Going down a luxe letterpress printing rabbit hole

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Originally published at: Going down a luxe letterpress printing rabbit hole | Boing Boing

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Loved watching the halftone print.

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I had my wedding invitations printed by the same letterpress shop John Warnock of Adobe fame used for his daughter’s. That said letterpress does not have to be expensive: £59 Business Cards – blush°°

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For all the printing nerds out there, check out “Savage Impressions: An Aesthetic Expedition Through the Archives of Independent Project Records & Press”.

And if you’re in the PDX area. you can learn how to do letterpress printing at the Independent Publishing Resource Center (IPRC): https://www.iprc.org/

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My chief complaint with fancy-printed business cards is that they often leave no room anywhere to write. When I get a new card, I want to immediately write the date and where we met on it. Those dark backgrounds on both sides and often slick paper are the worst.

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I wish he had pulled back the camera a bit more to take in all the wacky bits and pieces flying around when the machines really get up to speed. The sheer complexity of it is astounding,

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Holy crap, those over-pressed cards make my teeth hurt. Letterpress is not embossing! You’re Doing It Wrong™. Seriously, though, that’s not good for the type and probably not great for the press either.

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I started watching that video next to my Brother monochrome laser printer and it immediately printed out a test sheet that said “Bro you forgot to open that in an incognito window!”

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Yeah, hopefully they’re using polymer or (less likely) Linotype or Monotype casts. If they’re smashing the last existing foundry type like that I would be really sad.

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Used to be that printers prided themselves in making products where there was barely an impression to be perceived. Nowadays it seems the deeper the better.

The only nice piece of printing I own, a proof from the Kelmscott Press, is almost perfectly smooth.

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Oh yeah, I have some of their records. Lovely.

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That was hot foil blocking which does take a little more pressure, I expect the client/print buyer requested a slight debossing as well. No sorts were injured, the impression is taken from dies.

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Thank you for this; it’s beautiful.

Mainz, Germany, is the home of Gutenberg, and has a printing museum which I visited once. I only know a little German but understood the announcement that there’d be a demo in workshop. They printed a page of a Gutenberg bible on a reproduction of a press such as would’ve been used at the time, and when the printer lifted the sheet up from the bed after adding the second color for the initial capital, it was magic.

Another, somewhat frantic view of the printing business.

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I worked with Bruce in Sedona and in Phoenix. His shop in Sedona is fantastic and I helped out when he would get behind on a piece. In Phoenix, I was a project manager for a letterpress shop and Bruce would bring in his patented “Discfolio” pieces for die cutting. His work is freaking awesome. He uses heavy chipboard almost exclusively and it gives a rustic appeal to the eyes and hands.

~ 40 years a letterpressman, retired. still have a press in my studio because I’ll never stop, I love it too much!
thanks for the post, @garethb2 !
letterpress is my jam!

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I was looking at the one with the animal prints, which is painfully deep – but almost certainly also a polymer plate, so at the very least No Sorts Were Harmed™.

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we used copper relief plates. hit that soft paper (like Crane’s Lettra 400gsm) and leave an impression you could trip and fall into. the copper would out hit, out last any polymer plate 1000 to 1.
that said, yes, letterpress used to be a kiss of impression, but for the last 20 years, designers have “punched it up” and want pressure dialed up to 11

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(cant believe nobody postet this already)

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Customers love letterpress; it looks impressive and keepable. Printers hate letterpress; it’s usually tons of work for short runs. Nowadays, home letterpress kits make the effort to produce them less costly. At one print shop I worked at, we had one old-timer who worked the 2-color press for short run business cards. He knew how to do letterpress but our boss refused to even entertain the idea because “there’s no market for it.”

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(cant believe nobody postet this already)

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not my experience.
granted, customers will “suck their buttons” when they see the price, but cheapos that think Staples Print Center 1000 BCs for 15 bucks are acceptable wouldn’t step foot in my shop! there is a market, but they need hand-holding from start to finish, starting with choice of paperstock (will it take an impression? how does it take the ink? surface texture, whiteness, weight, etc have to be considered.) paper is the better part of half the cost.
once you’ve got designers talking, you get serious inquiries and develop your market.
see these guys in MN:

edit typos.

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