The growth of letterpress wedding invitations, letterpress save-the-date announcements, birth announcements and letterpress stationery during the last decade isn’t unexpected. Reasonably priced second-hand letterpress printing presses have permitted quite a few accomplished designers and artisans to indulge their creative thinking to create beautiful invitations and stationery by using this very old printing method.
Like the process used for engraving, letterpress makes use of polymer or metal dies to “press” ink into soft card-stock, mainly cotton. Each and every color is applied using a individual printing press run, which requires persistence and considerable skill to obtain the close registration essential to correctly align colors and image designs.
Each May during the National Stationery Show in New York City, new letterpress vendors take center stage to introduce their latest designs. While letterpress was regarded as being a bit of a novel idea some five to ten years back, most of the recent letterpress printers simply don’t have the good taste, originality and, oftentimes, the talent and expertise to produce good letterpress stationery. In fact, most “new” designs offer little that is completely new. To be honest, the stationery market is saturated with letterpress.
Letterpress printers with deep roots within profession, like Julie Holcomb, Elum, Oblation, Press New York, Page and Real Card Studio still build on their craft and their firm hand and love for the craft continues to elevate the bar for letterpress printing.
While a few letterpress printers now sell online, most letterpress artisans offer their product by way of knowledgeable retailers across the United States. In the words of pioneer Julie Holcomb, “If you are like most people, you have never ordered any kind of custom printing prior to ordering your wedding invitations. You can benefit a great deal from the experience of your local stationer, who orders all kinds of custom printing, from many vendors, all the time. They’ll help you make sure you’re covering all the bases and making decisions you’ll be happy with for a long time.”
Julie’s advice is truly worth following. If you’ve got your heart set on letterpress for the wedding invitations, it is advisable to talk to an experienced stationer in your town.
Sheila P. May is the owner of Therese Saint Clair, a stationery store located in Greenwich, CT. A founder of the Stationers Guild, she writes frequently about national and regional Wedding Invitation trends.
