The Letterpress - Letterpress Greeting Cards

The Process

Letterpress Greeting Cards

It's a long process to make a letterpress greeting card. Once you have your design, the image and the type are sent away for plates. Plates are the image raised on either magnesium mounted on a wood block or the newer polymer plates. Each has it's advantages and disadvantages. An individual plate must be made for each color and each block of type, therefore 1 greeting card design can have 6 or more plates to print a complete letterpress greeting card.

The Heidelberg Letterpress

Each plate is mounted & positioned into a metal chase (a metal rectangle that holds blocks of type, wood spacers) and the chase is locked into the early 20th century Heidelberg Letterpress. The press lifts each piece of paper, putting it into position to strike the plate when the bed closes and deposits the printed card on the other side. Piece after piece. The wet inked cards must be kept in small piles (lifts) while the ink dries, preventing offsetting. (wet ink offsetting against the back of another card). When the ink is dry enough, the pile can be stacked and another color can be printed. Each card can be printed 6 or more times before it is a finished product.

Hand Folding

With all that work going into each letterpress greeting card, at this point it makes sense to hand fold the card rather than risk bad feeding on an automatic folder. Each letterpress card is hand folded at Museum Facsimiles.

Why a Letterpress Greeting Card

Because it feels good! If you love fine paper you understand. A letterpress greeting card is a tactile experience . . . the fine paper, the indentation in the paper from the plate makes it's impression . . . it's no wonder letterpress greeting cards have found a renewed interest in a mass produced world!