s original title was The Golden Compasses; a reference from Paradise Lost to the instrument used to draw circles / arcs and measure distances. Pullman’s US publisher mistook this for a reference to the alethiometer device. This is why the first book is The Golden Compass in the US but Northern Lights (as intended) everywhere else.
• The concept of daemons (physical manifestations of the soul in animal form) was inspired by paintings of women holding animals. These include Leonardo da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine, Hans Holbein’s A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling, and Giovanni Battista Tiepolo’s Young Woman with a Macaw.
• Pullman described the universe of His Dark Materials as “like ours, but different in many ways”. He used archaic or obsolete versions of existing words and created new words using the same etymologies or origins – to create a sense of something familiar but different. Britain becomes Brytain, Ireland Eirland, and Greenland Groenland. Helicopters are gyropters, pictures photograms, chocolate chocolatl, and marzipan is marchpane. Electricity becomes anbaric energy because “electric” comes from the Greek elektron (meaning amber) and “amber” has its roots in the Arabic word anbar.
• There have been a variety of adaptations. 2003 saw two radio productions; the BBC adapted the full trilogy, while RTÉ (Irish public radio) produced an adaption of Northern Lights. A film adaptation of Northern Lights (named The Golden Compass) was released in 2007 although the planned sequels were shelved due to a rather lacklustre reaction. The National Theatre created a theatrical production, which ran in 2003-4 and again in 2004-5. The two-part, six-hour production featured many special effects and used puppets to represent the daemons – and a rather spectacular battle between two polar bears. In summer 2018, the BBC began filming a television adaption, which is due to air in 2019.

Name Labels – Fascinating Facts About Our Name Label Materials

We are on a mission to make Stikins ® labels the best name labels ever! Every year, we research new materials and manufacturing methods because we want to keep improving our name labels to ensure they continue to stick on and stay on.

• The Material: we use an advanced synthetical material, which is extremely thin, soft, and pliable. Our name labels can bond with flat, curved, and even flexible surfaces, which is why they are so effective at labelling all kinds of items. It also results in name labels that are extremely gentle against skin when used as clothing labels.
  
  
• The Adhesive: we use a unique adhesive. Our adhesive holds name labels securely in place under all kinds of conditions. This includes day to day usage and repeat trips through the washing machine, tumble dryer, dishwasher, microwaves, or the kitchen sink. Stikins ® labels were tested independently using the BS EN ISO6330 wash test procedure for 40 washes at 40 degrees.
  We tested our labels on wash-care labels only. Modern fabrics use many different material blends and so cannot test our product against them all. Therefore, we can guarantee your labels will work on wash-care labels but not when applied directly onto fabric. In some cases they may work perfectly fine but in others they may fail.

• The Print: our printing ribbon is resistant to a whole range of environmental conditions and factors known to damage print over time. A common problem for print on personalised products is solvents. Products including sun creams and insect repellents may contain solvents. Our ribbon is resistant to almost all solvents so your name labels remain clear and legible all year round.

Order Your Own Stikins ® Labels Today

You can order Stikins ® name labels online or by phone. We print name labels every day (Mon-Friday, up to 3pm) and so despatch all orders same or next working day. Standard delivery is free of charge and uses Royal Mail’s first class service. Around 93% arrives next day but, as this is not a guaranteed service, items can take five working days to arrive.

Find out more about our products using the information pages in the menu bar. If you need any help or advice you can contact our Customer Service Team. Our office hours are 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday.