Beast Pieces » letterpress printing

Letterpress Open House // Black Arts Warm Hearts

admin — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:02:43 +0000

New SOF website with expanded shop!

admin — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:30:57 +0000

You may have noticed on your way to purchase a 2012 Studio On Fire Letterpress Calendar that studioonfire.com has a completely overhauled look! We’re pretty proud of the new site and have plans to add more features in the coming weeks.

Being the paper-oriented people that we are, our friends over at westwerk design handled the creation of the site for us. Not only were they were great to work with, but their studio is conveniently located just upstairs from our basement workspace.

Along with the new site is additional merchandise for the store! All of our classic items are still available, as well as the 2012 calendar and several new posters.

Above: Artisan Activist Poster, Crane Lettra Flo White 110C, 13″ x 19″, 2 Color Split Fountain on 2 Separate Plates + 1 Tonal Varnish

Above: Sunshine Poster, Crane Lettra Flo White 110c, 12″ x 16″, 3 Color Split Fountain

Above: Matter Into Spirit Poster, Crane Lettra Flo White 110c, 13″ x 20″, 2 Color Split Fountain + Blind Impression

Q&A – Contemporary Letterpress Printing

admin — Thu, 06 May 2010 22:40:17 +0000

Studio On Fire principal Ben Levitz answered some questions on contemporary letterpress printing last week for “letterpress week” over at Oh Hello Friend. Here is the Q&A exchange:

Just what is letterpress?

Letterpress is a method of relief printing. It is the process of inking a type high reversed image and then transferring that ink to a substrate, making a print of the positive image. While previous generations relied on moveable wood and metal type, most modern letterpress is achieved with a plastic material called photopolymer. Photopolymer has bridged the gap between the computer and letterpress printing presses. A digital file with correct specifications can be moved to water wash polymer plates and printed on letterpress in place of handset materials.

So why Letterpress? How does letterpress stand unique as a printing method?

Letterpress used to be the primary method of all printing. Nowadays designers have so many printing options – digital printing, offset printing, screen printing – letterpress as a printing method is such a small part of todays printing industry. However, we’ll give you three good reasons letterpress is alive and well.

#1. Tactile Design – Like to feel what you see? That sculptural impression is a primary reason for using letterpress printing. This heavy impression is how letterpress has reinvented itself over the past couple decades. Things like text, line work and patterns offer an impression into soft paper material. As a designer, if you get the artwork right and pair it correctly with a material, the resulting impression is unmistakably letterpress. It is an effect unmatched by any other printing method.

#2. Unique Materials – Just try running a toothy 600gsm cotton stock through a digital printer. Maybe some thick blotter paper for coasters? A thick duplexed stock business card stock perhaps? Even thin onion skin stock or napkins? Yes, letterpress will print it all. Lots of special stocks that just won’t run through modern offset and digital presses. Letterpress offers material versatility that is unmatched by any modern presses. Just don’t ask for slick coated stocks, they don’t like to take an impression.

#3. Upscale Presentation- The materials we print on for letterpress generally cost more than going to any local quick print shop. And the time consuming nature of letterpress printing process means it is not mass produced. It has that artisan quality which sets it apart. The cost of each color makes projects printed with letterpress have a certain simplicity. Generally letterpress projects are only a couple colors. There are no slick gradients or drop shadows. We hear all the time that anything looks better letterpress. We’d say this is because letterpress makes people simplify the design.

What is your heart and passion behind letterpress?

Speaking as both a designer and letterpress printer for the past decade, I’d say letterpress is still gaining momentum as a production method. When people get a letterpress printed business card handed to them and turn it over in their hand, they feel it, look at it closer and consider it . It literally buys extra seconds in their hands. It is this notable pause that exemplifies letterpress printing as a breath of fresh air. As our society increase our digital communications and the time we spend in front of glowing screens, letterpress printing becomes an even more unique counterpoint. It is something we both see AND feel. We are tactile beings and letterpresses tangibleness makes us connect.

My passion behind letterpress printing and starting Studio On Fire goes back to studying original masters like William Morris, W.A. Dwiggins and Fredrick Goudy. These fellows truly understood and merged both design and production. A critique of todays design reality is that fewer and fewer designers understand the production method for which they are designing. As designers we have so many options, we’ve become generalists. At Studio On Fire design and letterpress are dating again. We are committed to making letterpress printing one of the most premium and relevant production methods for contemporary design. Understanding our niche letterpress market and offering production advice to the designers that come to us how we work. Merging design intent with letterpress printing keeps our work exciting.

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Biography – Ben Levitz, Studio On Fire

Company founder Benjamin Levitz received his BFA in Communication Design from the College of Visual Arts. He spent nearly a decade in the creative industry working with design leaders at Kilter, Larsen/California, and Thorburn design agencies. His creative expertise has focused on design as a branding tool for a large and varied list of national companies with work consistently appears in award shows and publications of AIGA, Communication Arts, Graphis, Print magazine and Type Directors Annual. He has served as an adjunct faculty member at the College of Visual Arts teaching advanced typography course work.

Ben’s tactile design sensibility led to the founding of Studio On Fire. The studio began in 1999 with a vision of uniquely combining design and production skills in modern letterpress work. Ben left the agency world in 2006 to run the studio full time. The Minneapolis studio currently produces it’s own design and letterpress projects in addition to printing custom work from for an impressive list of agencies and design firms across the United States.

See and read more at the company website studio on fire.

Woodgrain & Crest Letterpress Wedding

admin — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:40:26 +0000

When we posted the Save The Date card by designer Nick Brue a couple months back, we were super excited to see what he had in mind for the design of the actual wedding invitation. Finally, here is his design that just recently left the pressroom:

This invitation set is housed within a mini custom die cut pocket folder which neatly organizes the various cards. The folder is printed with a tonal custom woodgrain pattern using a clear varnish ink on letterpress with heavy impression. A belly band is fitted to the exterior of the folder with a custom die cut shape. Two slits on the back side of the belly band interlock and buckle things together without glue or a sticker. Everything fits neatly into a standard A7 size envelope. Inside the folder the rsvp and reply envelope sit together and a details card is tucked behind.

The paper combination is beautiful as well. All of the invite cards and the band were letterpress printed together on a press sheet of 110lb cover weight Crane Lettra Pearl White, 100% cotton. (We’ve actually been printing lot more weddings this year with tonal whites rather than bright whites) The envelopes are The Cement Green color from French Paper Construction. The folder paper, also from French is the 100lb C Hot Fudge color from the Poptone line.

Costwise – adding a custom printed folder with a die cut belly band will easily double the cost of an invitation. Pieces like these take much additional production time and each die cut requires an additional press run. So although there is not a lot of color going down on the invitations- printing and cutting multiple elements, hand assembling mini folders, using multiple paper stocks, printing envelopes – production costs add up quickly. But the beauty from those production details add up to the spectacular elegance in this design.

Coaster Stock Business Card

admin — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 18:55:22 +0000

We designed this identity with mountaineering in mind. Saying “10 Zing Consulting – Helps you reach the top” would have been really lame. So we wrapped that message into the design with the shape. Show it, don’t say it.

We went lo-fi with the production and used a 55pt coaster board with 2 color letterpress. Then the pieces were steel rule die cut. Coaster board works OK for letterpress printing, but isn’t the best if you are looking for a deep impression. The material core is soft and the surface will tend to crack if you drive the plate to deep. It also sucks up the ink and requires heavy ink lay down.

In addition to our design work, our letterpress room prints projects for designers and agencies all over the country. Contact us for an estimate on your project.