What is
LETTERPRESS?
A centuries old, handmade craft that gives paper a luxurious, tactile exprience.
Handmade - LUXURIOUS - tactile - impressive
Inking
Hand Pressing
THE DESIGN
Plate Making
Makeready
The design
Your horse is hand drawn and converted to a digital layout & proof.
After Julia photographs your horse, he/she is turned into a digital work of art. Using her artistic skillset, Julia transforms the image into a letterpress worthy design which is presented as a digital proof. Colors, size, paper type and embellishments are decided for maximum design impact.
Makeready
Inking
Hand Pressing
THE DESIGN
Plate Making
Plate Making
The design is converted into a specialized polymer plate.
The reverse design is processed onto a UV-sensitive polymer that creates a raised plastic surface. The plastic is exposed to UV light and voila! It's essentially a glorified plastic stamp that allows ink and impression to transfer to the paper. Each color of letterpress printing requires its own plate. The plate is then stuck to the base and set in a process called "make ready."
Hand Pressing
THE DESIGN
Plate Making
Makeready
Inking
Makeready
The plate, the press and the paper are set to perfection.
The polymer plate is attached to special base that fits perfectly on the press. Set at "type high" or 0.918 inches, the height must be exact for ideal impression. The paper is aligned with the design/plate and "packing" is placed behind the paper to ensure a pillowy outcome. Make ready is the process of setting everything up meticulously to ensure the plate and paper are registered/aligned to perfection.
Hand Pressing
Makeready
Plate Making
THE DESIGN
Inking
Ink Mixing
Ink is hand mixed using a Pantone color chart.
Unlike digital offset printing, letterpress printing is done one ink color at a time. To match colors, a Pantone color chart and mixing formula guide is used to find the exact colors needed to mix your perfect hue. The press itself requires a very small amount of ink, as the color should just "kiss" the plate for perfect ink distribution and impression.
Inking
Makeready
Plate Making
THE DESIGN
Hand Pressing
On The Press
Each piece of paper is hand fed into the press.
Using careful placement and a watchful eye, Julia places each sheet a paper into the press by hand. With every close of the press, she is watching for alignment, inking issues and monitoring the depth of impression. At 12o years old, the press can get moody - changing the way it handles paper at any moment!