If you are thinking about going down the route of letterpress printing your own wedding invites, the first question you should seriously consider is: Do you WANT letterpress or do you want to PRESS your own invites?
If you WANT letterpressed invites, you should go with a vendor who has experience with the demands and requirements of letterpress printing—do you really need extra stress during this time?
Letterpress IS expensive, the equipment and expertise necessary drives this, but some things to think about when you are deciding on your invites...
1. Do you need the entire package? Instead of an overindulgence of paper and envelope, a simple (but elegant) card and response postcard would reduce the press time and the price.
2. Do you need multi-colors? A 1-color job is half the time on the press than a 2-color job and no registration needed!
3. Do you need your own design and colors? Wedding letterpress printers will have house designs that they print in bulk and add your information on to their already pressed stock.
4. Do you need your invites to be printed by a commercial letterpress printer? Letterpress is picking up steam and many small, but experienced printers have less overhead, give you a better price and work with you on your design.
If you want to PRESS your own invites, and say "I did this!" Then go for it! Do keep in mind that it will not necessary be "cheaper", you will need to take classes, rent/buy equipment, and have some trial and error (i.e. time).
***As mentioned by "Right Out Loud", if you are looking for "perfect" letterpress, go with an expert—graphic designers looking for exact alignment will not get that on a first try—think "organic" for your first letterpress project, perfection comes with lots of practice!
Showing posts with label letterpress techniques. Show all posts
Showing posts with label letterpress techniques. Show all posts
Friday, February 8, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
seeing double?
No, it is not a mistake! Instead of sending it through the recycling process again, to reduce waste (and to give you a snipet of another design), all of my business cards are printed on our test prints, remainders, or less-than-perfect prints.
Pictured here are the leftover 2007 elios calendars, which make a very nice organic background if I say so myself!
Pictured here are the leftover 2007 elios calendars, which make a very nice organic background if I say so myself!
Monday, October 15, 2007
polymer plates
I've had a few requests on information on polymer plates, and posting initial info here and I'll come back to edit it soon...
I actually make my plates myself, I took a class at SFCB
I rent time on the SFCB's platemaker, which run about 5 thou to purchase, but I have also heard you can use the sun for longer exposure, but I haven't tried that myself.
And Briar Press is a good source for info and finding sources in your area.
Also, most people I know who don't make there own plates go to boxcar
I actually make my plates myself, I took a class at SFCB
I rent time on the SFCB's platemaker, which run about 5 thou to purchase, but I have also heard you can use the sun for longer exposure, but I haven't tried that myself.
And Briar Press is a good source for info and finding sources in your area.
Also, most people I know who don't make there own plates go to boxcar
Monday, October 1, 2007
letterpress inks
There are two main types of ink used on the letterpress, oil-based and rubber-based. Oil-based dries very quickly and is best for coated stock (where the ink can't soak into the paper) and should be cleaned off the press within the hour. Rubber-based is best with porous paper that the ink can soak into and can be left on the press for days, which is helpful when you are printing a long running job.
Ink is usually sold in 1lb cans, which if you are printing occasionally, is going to last you a lifetime. NA Graphics sells in 1/4 tubes that would be more convenient to the small run printer. I purchase my Van Son Rubber-Based inks from Kelly Paper, which is right down the street from me. They can mix Pantone® colors for me by the next morning for $30 / lb.
I use rubber-based inks because of the ability to print consecutive days as well as the over print effect of layering colors that is a feature in most of my designs, as in "time passages" below.
There is also soy-based ink, which I have limited knowledge and experience with, here is a Briar Press thread about them that seems to be the most concise knowledge I've found.
Pantone® inks used for the letterpress are not "letterpress inks" they are generally made for offset printing (a much larger market), but will work fine with letterpress, but here are a few things from my experience to keep in mind in their transfered use.
1. The Pantone® inks will print darker on the letterpress. The inks are thin for offset use, therefore on the letterpress, to get the right coverage, the color will usually end up the next darker shade on the Pantone® chart.
2. Paper is an added colorization factor. The tone of the paper will interact with the resulting color, here are two cards I used "orange" Pantone® 123, the one on Fox River Confetti Yellow appears burnt orange, while the one on Johannot mouldmade is bright orange.
3. Coverage will effect the color depth. With a light amount of ink on the press, the print results will be light and with heavy ink coverage, the depth will be depended. Both images below were taken under the same lighting conditions, same impression, the only difference is in their ink coverage, which is easily shown here on a image that requires a large amount of ink.
4. Remaining ink residue from previous print runs. If the rollers have not been cleaned properly, they will retain the last colors run and effect your current job. Even with extensive cleaning, rubber rollers hold on to a bit of color from previous runs. Some hints if you are printing a white or transparent-based color are to ink up the press with white, then clean the press (this will remove most of the dark ink stored in the rubber) or if you have the luxury, keep an extra set of rollers just for white/light colors (keeps the dark ink contamination out!)
5. Matching to screen colors or ink jet prints. One of the many mistakes that a letterpress client will make is in the assumption that the final print will be matched exactly to their screen or ink jet print. Pantone colors are like paints, they are specially mixed inks, unlike screen values which are components of RGB (Red, Green, Blue) and print outs use CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, blacK). It is impossible to match between screen and prints, alone!
More information on inks are available on this Briar Press thread.
Ink is usually sold in 1lb cans, which if you are printing occasionally, is going to last you a lifetime. NA Graphics sells in 1/4 tubes that would be more convenient to the small run printer. I purchase my Van Son Rubber-Based inks from Kelly Paper, which is right down the street from me. They can mix Pantone® colors for me by the next morning for $30 / lb.
I use rubber-based inks because of the ability to print consecutive days as well as the over print effect of layering colors that is a feature in most of my designs, as in "time passages" below.
There is also soy-based ink, which I have limited knowledge and experience with, here is a Briar Press thread about them that seems to be the most concise knowledge I've found.
Pantone® inks used for the letterpress are not "letterpress inks" they are generally made for offset printing (a much larger market), but will work fine with letterpress, but here are a few things from my experience to keep in mind in their transfered use.
1. The Pantone® inks will print darker on the letterpress. The inks are thin for offset use, therefore on the letterpress, to get the right coverage, the color will usually end up the next darker shade on the Pantone® chart.
2. Paper is an added colorization factor. The tone of the paper will interact with the resulting color, here are two cards I used "orange" Pantone® 123, the one on Fox River Confetti Yellow appears burnt orange, while the one on Johannot mouldmade is bright orange.
3. Coverage will effect the color depth. With a light amount of ink on the press, the print results will be light and with heavy ink coverage, the depth will be depended. Both images below were taken under the same lighting conditions, same impression, the only difference is in their ink coverage, which is easily shown here on a image that requires a large amount of ink.
4. Remaining ink residue from previous print runs. If the rollers have not been cleaned properly, they will retain the last colors run and effect your current job. Even with extensive cleaning, rubber rollers hold on to a bit of color from previous runs. Some hints if you are printing a white or transparent-based color are to ink up the press with white, then clean the press (this will remove most of the dark ink stored in the rubber) or if you have the luxury, keep an extra set of rollers just for white/light colors (keeps the dark ink contamination out!)
5. Matching to screen colors or ink jet prints. One of the many mistakes that a letterpress client will make is in the assumption that the final print will be matched exactly to their screen or ink jet print. Pantone colors are like paints, they are specially mixed inks, unlike screen values which are components of RGB (Red, Green, Blue) and print outs use CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, blacK). It is impossible to match between screen and prints, alone!
More information on inks are available on this Briar Press thread.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
what goes into letterpress pricing
A question that frequently comes up is about my price list. Most of my jobs are done essentially for Lizard Press, though I will take commissioned work from time to time and these are the things I need to have to give an effective price for each unique job.
1. Design: [Send pdf if design is done, text and any imagery if design is needed.]
Designers who have not printed letterpress will think that if the design is done, this means it will be a quick and easy job. For printing by a commercial printer, maybe. But for letterpress, most likely not. The best case is to send a pdf of your job and get an estimation of what needs to be adjusted for easy letterpress printing.
2. Quantity: [How many?]
Letterpress is most cost effective with a minimum of 50-100 prints. You may only want 5, but the press set up will be the same as for 500 and the same price.
3. Paper: [Specialty, or house?]
Paper for letterpress needs to be thick to get a nice de-bossed look. Traditional letterpress printer's were schooled to "kiss" the paper, which was a well-trained feat. Contemporary letterpress printers and customers prefer a bite in the page, which distinguishes letterpress from offset. My house paper is Johannot, a fluffy cotton mouldmade paper that is best printed on one side.
4. Size: [Size before folding? Any bleeds (image running off the page)?]
This is the size of the page need to print your image on a letterpress, not the final size. Most presses need about 1/2" extra page area to feed into the press and if the image bleeds off the page, the printable area and paper size will need to be larger.
5. Colors: [Single, 2-color, 3-color? How precise the color match?]
Additional colors will proportionally increase the price, each color on each side needs to be set up and then registered with the previous printed panels (this also adds to paper cost). The inks used in letterpress are essentially offset Pantone® colors, which due to the heavier manual inking process, tend to run a bit dark on the letterpress. A "chocolate brown" will be easier to run than a perfect Pantone® 469. If a precise color is needed, the client will need to be available for the print run.
6. Sides: [Single or double?]
The paper weight will need to be increased if you desire printing on both sides of the page, so the alternate side image does not press through. Double-sided also increases the number of print runs, i.e. 2-color, 2-sided will be 4 print runs, thus it will cost twice as much as 1-color, 2-sided or 2-color, 1-sided.
7. Extras: [Any unusual elements?]
Artwork die-cuts, scoring, folding, hand tearing of paper, envelope printing, any added extras are good to get upfront in the planning so they can be spec'd for the job.
When I have all these questions answered, I can make a good estimate to order the paper, prepare the files for film, burn the polymer plates, order the Pantone® colors, set up the appropriate letterpress, design each panel for printing, register multiple colors, fold as required.
It is a lot of work, but it is well worth it! A custom letterpress printed job will be fantastic with all the planning upfront and can be less exciting if it needs to be fixed along the way.
Here are a couple letterpress print shop pages that can lead you to their pricing...
Paper Source
Bella Figura
Hello Lucky
(keep in mind that these are most likely template jobs, not custom jobs)
1. Design: [Send pdf if design is done, text and any imagery if design is needed.]
Designers who have not printed letterpress will think that if the design is done, this means it will be a quick and easy job. For printing by a commercial printer, maybe. But for letterpress, most likely not. The best case is to send a pdf of your job and get an estimation of what needs to be adjusted for easy letterpress printing.
2. Quantity: [How many?]
Letterpress is most cost effective with a minimum of 50-100 prints. You may only want 5, but the press set up will be the same as for 500 and the same price.
3. Paper: [Specialty, or house?]
Paper for letterpress needs to be thick to get a nice de-bossed look. Traditional letterpress printer's were schooled to "kiss" the paper, which was a well-trained feat. Contemporary letterpress printers and customers prefer a bite in the page, which distinguishes letterpress from offset. My house paper is Johannot, a fluffy cotton mouldmade paper that is best printed on one side.
4. Size: [Size before folding? Any bleeds (image running off the page)?]
This is the size of the page need to print your image on a letterpress, not the final size. Most presses need about 1/2" extra page area to feed into the press and if the image bleeds off the page, the printable area and paper size will need to be larger.
5. Colors: [Single, 2-color, 3-color? How precise the color match?]
Additional colors will proportionally increase the price, each color on each side needs to be set up and then registered with the previous printed panels (this also adds to paper cost). The inks used in letterpress are essentially offset Pantone® colors, which due to the heavier manual inking process, tend to run a bit dark on the letterpress. A "chocolate brown" will be easier to run than a perfect Pantone® 469. If a precise color is needed, the client will need to be available for the print run.
6. Sides: [Single or double?]
The paper weight will need to be increased if you desire printing on both sides of the page, so the alternate side image does not press through. Double-sided also increases the number of print runs, i.e. 2-color, 2-sided will be 4 print runs, thus it will cost twice as much as 1-color, 2-sided or 2-color, 1-sided.
7. Extras: [Any unusual elements?]
Artwork die-cuts, scoring, folding, hand tearing of paper, envelope printing, any added extras are good to get upfront in the planning so they can be spec'd for the job.
When I have all these questions answered, I can make a good estimate to order the paper, prepare the files for film, burn the polymer plates, order the Pantone® colors, set up the appropriate letterpress, design each panel for printing, register multiple colors, fold as required.
It is a lot of work, but it is well worth it! A custom letterpress printed job will be fantastic with all the planning upfront and can be less exciting if it needs to be fixed along the way.
Here are a couple letterpress print shop pages that can lead you to their pricing...
Paper Source
Bella Figura
Hello Lucky
(keep in mind that these are most likely template jobs, not custom jobs)
Thursday, August 2, 2007
my first letterpress
A question from Erika, an etsy client who bought the letterpress poster I designed for PCBA's 2007 Book Arts and Printers' Fair
was where I purchased my first letterpress . . .
I had taken a few classes at San Francisco Center for the Book and fell in love with it, but wasn't quite ready to take the plunge into purchasing my own when Suzie, a fellow student at the Center, emailed me that she forgot she had been bidding on a 3x5 Kelsey on ebay and had purchased a 5x8 and ended up with both! She gave me an extra special deal of $80 and she had already outfitted it with everything but the rollers, so I couldn't pass it up!
I had cotton candy dreams of printing everything with my 3x5, but after a few weeks of tinkering, have found it very useful for many things, but alas, not everything!
Here are a couple of prints that work well with my 3x5 . . .
My thank U cards, the "U" was actually printed on the 3x5, it doesn't have the indent that most letterpress lovers like, but it gives it a nice textured screenprint effect. The pressure needed to press the 4 inch wood type letter is impossible to get on a 3x5, the best even pressure I get is usually about 1"x3".
The "thank" in this one is also printed on the 3x5, but for the majority of them, I rented a Vandercook at SFCB, which took much less time and the precision alignment was much easily controlled.
What the 3x5 press is fantastic for is printing very small items, like the 2" seed packets on the back of my "notes to grow on" series.
I also bring it to my introductory typography classes, it really gives the students an understanding of what "leading" really is and they really enjoy pulling their own print!
I also picked up a 6x10 Kelsey last year, and have to play with it and order new rollers, which is the usual required purchase with any table top press that has not been in use. NA Graphics carries all the supplies you will need for getting a table top press to function. I hope to be able to spend some time soon with my larger press, but due to my limited time constraints (and overflowing ideas!) I have been renting time on a Vandercook V-4 at SFCB.
The 6x10 is the largest I plan to have, larger presses need more space than I have and I find going to the Center lets me concentrate on my printing and not get distracted by the other things that I "need to get done".
If you are interested in purchasing your own press, here are some options:
1. Ebay, mostly these are from decendants of printers or antique dealers, who mostly do not know anything about the press they are selling
2. Briar Press, mostly printers that are moving up to larger presses and will know details about the press
3. Craigslist, same as Ebay
4. Don Black, have heard from other printers that this is the best place to buy a press in working order, it may take months, but they cater to finding the right press for you, but as with specialized service, it is not as price effective as a "fixer-upper"
5. sfletterpress yahoo list, a yahoo list of hobby and professional printers
was where I purchased my first letterpress . . .
I had taken a few classes at San Francisco Center for the Book and fell in love with it, but wasn't quite ready to take the plunge into purchasing my own when Suzie, a fellow student at the Center, emailed me that she forgot she had been bidding on a 3x5 Kelsey on ebay and had purchased a 5x8 and ended up with both! She gave me an extra special deal of $80 and she had already outfitted it with everything but the rollers, so I couldn't pass it up!
I had cotton candy dreams of printing everything with my 3x5, but after a few weeks of tinkering, have found it very useful for many things, but alas, not everything!
Here are a couple of prints that work well with my 3x5 . . .
My thank U cards, the "U" was actually printed on the 3x5, it doesn't have the indent that most letterpress lovers like, but it gives it a nice textured screenprint effect. The pressure needed to press the 4 inch wood type letter is impossible to get on a 3x5, the best even pressure I get is usually about 1"x3".
The "thank" in this one is also printed on the 3x5, but for the majority of them, I rented a Vandercook at SFCB, which took much less time and the precision alignment was much easily controlled.
What the 3x5 press is fantastic for is printing very small items, like the 2" seed packets on the back of my "notes to grow on" series.
I also bring it to my introductory typography classes, it really gives the students an understanding of what "leading" really is and they really enjoy pulling their own print!
I also picked up a 6x10 Kelsey last year, and have to play with it and order new rollers, which is the usual required purchase with any table top press that has not been in use. NA Graphics carries all the supplies you will need for getting a table top press to function. I hope to be able to spend some time soon with my larger press, but due to my limited time constraints (and overflowing ideas!) I have been renting time on a Vandercook V-4 at SFCB.
The 6x10 is the largest I plan to have, larger presses need more space than I have and I find going to the Center lets me concentrate on my printing and not get distracted by the other things that I "need to get done".
If you are interested in purchasing your own press, here are some options:
1. Ebay, mostly these are from decendants of printers or antique dealers, who mostly do not know anything about the press they are selling
2. Briar Press, mostly printers that are moving up to larger presses and will know details about the press
3. Craigslist, same as Ebay
4. Don Black, have heard from other printers that this is the best place to buy a press in working order, it may take months, but they cater to finding the right press for you, but as with specialized service, it is not as price effective as a "fixer-upper"
5. sfletterpress yahoo list, a yahoo list of hobby and professional printers
Friday, July 27, 2007
passion for printing, a new blog
Over the past two years, and to extreme proportions in the last few months, I have been obsessed with experimenting on the letterpress. To prove it, I have a couple dozen wood type faces that I have purchased, thousands of printed cards and broadsides taking up space in my bookcase and because I have been printing weekly at the San Francisco Center for the Book, they have asked me to teach an upcoming class on wood type in October.
I even have fabulous interns that astound me when they thank me for the opportunity to work all day long on a press. And it is credit to them that I am starting this blog (which started as a joke) but as I am receiving frequent questions about letterpress, a blog seems the perfect venue for responding and is much easier to update than my poor website, which is long overdue for some attention.
So please bear with me as I learn this new interface—lately I have been press-side more than screen-side!
I even have fabulous interns that astound me when they thank me for the opportunity to work all day long on a press. And it is credit to them that I am starting this blog (which started as a joke) but as I am receiving frequent questions about letterpress, a blog seems the perfect venue for responding and is much easier to update than my poor website, which is long overdue for some attention.
So please bear with me as I learn this new interface—lately I have been press-side more than screen-side!
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