The Artisan Press - What's special about letterpress papers?

What's special about letterpress papers?

The Artisan Press uses a range letterpress friendly papers from the leading fine art paper mills across the world. Some of these mills were producing paper in the 13th century – well before the advent of the printing press! For example the Magnani mill in Italy, customers include Napoleon Bonaparte, the reigning families of Europe and the state mints of several countries. It's a little special and one touch will tell you why.

Letterpress papers should be soft, but also possess strength and be finished with a rich texture that delights the touch. Cotton is the preferred ingredient in letterpress papers because it allows the quality of fine printing to shine through and makes the letterpress process visible. The only other place you'll see some of these papers is hanging in a fine art gallery.

Why can't I just use any kind of paper?

Because not all papers are letterpress friendly. In short, papers and boards that don't take impression well are either too thin or have a surface that is too hard. With papers that are too thin there just isn't enough body or bulk in the paper to accept the pressure unleashed on it. The back of a letterpress printed sheet will look and feel like Braille.

Hard papers generally have a slightly gloss and a smooth surface finish – like a piece of glossy card from an office supply shop. This type of board is coated with a very thin layer of clay in manufacture. This helps to give it brightness and strength but unfortunately for letterpress it is akin to printing onto tin and makes getting any depth of impression very difficult to obtain.

NB. graphic designers

Letterpress can print very fine type and large solids beautifully on coated stocks but the result will have almost no impression.

Most clients like the letterpress process to be visible (contemporary letterpress) with a nice crisp impression. In fact, the sign of a fine letterpress printer is to have almost none or no "see through" on the reverse of the page. "See through" is a visible impression on the back of the printed page. Like the old days (traditional letterpress) it's frowned upon as it shows a lack of care and precision on the printer's part when preparing the press.

When edges are deckled

A deckled edge paper is one with uneven tapered edges like the pic at the top of this page. A true deckle edge is result of the paper manufacture. There are sneaky alternatives like tearing the edge after printing and fancy trim knives. These alternatives exist because paper with a deckle edge is more expensive than a straight cut edge.

The deckle edge can only occur during paper making along the 4 edges of what are usually very large pieces of paper. If the paper you want only comes in these very large sheets, then the final print size will have to be cut out of the larger “parent” sheet and you would end up with only one edge being deckled. Hence the attraction to papers such as Magnani Valle dei Fiori and Fabriano Mediovalis as they are produced in small sizes, not large sheets, allowing a deckle edge all the way around.

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