This is a big post with lots of images so be sure and see Part 2 as well.

We’ve been an online friend with French designer Fabien Barrel for a while. He’s been kind enough to show our press work on his Graphic Exchange website. His site is a finely curated collection of designers and projects from all over the world. Be sure and see it next time you need some graphic inspiration.

Fabien collected three other friends that also wanted letterpress printed business cards. Fabien Barrel designed his card and the card for So Goods. Fred Dauzat designed his card and the card for Limited Press. We letterpress printed these cards together with black ink and blind impression (a plate with no ink). The simple black ink with pattern details and line work in the blind impression came out beautifully on all four cards. They are printed on thick 165lb cover stock from Neenah Papers. And because they are printed together on a press sheet they saved a bundle.

These are images of the final cards. Be sure and check out Part 2 of this post that shows these business cards in our shop during production.

This is part two showing the production of business cards on our Heidelberg Windmill. Be sure and see Part 1 showing the finished cards.

We start with a high resolution film negative. The negative is used to expose the plastic plates. The plates are attached to an aluminum base and placed into the press. The press uses air suction to pick up a sheet of paper on the left side and deliver it into the press for printing. The printed sheets are automatically stacked in the delivery pile on the right side of the press. The press prints only one color at a time. Each addition color is another pass through the press, blind impression is another separate pass as well. Letterpress is labor intensive printing, but oh so worth it.

Check out some more of the process below. See the image labels for a brief description.