Studio Tour: Robin Beth

Let me introduce you to my studio. Where all the letterpress fun gets done. It is a pretty decent sized space considering it is a home studio.


Here is my press. It is a 42 year old Vandercook SP-15. Lot of muscles have gotten quite toned up working at this press.

Here is a close up of the open closet storage. Stacks of card stocks and messy inks.

Ribbons galore. It is so much fun to play with all of these samples when creating a custom design.

My inspiration board. Actually, it is a French bulletin board that I made myself and it mostly has all the personal cards and other things that I have made for family and friends.

My main work table. The largest Ikea table top I could find with adjustable legs.

A miscellaneous area with a table, lamp and several displays that were used in my booth at last year's National Stationery Show. I wish my whole studio could be decorated as nicely as my booths have been, but I find it very difficult to keep it uncluttered for very long. It seems like I am constantly bringing more boxes of supplies and paper in this room and can never believe how I make it all fit. It was a challenge taking photographs that did show too much of the clutter. I hope you enjoyed this little tour.

Digital Printing Basics

digitally printed wedding invitation by Bride Design

A few weeks ago I posted about the basics of offset lithography printing, the most commonly used high-volume, commercial printing process employed today. As discussed in the article, offset printing shines when used for large print runs, where precise color matching is required or where specialty paper stocks are being used. But what if you only need 100 invites, with just text and line art, printed crisply on standard 70 lb. text weight paper? Then perhaps digital is the right choice for you.

With offset lithography, the printing press needs to be specially set-up to print your job. As you print more and more offset pieces, those set up costs are absorbed, making it more affordable when working in high-volumes. With digital printing, there are little or no setup costs, making this method an excellent choice for low-volume jobs. Little set-up also means quick turnaround times, so if you need your job in a hurry, digital printing generally offers faster delivery. Digital printing also provides easy and accurate proofing, since your proof will be an actual sample of the final printed piece. What you see is exactly what you should be getting in the end.

If your designer is using spot colors to achieve exact color matching, then digital may not be the best option. Digital printing's four-color process (also known as CMYK), is forced to simulate precise colors like those from the Pantone Matching System, by using cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks. Offset lithography and some other printing methods, allow the use of pre-mixed inks in highly targeted colors in addition to the traditional four-color process. That being said, if you are looking simply for affordable four-color printing, digital has the advantage.

For more on digital printing, continue to check our site for additional posts. If you have questions about this or other printing methods please send us an email at stationeryguides@gmail.com. Our expert stationers will answer reader questions on Fridays, and we're always happy to discuss the methods and techniques used to create the stationery and paper products we know and love.

~Erin, Bride Design

Letterpress Love

Many of you may be just starting your search for wedding stationery.  Taking a look at this site and other online alternatives is a natural first step.  One of the tough parts about an online search of letterpress is that it is very difficult to truly convey the luxurious texture and impression you get with letterpress printing.  But thanks to my talented photographer friend Liora Kuttler, I have some great photographs of the impression you get with letterpress invitations.  Hopefully, you can see why I have fallen in love with this ancient art.  So, without further ado, here are some great impressions.

Studio Tour - Paper Stories Letterpress

some tools of the trade - the table where i mix ink & keep some basic supplies

When choosing a printer or designer, people always seem to look at samples, their website or even their online shops. Seldom do they think about what goes on behind the scenes... in the printshop. Today I wanted to give you a little studio tour of the Paper Stories shop where all the letterpress magic happens. Hopefully other contributors will join me in sharing a little peek behind the curtain, if you will.

Since I print letterpress, I am tied to a 1200 pound beast of a press, lovingly named 'Miss Chandy P'. At the moment, my studio space is just cozy enough for the press, a few work tables, two paper cutters and a few other smaller presses (that I recently bought and are not in the pictures).
Most of these printing presses are rather old and often have little 'bugs' that need tinkering with from time to time. My press was made in 1926 and for the most part, works really well. She is a real workhorse that has never let me down. (knock on wood)
In any studio space, I think it is important to have personal touches. I have this vintage dresser mirror hanging up that is surrounded by all sorts of photographs and ephemera. Many of the pictures are from rock shows taken by my super talented photog friend, Jeff. When I am printing sometimes I like to take a break and having fun or memorable things to look at keeps me motivated and in a good mood. Standing at a press, all day hand-feeding sheet after sheet, can be very taxing on the body. Taking a little mental break now and then is essential.

I hope you have enjoyed this tiny tour. I think it is always interesting to see people's work spaces. If you aren't familiar with letterpress perhaps you enjoyed just seeing the massive equipment involved. Stay tuned in upcoming weeks as I will do a post about the different types of printing presses used. (Some are way bigger than mine even. Ouch).

~Kelly (all images courtesy of Kelly, Paper Stories)

Offset Printing Basics

Offset printed wedding invitation by Bride Design

Printing techniques and the terminology that goes with them might seem intimidating, but I bet you know more about offset lithography printing than you think. When you flip through a magazine or read a book, chances are it's offset printed. That's because offset printing is the most commonly used high-volume, commercial printing process employed today. As you shop for stationery or invitations you might hear the term "flat-printing" used to describe the offset process. This description distinguishes offset printing from other methods like thermography (raised-printing) and letterpress printing, which bring the additional dimension of texture (and much more) to a printed piece. Flat-printing can also refer to digital printing, a technology that continues to grow but that has it's own unique benefits and limitations that differ from offset's.

Much like oil and water, offset lithography printing is based on the principal that ink and water don't mix. Once a plate has been created containing your design, it's inked and transferred (or offset) to a rubber "blanket" or roller. The image portion of your design gets regularly inked by ink rollers, and the non-image areas of your design are continually covered with a thin film of water. The inked image portion of your design is transferred to paper and voila! Your professionally offset printed piece rolls "hot off the press."

Now that you have a basic idea of how offset lithography works, how can you decide if it's right for your project? I'll save the real pros and cons of offset for another post, but I will let quickly let you in on the process' basic advantages. Offset printing offers high image quality and is an especially good choice when your design includes photography. Offset can be used to print on a very wide range of standard and specialty papers as well other materials like wood, cloth and plastic. Highly compatible with the Pantone® System, offset printing gives excellent color matching results, and since the price per unit goes down the more you print, it's the perfect choice for high-volume jobs.

For more on offset printing, continue to check our site. There will be additional posts on this method to come. If you have questions about offset lithography send us an email at stationeryguides@gmail.com. Our expert stationers will be answering reader questions on Fridays, and we're always happy to discuss printing methods and techniques.

~Erin, Bride Design

Letterpress 102

While letterpress stationery is typically on the more expensive side, there are still many variables that go into determining the cost of letterpress printed items. Some of the factors that contribute to that cost are the type and quality of the paper, how may ink color are used, and what else goes into the design such as additional layers of paper, ribbons or other embellishments.



The paper
Most letterpress printers like to use 100% cotton paper, which gives it a soft, toothy feel and a deep impression. Also, many cotton papers come in a variety of thickneses, including some so thick they fell like cardboard. Cotton papers are on the more expensive side and obviously, the thinker the paper, the more expensive it is. Other papers can be used that are recycled or a combination of recycled and cotton. These tend to be less expensive, but also less thick and not as soft. On the really high end, there are handmade papers, which are all cotton or a combination of cotton and recycled materials. Because the process to make these papers are completely by hand, they are usually the most expensive, but also can be the most beautiful because they can include things like flower petals, recycled bits of catalogs and even scents.



The ink
Many printing presses are manually operated, like my Vandercook, where it is hand cranked and one piece of paper is fed through the machine at a time. A one color print job is going to be less expensive than a two color print job, usually by a significant amount. A two color print job is twice the labor because it requires twice the set up, feeding the paper through and clean up.



Embellishments
Many of my designs use several layers of paper, decorative papers and ribbons. These can take letterpress to a completely different look, but also a different price level.

Letterpress 101

When people start looking for wedding invitations and social stationery, there are many options for printing. Many choices often include letterpress printed items but you may be one of the many people wondering what exactly is letterpress. Consider this your crash course in letterpress.

Some antique wooden type. The letters have to be backwards so that
when they print, they are going the right way. (like a rubber stamp)

Letterpress printing is a form of relief printing that dates as far back to China around 750 AD. Ever heard of Gutenberg? He is considered the grand-daddy of the letterpress. He created the first wooden printing press that used movable type. The basic idea behind this type of printing is that a raised surface such as images (cuts) or little movable letters (type) are arranged in the press bed. Rollers distribute ink over the raised surface, paper is fed to the adjacent surface where the form (raised cuts or type) and paper are pressed together under force. The raised, inked image is pressed into the paper, leaving an impression.

Historically, movable type was either carved from wood or cast in lead. For every font and every font size you wanted to print with, you would be required to have a drawer of type which often are very heavy and space consuming. Image cuts were made from magnesium and mounted onto wooden blocks. Many printers still uses these materials for printing while others search for old cuts and type for decoration.

Now days, many printers use plates made from photopolymer. It allows us to print anything we can create on a computer. The plates take up much less space and are also recyclable which is great.

Some letterpress tools

The thing that seems to draw people to letterpress the most is the deep impression possible in the paper. What many people may not know is that is actually considered a mistake with letterpress. Traditionally, the most skilled printers were those whose form would just "kiss" the surface without making an impression. Over time, the art of letterpress has shifted the other direction where the deeper the impression, the more desirable


As for the printing presses used, most are very large and very heavy. My press weighs 1200 pounds and was built in 1926. These types of presses have not been manufactured in decades so finding a good quality press can be a hunt. Most of these presses, like mine, must be manually fed, one sheet at a time. The other notable thing about letterpress printing is that each color must be done separately. New plates must be made or new type set for each individual color. The press must be set up, inked then cleaned fully with each color. So if I am printing 200 invitations that have 2 colors, each piece of paper has to go through the press 2 times. That is like feeding 400 sheets through the press. Many presses aren't even automated, requiring pulling a lever, cranking a handle, or stepping on a foot treadle (like the old fashioned sewing machines) for each impression.

For those who are interested in learning more about the art of letterpress there are many wonderful resources out there such as the community driven Briar Press

All photos courtesy: Kelly @ Paper Stories
If you have any letterpress related questions, please email me (Kelly) at stationeryguides@gmail.com.