- What it is
- A photopolymer plate is made for each colour, mounted, inked, and pressed into the sheet hard enough to leave a visible impression. Printing and impressing happen in one action, which is what separates letterpress from a deboss struck into an already printed sheet: the ink sits in the bottom of the valley rather than on the plateau beside it. Depth is a decision made on press rather than in the file, and it is made against the sheet — a soft, bulky stock takes a deep bite, a hard one takes almost none. One plate per colour, and each plate is kept.
- What it is printed on
Soft, thick, uncoated stock with enough compressible fibre to take a shape and hold it. Cotton is the classic and the most forgiving. Felt-marked text takes a deep bite and adds its own irregular surface. Heavy uncoated woodfree is the plainer, steadier option where the impression rather than the texture is the point. A coated or laminated sheet is the wrong material entirely: the coating cracks at the shoulder of the impression and shows as a white line.
- Cotton soft white, 450 gsm0.66 mmCompressible the whole way through, so it takes a deep bite without cracking at the shoulder.
- Felt-marked text, 300 gsm0.52 mmOpen and bulky, and it brings its own irregular surface to the impression.
- Uncoated woodfree, 400 gsm0.55 mmThe plain, predictable ground when the impression is meant to be the only texture on the card.
- How it feels
- A crisp valley with a slightly softened rim, deep enough to find without looking and to read as braille from the reverse. The ink looks marginally darker where the plate pushed hardest, so a solid letterform has a faint frame of its own. The sheet itself is quiet and dense; a letterpress card lands on a table with a dull knock rather than a click.
- What it suits
- One or two colours, solid areas, generous type and marks drawn to be impressed — wedding and private stationery, law and architecture, and short runs where the object matters more than the message. It does not suit photographs: letterpress prints line and solid, and the tonal range is not available. It does not suit very large solid areas, which mottle, and it does not suit fine hairlines, which fill.
- Lead time
- Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days. A cutting forme, a foil block, an embossing die or a screen made for the first time is made before anything can run; a tool already held is not.
- The common mistake
- Asking for a deep impression on both sides of the same sheet. The second pass irons out the first, so the front comes back shallower than it was approved and the two sides collide wherever the artwork overlaps. If both faces have to carry an impression, keep one of them light, move the elements so they do not sit back to back, or bond two sheets so each face is pressed into its own.
Print idea
Letterpress card
A relief plate inked and pressed into a soft, thick sheet, so the image is printed and impressed in the same action. The bite can be read from the back of the card with the eyes shut.
Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
What letterpress card is
A photopolymer plate is made for each colour, mounted, inked, and pressed into the sheet hard enough to leave a visible impression. Printing and impressing happen in one action, which is what separates letterpress from a deboss struck into an already printed sheet: the ink sits in the bottom of the valley rather than on the plateau beside it. Depth is a decision made on press rather than in the file, and it is made against the sheet — a soft, bulky stock takes a deep bite, a hard one takes almost none. One plate per colour, and each plate is kept.
Soft, thick, uncoated stock with enough compressible fibre to take a shape and hold it. Cotton is the classic and the most forgiving. Felt-marked text takes a deep bite and adds its own irregular surface. Heavy uncoated woodfree is the plainer, steadier option where the impression rather than the texture is the point. A coated or laminated sheet is the wrong material entirely: the coating cracks at the shoulder of the impression and shows as a white line.
- The trim — where the guillotine falls.
- The keep-out, drawn inside the trim. Nothing struck may cross it.
- The strike, drawn deep, with the bite showing on the reverse and lit from one side.
The specification
Six fields, and the last one is the useful one.
The same six questions are answered for every entry in this section, in the same order, so two objects can be compared without reading two pages of prose. The mistake is stated last and stated plainly, because it is the one that costs a reprint and it is the reason this page is worth sending to a colleague.
Where this sits.
Every entry is indexed three ways, because a buyer arrives knowing the occasion, the object or the material and almost never all three.
- Application
- Format
- Material and effect
Also worth looking at
- Blind emboss and debossStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Textured and laid paperStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Painted-edge cardStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Name cardsThe specification, and how it is quoted
- InvitationsThe specification, and how it is quoted
- StationeryThe specification, and how it is quoted
- Every print idea, indexed three waysThe section index
- The materials libraryCaliper, weight and what each finish costs
Send the specification for this, and it comes back quoted.
Every job is quoted from its specification — stock, quantity, sides, finish, size and deadline.
- Quantity
- Stock — or the feel you want, if you do not know the stock
- Sides printed
- Finish
- Flat and finished size
- The deadline
Artwork is welcome but not required to start. Email sales@ezprint.com.sg if you would rather attach files.