CMYK and Letterpress

This was my first foray into full colour offset backed to letterpressed crane lettra. I was curious as to how this 'mixed media' would be recieved, and also if it would be possible to register. This job is taking forever to duplex and finish - four hours and counting at the cutting station. We've got 100 cards out and 400 to go.. thought I'd share the results.


The first two images shows the difference between Strathmore (not cotton) and Crane (100% cotton) papers in the letterpress. Crane loves ink - it soaks it up :)

Doubletime Pressing

This project had me delving into things such as double hits, mixing inks, various papers, tons of experiments with packing. I took some neat videos which I will post soon, as soon as I can figure out how to post videos in blogger.

Do write me comments - I know my practices and methods might not be historically correct but I do love hearing from you's all. You can log in with your gmail account if you dont have a blog. :) Alright, clean up time!

Crunch Time

I've been doing a few portfolios for contractors lately. This specific one wanted a very unique, personalized, high-end portfolio - so I suggested custom debossing. We had the ability to do a few test impressions before going at it for the final and it helped work out the 'nuances' of my westie/baker press.

This job proved the usefulness of our dear friend - Crane lettra - as you can see from the chase.

And, sometimes clients want to come in and see the action for themselves, which we encourage.. and they usually end up helping us out on the press floor!

Pictures (click to enlarge):

The Crane That Will Not Fly

Well, another interesting day in the letterpress shop..

I've been spending the day printing my 'promotional' invitations on 110lb Crane Lettra with the new supplier of photopolymer. This is the first time I've had these crazy issues. The letters are very messy and nothing is very clear on the print. I tried putting the paper every which way.. changing the packing a million times - hard stuff - soft stuff and nothing is getting the print clear.

I accidentally dropped a piece of paper through the press and in an odd irony the photopolymer made a beautifully clear print on the tympan!

I finished about 25 prints before deciding to try again another day. Any suggestions would be amazing. I did use a different supplier for the photopolymer with this job.

another thing I learned with this job - wash off remaining press wash after switching colours or your ink starts to run like blooooood... eeewww!

Pictures:

iMPRESSions - our biz cards

I am very happy to have finally completed our first duplexed business cards. Pressed on 110lb. fl.white crane lettra / coloured felt papers (black, two red, two blues. This was very successful off the press, the duplexing took a bit of time to register the crop marks but all n all a beautiful product.

What I love about this system of duplexing is that you can crunch the heck out of both sides without too much worry of over press on the opposite side.. mm.. yummy!

Lesson of the day:
Slip sheets while cutting prevents coloured paper from marking up the white crane lettra. Oh that Crane paper loves to absorb marks from just about everything...

Pictures (click to enlarge):

Moving a Letterpress

The MPRESS is finally ready to print. The move took two days and up to 6 people to move a 1000lbs Westmann and Baker Platen Press. I was lucky enough to have the services of Stephen Sword, a renowned letterpress expert who disassembled and reassembled the beast. Others invovled were an engineer, a building contractor, two graphic designers, and a borrowed husband. Here are a few pics from the day.