Tag Archive for 'printer'

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.

Taiga – Douglas Quin Letterpress LP

Fathom, the recent release LP from Taiga records, is a subtle and textural object of beauty and a sensory experience. The drawings were perfectly suited for letterpress and translated crisply to the printed edition. This is the description from Taiga:

“Douglas Quin’s Fathom brings together four extended underwater soundscapes—two each from the Arctic and Antarctic. The recordings have been gathered over a period of 15 years, capturing an extraordinary palette of sonic voices, events, spaces, and textures. To the human ear, these soundscapes are haunting and otherworldly; yet they are very much of this world—out of earreach. The tracks are minimally edited and are his first field recordings to be archived in vinyl. Included with the release is a sealed envelope containing an insert with specific locations, animals, and other elements heard, giving listeners the option to absorb sound with or without association. The envelope is printed with liner notes and comments from Dutch journalist and music critic René van Peer. Mastered by James Plotkin, cut direct to metal and pressed on 200 gram virgin-vinyl, Fathom comes packaged in custom letterpressed materials and is presented as a limited edition of 1000.”

There was clear, white, and black vinyl versions released. Only the black is still available.

The packaging is pressed in gray and a tonal white ink. We letterpress printed the outer sleeve on a custom duplexed stock – gray on the interior, white on the exterior. We were able to print on a preconverted inner envelope which accompanies the vinyl and containing the insert.

Published on June 17, 2010 in Letterpress and packaging. 1 Comment Tags: black, converted, cougar, die cut, diecut, douglas quin, drawing, duplex, envelope, fathom, field, gray, Letterpress, LP, minneapolis, music, print, printed, printer, printing, record, recordings, records, sleeve, sound, soundscape, taiga, texture, tonal.

Luxury Bath Salt Labels – Rain Soaps

We designed and letterpress printed bath salt labels for Connecticut based Rain Soaps. This salt is hand harvested (by monks in France) and uniquely presented in its natural state in an apothecary-style sealed glass jar.

We ran the three labels together on a small press sheet. The paper is a crack and peel Strathmore Soft White label stock. It is printed in one color and kiss cut to final size. Ahh, I’m more relaxed just looking at them.

Published on June 8, 2010 in Design, Letterpress and labels. 7 Comments Tags: bath salt, bottle, circle, Connecticut, crack, CT, die, die cut, france, french, jar, kiss cut, kisscut, label, Letterpress, minnesota, MN, peel, print, printed, printer, rain soap, soft white, stock, strathmore.

Tune Posters – Split Ink Fountain

These two posters came to us from agency friends at Bailey Lauerman, illustrated by the ever fabulous Rilla Alexander of Rinzen. This TUNE project was sponsored via federal grant by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. Bailey Lauerman launched TUNE which uses music to inspire young women to make better choices and live healthier lives. There are 8 selected artists out of 150 entries, and their music was written and recorded specific for this project. Songs are free to download from the TUNE website.

We printed the posters with a split ink fountain using florescent pink and blue inks which blended to a nice purple in the middle. We kept the lateral ink distribution setting at maximum spread for a good blend in the poster. It was printed on French Paper Poptone Whip Cream 140lbC.

This is an iphone video of the job on press. Lo res, but you’ll get the idea of how the fountain looks.

Published on May 10, 2010 in Letterpress and Posters. 2 Comments Tags: 140lb, 140lbC, alexander, bailey lauerman, berlin, blue, fountain, french, ink, Letterpress, minneapolis, minnesota, nebraska, paper, pink, poptone, poster, printer, printing, rilla, rinzen, split, studio on fire, tune, whip cream.

Wild Air Letterpress Poster

This poster was letterpress printed for the Artcrank poster show here in Minneapolis, which opened this last weekend. Since much of this show tends to be image and graphic heavy, we wanted our poster to stand apart with lettering only. It is an excerpt from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Considerations by the Way, 1860. The full sentence is actually, “Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air’s salubrity.” (But “salubrity” is such an odd word and just didn’t work well in the design.) The lettering started as a hand drawn sketch, then refined in Adobe Illustrator. We printed with a photopolymer plate on Crane Lettra 300gsm Florecent White at 18 x 24 size. They are on display now at One On One in Minneapolis.

They sold well at the opening night and are still available. There was some confusion about them being sold out. They are $30, to be purchased at One On One Bike Shop.

You can also buy one, now for sale on our studio site as well. Cost is $40.

Published on April 13, 2010 in Design, Letterpress and Posters. 4 Comments Tags: 110lb, ARTCRANK, bicycle, bike, blue, Design, edition, flo wh, hand, large, letter press, lettered, lettering, Letterpress, lettra, poster, print, printer, printing, ralph, ralph waldo emerson, size, type, typography, unique.

200 Year Calendar

This wonderfully typographic calendar is the work of Sonner, Vallée u. Partner in Munich, Germany. It is a true information architecture project, letterpress printed on thick cotton paper. Check out their online portfolio for some crisp and polished typographic excellence.

We printed on Crane Lettra Pearl White 220lb (600gsm) cotton stock in two colors -with deep impression text you can’t help but touch. The sheet is a large 420 x 297 mm.

Published on March 16, 2010 in Letterpress. 4 Comments Tags: 200 year, 220lb, 600gsm, calendar, crane, DE, deep impression, Design, german, germany, kalendar, large sheet, Letterpress, lettra, munchen, munich, pearl white, printer, printing, two hundred, type, typography.

Feast Mpls Poster – Split Fountain Ink

Feast is a recurring public dinner designed to use community-driven financial support to democratically fund new and emerging artmakers. We did a poster for the upcoming event here at Studio On Fire. The size is 18 x 24. It was a hand drawn sketch, scanned and converted to a bitmap tiff to preserve the sketch texture. It was printed with a split ink fountain. Our split fountain had fluorescent orange ink on one side of the press and light blue ink on the other side, creating a nice purple gradient in the middle.

Published on March 8, 2010 in Design, Posters and Printing Tips and Tricks. 1 Comment Tags: arts, blue, community, day-glo, Design, drawing, drawn, effect, feast, feastmpls, fluorescent, format, fountain, gradient, ink, large, Letterpress, minneapolis, minnesota, orange, poster, print, printer, seward, size, sketch, split.

Sublimio Unique Design Formula Cards

Sublimio is a multidisciplinary design studio in Italy. They designed these cards for an engaging visual and tactile design experience.

We printed a larger message card and business cards. The message card is very subtle with a blind impression only on 110lb Crane Lettra stock. The business cards use blind impression on one side and black on the other, completed with black edge coloring. They are on 220lb Crane Lettra.

“Show Through” is a term we use to describe heavy impression from printing one side of the paper bruising the sheet and showing small distortions on the reverse side. Show through is an important consideration when a design will be letterpress printed. The double thick 220 lb Lettra is great for a project that is a two sided design because it offers virtually no show through. Note that “virtually” is a key word here. If a heavy impression is desired, there will be some show through. Generally the thicker the paper, the more minimal the show through. But even with a thick stock, impression can knock back the impression from a previously printed side affecting its appearance. In the case of this business card we printed the flood of blind pattern first with heavier impression, then the black text side of the card with a bit less impression. Balancing this impression on a two sided design depends on the nature of artwork being printed. Talk with us early in the design process to work through these production decisions.

Published on March 2, 2010 in Business Cards and Letterpress. 3 Comments Tags: 220lb, blind, Business Cards, crane, Design, formula, impression, IT, italy, letter press, Letterpress, lettra, printer, printing, show through, sublimio, subtle, unique.

Letterpress Poster Sesame Street Circa 1970′s

via Twin Ravens Press

Published on February 26, 2010 in Completely Unrelated and Posters. 5 Comments Tags: C&P, chandler & price, Letterpress, poster, printer, printing, sesame street.

Embossing With Letterpress Print Business Cards

Tactile design can use a lot of different production processes. This card is both blind embossed and letterpress printed. Many people incorrectly use the term “emboss” when speaking about letterpress printing. “Emboss” actually refers to a raised area accomplished by use of a two part die with a form and a counter form. Letterpress printing with heavy impression is closer to a “deboss.” A deboss is pushing down into the paper. (remember “d” for down = deboss) Letterpress plates can use ink but embossing and debossing dies do not use ink. They must be used blind, registered to preprinted artwork or used with foil stamping / blocking.

Letterpress equipment can be used for embossing, debossing and letterpress printing, with the correct dies. Unlike embossing and debossing, letterpress plates do not use a form and counter form. A letterpress plate is inked and pressed down into the sheet. See an image below with the polymer plate and its corresponding print and note the difference from the copper embossing die with a white and blue fiberglass counter form that made the circular design embossed on this card. These are two very different types of plates and printing effects, but run on the same Heidelberg windmill press.

Considering each side of the page is an important design consideration with tactile production processes. With letterpress plates, the amount of bruising or “show through” on the back of the print depends on the amount of pressure applied during printing. However, this definition on the reverse side of the sheet is different on embossing dies because there is a counter form that pushes into the sheet.

When an emboss is specified there are a few other considerations we would mention. Smaller sized artwork, say 12 point type and smaller offers very little raised definition. Paper thickness is also a concern. We like really thick stocks for letterpress printing, but when embossing that thickness makes it even more difficult to get good definition in smaller details. This paper was 134lb Crane Cover Flo. White, it is 100% cotton and offers a soft and sculptured impression.

Published on February 16, 2010 in Business Cards, Letterpress and Printing Tips and Tricks. 0 Comments Tags: 134lb, bay area, block, blocking, Business Cards, CA, California, copper, counter, cover, crane, deboss, Design, emboss, embossing, equipment, fiberglass, flo white, foil, foil stamp, form, Heidelberg, Letterpress, palo alto, print, printer, printing, process, San Francisco, show through, tactile, thickness.

Bat Mitzvah Letterpress Invitation Star With Clips

It goes without saying, we like unique paper structures. This Bat Mitzvah invitation, designed here at Studio On Fire features two triangles with a hole punch that clips together making a six pointed star shape. The paper triangles unclip to open and reveal the invitation text. The paper is 110lb Crane Lettra Flo White 100% cotton, letterpress printed in hot pink and die cut into the two triangles. It was mailed in a large square Neenah Eames Furniture, Weave Finish, Pacific Blue envelope printed in one color on the flap.

Those little metal clips are something we get asked about a lot. They are called #2 Petite Fasteners, made by GEM Office Products here in the USA. They have a little point that pierces the paper and holds the sheets together. You can buy them wholesale here. ($7 per box of 100 clips, 10 box minimum) They come in two sizes – the #2 is the bigger one, the #0 is smaller. And no, we do not sell the clips. But if you are in need of some top notch Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah invitations we’d love to hear from you.

Published on February 8, 2010 in Design, Letterpress and Printing Tips and Tricks. 1 Comment Tags: bar, bar mitzvah, bat, bat mitzvah, clip, Design, eames, Fastener, furniture, GEM, invitation, invitations, invite, Letterpress, lettra, metal, office, Petite, printer, printing, products, structure, unique.

Jeremy Gardner Stationery

This is a nifty little letterpress card and a7 envelope designed by Duel Purpose in Austin, Texas. It is printed in three colors, the overlapping bold graphics make unique areas of overprinting ink. The stock is 100% cotton 220lb Crane Lettra, with a matching Lettra envelope. Hand written correspondence on these are sure to any leave digital message in the lurch.