Monthly Archives: February 2009

Feb

2009

Laurie DeMartino - Letterpress Identity

We love involved custom production projects with other design firms - especially identity systems. The refined work of designer Laurie DeMartino exemplifies the level of production we strive for in our letterpress shop. A keen eye for detailed type and color makes her design work striking. In fact, we believe she has a sixth sense [...]

By StudioOnFire | Posted in Letterpress | Tagged blind, business cards, commercial, custom, envelope, identity, impression, letterhead, Letterpress, letterpress services, minneapolis, notecard, offset, perforation, printing, stationary, stationery, system, varnish | Comments (4)

Feb

2009

Compassion Letterpress Poster

This is a poster designed and letterpressed at Studio On Fire. It was for a gallery show called the Poster Offensive put on by our good friends at Spunk Design at the Frank Stone gallery in Minneapolis.
A couple years ago when this poster was designed, our countries leaders were talking about “exporting democracy”. I thought [...]

By StudioOnFire | Posted in Design, Letterpress | Tagged Ben Levitz, Benjamin Levitz, compassion, cotton, Design, export democracy, large format, Letterpress, letterpressed, minneapolis, poster, poster offensive, printing, spunk design | Comments (8)

Feb

2009

Portsmouth Tea Stationery - Letterpress Identity

An identity system need not have enough colors to choke a horse. Letterpress printing makes the understated shine. This system for Portsmouth Tea Company is magnificently elegant and simple. Just a single color - metallic silver. And premium materials - Crane 100% cotton paper. Notice the custom converted policy style envelope incorporating the shape into [...]

By StudioOnFire | Posted in Letterpress | Tagged business card, cotton, crane, custom converted, die cut, envelope, letterhead, Letterpress, letterpress services, metallic, minneapolis, portsmouth, printing, silver, stationery, two sided | Comments (1)

Feb

2009

Art Of The Business Card - Black Paper

When we work with designers on projects we have conversations about “production strategy.” Sometimes letterpress is a good fit for the design intent, sometimes not. And often times we combine other production methods to achieve the effect being sought after. Black business cards present a range of production challenges. Flooding a white paper with black [...]

By StudioOnFire | Posted in Letterpress | Tagged antidote x, black, business cards, Design, die cut, duplex, engraved, engraving, foil, foiled, ink, jaime wickard, Letterpress, letterpress services, minneapolis, opaque, paper, print, printing, production, silver, strategy, westwerk, white, white ink | Comments (15)

Feb

2009

The Pen Is Mightier Than The Lube Gun

Vintage machines live or die depending on our care of their lubrication needs. Certain areas on the Heidelberg Windmill presses have lots small oil points - like the gripper head and the paper feed. It is all to easy to over oil and end up with drips oozing everywhere, not cool when you are trying [...]

By StudioOnFire | Posted in Letterpress | Tagged 10 x 15, 10x15, 13 x 18, 13x18, Heidelberg, Letterpress, lube, lubrication, oil, oiling, precision, press, tips, Windmill | Comments (5)

Feb

2009

Rosenthal - A Letterpress Identity

When Becky Rosenthal was launching her wedding photography business she asked us to both design and letterpress print her identity system. So many wedding invites are letterpressed, why not appeal to brides with the same tactility?
Here’s a couple design considerations for letterpress:
One of the things we like about letterpress is what happens to the white [...]

By StudioOnFire | Posted in Design, Letterpress | Tagged becky rosenthal, business cards, design services, identity, letterhead, Letterpress, letterpress services, logo, pattern, photographer, wedding | Comments (7)

Feb

2009

Wedding Invite - Letterpress, Gocco, Stitch

A wedding in Puerto Rico requires an invite worthy of the occasion. Bride and groom Ashley Geoffroy and Russell Austin co-designed these for their wedding. We printed the long folding letterpress card which perforates apart for the RSVP return. They gocco printed the fabric with the invite text. Then Ashley and her mom had a [...]

By StudioOnFire | Posted in Letterpress | Tagged ashley geoffroy, destination, fabric, fold, folding, gocco, invitation, invite, invites, Letterpress, letterpress services, perforation, print, puerto rico, russell austin, screen printing, sewing, stitching, wedding | Comments (9)

Feb

2009

A Holesome Baby Announcement

Ok, this is not letterpress. But it is another one of those crazy little production services we can do that adds some vintage style texture. This is called pinhole perforation. We’ve also heard it referred to as rathole perforation. It is different from standard perforation in that it not only cuts the sheet, it actually [...]

By StudioOnFire | Posted in Letterpress | Tagged baby announcement, birth, card, dry gum, holmberg design, jeff holmberg, label, Letterpress, letterpress services, minneapolis, perf, perforation, perforator, pinhole, postage, rathole, sheets, stamp | Comments (3)

Feb

2009

The Devil Is In The Details

Our design friends over at Westwerk have some tremendous attention to detail. Be careful, these images are NSFW. With dense black and custom silver inks printed on heavy 160lb chocolate colored stock, these cards are pretty sexy. That black ink on the dark stock impresses a subtle layer of texture. The silver was toned back [...]

By StudioOnFire | Posted in Letterpress | Tagged black, brown, business cards, custom, details corporate events, die cut, diecut, label, Letterpress, letterpress services, minneapolis, pattern, silver, thick, westwerk | Comments (11)

Feb

2009

Edge with Edge

We turn some tricks in addition to letterpress and design. This little production trick may cause a full-on business card fondling session. We call it edge tipping, edge painting, edge coloring. We use the process to color the edges of cards, books, journals, notepads - anything with a thickness can be colored. Any Pantone color, [...]

By StudioOnFire | Posted in Letterpress | Tagged accent, books, business cards, coloring, edge, house of monks, journals, letterpress services, metallic, notepads, painting, pantone, pms, printing, tipping | Comments (7)

Feb

2009

Affordable Letterpress Wedding Invitations

The economy being in the tank doesn’t mean people stop getting married. Letterpress wedding invitation sets can be affordable with a little planning. One of the things that we do to make printing them affordable is run all of the pieces on the same press sheet. Our presses are big enough to run several different [...]

By StudioOnFire | Posted in Letterpress | Tagged affordable, cheap, custom, invitations, invites, Letterpress, letterpress services, michael carpenter, press sheet, printing, stationery, switch creative, wedding, wholesale | Comments (9)

Feb

2009

Fishing Postcards Letterpressed On Blotter

Old travel destination postcards always offer typographic treats. Barrett Haroldson over at Colle McVoy designed some type on these postcards every bit as tasty. We love the mix of haltone texture and overprinting. They are 3/3 letterpress printed on the same press sheet using our big 13 x 18 Heidelberg Windmill running up a stack [...]

By StudioOnFire | Posted in Letterpress | Tagged 13 x 18 heidelberg, barrett haroldson, blotter board, coaster, colle mcvoy, fishington, halftone, Letterpress, letterpress services, overprint, overprinting, postcard, typography | Comments (6)

Feb

2009

Amma Maternity Stationery - With An Egg

The design team at Imagehaus created a delightful system for Amma Maternity. We printed a simple two color letterpress system with an egg shape die cut for the cards. We ran the solid ink for the business cards on our Heidelberg cylinder press to achieve the pressure and the ink coverage required to print this [...]

By StudioOnFire | Posted in Letterpress | Tagged amma maternity, business cards, die cut, egg shape, envelope, identity system, imagehaus, letterhead, Letterpress, letterpress services, stationary, stationery | Comments (1)

Feb

2009

Comparing Thick and Thicker Paper

We love thick stocks. It is a friend with benefits. One of the challenges in letterpress printing is working with the “show through” of the impression to the opposite side of the page. When you have a thicker stock it becomes easier to show more impression and have less show through.
These pictures compare 110lb Cover [...]

By StudioOnFire | Posted in Letterpress | Tagged 110lb, 220lb, business cards, cotton, crane lettra, heavy impression, impression, letterpress services, show through, studio on fire | Comments (1)

Feb

2009

Capsule Letterpress Folder Invite

This lecture invite folder was designed by our friends at Capsule and letterpress printed in our studio. We were especially excited by the topic. The Duet Lecture this year from Capsule and Winthrop & Weinstine is about designing and owning a cohesive sensory experience. They did a great job with the concept by incorporating the [...]

By StudioOnFire | Posted in Letterpress, News | Tagged air freshener, capsule, die cut, duet lecture, folder, large format letterpress, large letterpress, Letterpress, letterpress services, weinstine, winthrop | Comments (7)

Monthly Archives: February 2009

Laurie DeMartino - Letterpress Identity

Compassion Letterpress Poster

Portsmouth Tea Stationery - Letterpress Identity

Art Of The Business Card - Black Paper

The Pen Is Mightier Than The Lube Gun

Rosenthal - A Letterpress Identity

Wedding Invite - Letterpress, Gocco, Stitch

A Holesome Baby Announcement

The Devil Is In The Details

Edge with Edge

Affordable Letterpress Wedding Invitations

Fishing Postcards Letterpressed On Blotter

Amma Maternity Stationery - With An Egg

Comparing Thick and Thicker Paper

Capsule Letterpress Folder Invite

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