POST #226
From the beginning, we knew the design would need to be done locally and with the right printer. Once we finished the overall design, the search began. Finding a letterpress printer who takes small jobs in Connecticut proved to be difficult. Eventually, after a long search and multiple conversations with printers in the New England area- we found the perfect partner. In downtown Northampton, Mass there is art shop named Guilde Art Supply and in the basement, a small letterpress setup had the time to get us on press. Big Wheel Press did an incredible job, offered a fantastic experience and a superb end product.
The first thing that grabs your attention upon entering the shop is a great collection of broadiside letterpress posters. Great work and great selection. The two presses in the photo above are hand powered and are perfect for small print runs and press tests (which is what we used them for).
Above, the Pressman, Ali, begins inking one of the two plates that made up the two-color artwork on the Save the Date.
These were the first test runs for the piece, we tried a number of different inks, paper color, paper thickness and press weight.
Once the press tests were finalized, inks selected and a paper stock settled on, Ali went on press with the full run. Above is a photo he sent us in process. He had just finished the first plate run and starting on the second which used the blue ink and background decoration.
The finished Save the Date's wrapped and ready to be picked up.
Once we got them home, we got to work prepping them for the post. We worked with another printer to finish the envelopes recipient addresses and then we hand stamped the return addresses in gold ink on every envelope.
Yes, we mailed out quite a few.
The finished product, a big thanks to Big Wheel Press for making the project come to life. We're working on the actual invitations currently so check back for process photos coming soon.