Monthly Archive for July, 2010

Stitched Booklet Wedding Invitation

A good narrative is behind good relationships. That’s why a booklet telling a little bit of the couples story is extra special as a wedding invitation. This invitation was designed by Craig Duffney at BBDO in New York for his friends Amy and Adam. He did excellent work making two sets of illustrated capitals and graphics. One corresponds with the bride, the other with the groom and they co-mingle in the invitation layout.

Planning out the production of a little booklet takes some extra finesse beyond the standard wedding stationery. The format here is an A7 size booklet with a soft cover and french folded pages. The cover is a heavier 110lbC Pearl White Crane Lettra. The gutt is lighter weight 80lbT Pearl White Crane Lettra. Both were letterpress printed in two colors, a lighter green corresponding with the bride and an olive green with the groom. The pages were scored, collated and top stitched inside the cover with a cream colored thread. Then a final trim was taken from head and foot. We also produced an RSVP card and matching folding thank you cards. This is certainly among the more elaborate invitations we’ve produced, yet the final appearance remains simple and striking.

Published on July 29, 2010 in Letterpress and Wedding. 4 Comments Tags: 110lbC, 80lbT, BBDO, bird, book, booklet, cotton, craig duffney, crane, fold, french fold, icon, invitation, invite, Letterpress, lettra, narrative, pearl white, printing, stitch, stitched, top stitch, typography, Wedding.

Let’s Get It On – Platen Press Tip

Sometimes it’s possible to get an oversize sheet on an undersized platen letterpress. What is important to keep in mind is the distance between the arms on either side of the platen. As long as the sheet is smaller than that dimension, it could fit.

This is a long 4 x 18 inch card that needs to fold in half to 4 x 9 inch and fit into a standard #10 envelope. We are set up in this photo to run a 3 point matrix score, but this works for printing as well. To fit this sheet size onto our 10 x 15 size C&P platen press required a special McGill gauge pin for the side guide that fits between the tympan bail and the side of the platen. It extends beyond the platen and adds the couple inches needed to get the sheet to land inside the working area. It is a good solution to handle smaller hand fed jobs.

These guides came with equipment we purchased several years ago and we can not find more. Although, it could be rigged up from hardware store material pretty easily. If anyone has a source for these guides, please share! Someday we’ll just get a bigger hand fed press, but then there will be an even bigger sheet.

Published on July 27, 2010 in Letterpress and Printing Tips and Tricks. 1 Comment Tags: 10x15, 12x18, 14x22, 6x10, 8x12, brass, C&P, Chandler and Price, gauge pin, Letterpress, matrix score, McGill, newstyle, oldstyle, oversize, paper, pearl, pilot, pin, platen, printer, printing, printing press, rule, sheet, side guide.

Mattson Birth Announcement

Ty Mattson really outdid himself on the design and illustration of these announcements for his son. Beautiful stuff. You can see his post on them here. Be sure and put an eyeball on his other portfolio work as well. This guy knows how to illustrate and take full advantage of simple overprinting – a rare and admirable skill in today’s print design.

The card itself is a large 7.25 inch square print, printed on one side only. We letterpressed these on Crane Lettra 220lb Flo White in bright red and light blue colors. The registration made us a little worried at first, but it did stay true despite the tight fitting and zero trapping.

Published on July 26, 2010 in Birth Announcement and Letterpress. 11 Comments

The Beasts Are All Moved In

We are all moved in to our new subterranean space and feverishly printing projects with many talented designers. We look forward to getting back to blogging new work again soon.

Here’s how our press room is taking shape and some pics of the epic Heidelberg S Cylinder press installation. It was a little unnerving watching our “new” machine suspended mid air. The riggers used a big outdoor forklift to position the press and then four chain drops to lower it from the forks down a large hatch into the basement. It was then rolled into place and suspended again to slip an oil drip pan underneath. It is now glued to the floor and wired in. We are doing print testing to get it up and printing smoothly. This press will allow us to letterpress print LP jackets, pocket folders, and posters up to a 21 x 28 sheet format. We are excited to see what it will print first.

It is good to grow our shop a little bit even as other areas of the print industry are suffering. Magazines and newspapers are trying to figure out how to survive and adapt to the iPad publication model. Books are served up electronically. Large offset printing companies are cutting entire plants. Yet the tiny niche of letterpress printing is seemingly holding steady. We’ve built our reputation on unique custom letterpress work with demanding standards. It is interesting to stand here in a print shop at a historical time declared the “end of print” and see how craftsmanship still remains such a meaningful and critical part of print design.