| Letterpress for graphic designers |
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 Graphic designers are most welcome as clients and at The Artisan Press they have the advantage of working with a printer who can understand their direction in terms of concept, production and budget. From your client's point of view letterpress can offer a tactile and nostalgic quality that simply can’t be achieved by other printing methods. As a graphic designer working in the 21st century you're probably wondering how the hell you take your art from concept to a finished letterpress item and it raises questions such as – Can I only use certain fonts? Can I supply digital artwork? etc. Well fear not, as once explained it's pretty easy to come to terms with your requirements as a graphic designer when supplying/requesting artwork for letterpress printing.  Fonts and typefaces. The most asked question from designers is – can I only use the actual metal typefaces you carry? The answer is a definite no. You can use any digital typeface you own and choose to use in your layouts and supply as a digital file. When printing letterpress with impression the letterspace tightens up as the impression into the paper gets deeper, especially on thicker stocks. To compensate for this add +5 to +10 to your kerning of body text to allow a little extra space around type. Photos and illustrations. Letterpress is not the best process for reproducing full colour photos with fine screens. While it is possible the retro-result will look something like a 1940s newspaper when printed on cotton stock. Typical line screens are 85-130lpi. On the other hand photos converted to line illustration print beautifully. In fact any line art or illustrative style image prints beautifully using the letterpress process. As well as being able to reproduce a very fine line, letterpress can stamp this line into the paper creating a wonderful pillow effect. Large solids and reverse images. If you intend on using cotton papers try to stay away from full page solids unless you’re aiming for a retro look. Be aware that large solids on cotton paper stock will appear with a slight mottle – especially greens and browns. This is a by-product of using gallery grade cotton paper stocks as opposed to clay coated commercial paper. Ink absorption rates can vary with cotton stock. Conversely letterpress solids can and do print beautifully on coated commercial stocks but their hard clay coating limits the ability of the plate to bite into the paper for any visible “letterpress effect”.  A word about impression.From Gutenberg's day in the 15th century until the 1990s correct impression for letterpress meant the image or type would just "kiss" the paper. To do otherwise was a sign of bad printing and would see the foreman send you on a mission for some rainbow coloured ink. This was/is traditional letterpress printing. Contemporary letterpress printing requires that the process be visible. People want to see what they're paying for. With the use of modern materials and a skilled pressman you can have the best of both worlds. Your impression will have a crisp bite with minimal to no amount of see-through on the reverse of the sheet. When working with The Artisan Press you'll be advised on the intended impression. The colour wheel Unlike offset printing, letterpress has no blanket cylinder between plate and paper, the ink transfer process is direct and has the ability to deliver twice as much ink to paper. The resulting colours tend to appear more intense and vivid. The Artisan Press has a range of 42 house Pantone colours. Any additional Pantone colours or matches to fabric swatches can be ordered at an additional cost. Metallic inks can be used with great effect. If printing metallics on uncoated cotton stocks please note that metallics will tend to darken. The overall effect is more subtle than shiny and glossy.
Embossing (mountains) requires 2 plates (a male and female) and is suited better to thinner stocks (140–220gsm) as the image is raised above the paper. Printing with opaque white ink This technique gives a sharper and more legible result than normal blind stamping as the subtle effect of the ink at the bottom of the impression reflects enough light to create slightly more contrast. If you've got any questions about letterpress and are interested in using the process, please feel welcome to contact The Artisan Press.
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