2013 Studio On Fire Letterpress Calendar

Rolling into our store just in the nick of time for Christmas (so would that be in the Saint Nick of time?) is our annual Studio On Fire Letterpress Calendar.

Each year our studio picks a theme, a color palette, and paper stocks before recruiting crush-worthy illustrators to join us in creating custom art for each month. We claimed the January and July pages for ourselves before inviting Brian Gunderson, the Jolby dudes, John Malta, Sasha Prood, and Karolin Schnoor to round out our cast of contributors for 2013.

Artists were given the theme of Lucky Number 13 and asked to interpret it at will, resulting in a multitude of superstitious icons and ironic illustrations. We designed the tri fold outer wrap by stealing bits and pieces from the monthly illustrations, collaging them in a long strip to be trimmed off the press sheet and later used for packaging.

The calendar pages and outer wrap were letterpress printed with four inks all together on a large 26 x 20 size press sheet of Mohawk Milkweed 160C. After printing the individual months were trimmed down to a finished size of  3.25 x 5 inches.

To make the stand we first duplexed  Mohawk Via Vellum Safety Yellow 80C to Decorated Paper Brilliance 12pt Tinsel Holographic to create a thick custom stock. After imprinting the stands with a tonal letterpress varnish they were custom diecut and hand assembled with the holographic stock on the inside (allowing a hint of holographic stock to peek out when the support of the stand is kicked out on your desk).

As a special bonus we are offering free DOMESTIC USA shipping on the 2013 calendars thru December 16. Enter coupon code FREESHIP (all caps, one word) in your cart.

If you’re curious, previous years can be viewed on our site: 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008.

Two-Toned Edgecoloring

We recently produced this stationery suite  designed by Together We Create for the Massachusetts based film company Mystic Artists. The design called for two-toned edgecoloring–a production first for our studio–with two edges colored bright teal and the remaining two sporting a nearly-flourescent red. The outcome is fairly stunning, if we do say so ourselves.

The business cards were printed on Crane Lettra Flo White 90C custom duplexed after printing to make a 180lb thickness. Letterhead was printed on Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80T with a coordinating 70T pre-converted square flap #10 envelope.

Two-Toned Edgecoloring

We recently produced this stationery suite  designed by Together We Create for the Massachusetts based film company Mystic Artists. The design called for two-toned edgecoloring–a production first for our studio–with two edges colored bright teal and the remaining two sporting a nearly-flourescent red. The outcome is fairly stunning, if we do say so ourselves.

The business cards were printed on Crane Lettra Flo White 90C custom duplexed after printing to make a 180lb thickness. Letterhead was printed on Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80T with a coordinating 70T pre-converted square flap #10 envelope.

Measure Promo Cards

These cheeky promotional cards, designed by the folks over at Measure, are a great example of how fluorescent and metallic inks appear when printed on white paper. Day-glo pink and metallic silver ink were letterpress printed on Crane Lettra Flo White 110c that we duplexed after printing for a finished thickness of 220c. One card then received two perforation lines, allowing it to break down into smaller cards.

Finessence Photography Identity and Stationery

A husband and wife photography team, Finessence Photography had just adopted a new moniker and was looking for a fresh look when they approached us to handle their rebrand and produce their print collateral. While we spend a lot of time (happily) printing for other designers, it’s always a treat for us to act as the design firm behind a project that hits our pressroom.

For the business cards we created a custom stock, duplexing Crane Lettra Flo White 110C and Beckett Concept Mohagany 130C. The rich mahogany stock was a great way for us to counterbalance the ultra-feminine flourish filled “F” we created  for the main logo with something a little more masculine.  A custom brown ink was mixed to match the mahogany stock for the crisp letterpress printed type sandwiched between two bands of a sculptural teal pattern. We were also able to use one of our favorite finishing techniques, giving the slightly undersized cards a splash of teal edge coloring.

After completing the business cards we proceeded to create a photo folio and gift certificate to round out their set of presentation materials. The structure of the photo folio is a call back to the flimsy paper sleeves drugstore prints used to come in, but this version is a bit fancier. A custom steel rule die line was created, which included an interior diecut to hold the business card, letterpress printed with two inks, hand assembled and kept closed with a velcro closure.

We’re also pretty proud to say this system was a winner in the 2010 FPO Awards.

Venn Diagram Wedding

This suite, designed for Lindsay and Ben by their good friend Nicolas Carbonaro, is a great example of how to utilize overprinting inks. Since letterpress inks are not opaque, with the exception of metallics, a third color is created wherever two colors overlap–and in this instance, creating a great visual metaphor for love.

Another thing to note is the heavy ink coverage throughout the suite, so we required acknowledgment of our solid areas disclaimer before we proceeded into production. Printed with two inks, along with a blind pass, on Mohwak Loop Ivory  Smooth 160c, the cards were duplexed after printing to create a hefty 320c stock.

Oh So Beautiful Paper also featured these, be sure to pop over to check out some additional pictures of the complete suite.

Thinner, yet sculptural.

A new product we’ve been asking for (for several years) has finally arrived. Crane Lettra is now available as a 90lb cover stock that is thick, but not so thick, and good for duplexing.

Being the paper nerds that we are, we busted out our calipers to compare the thickness of duplexed Lettra stocks. Our 220lb Lettra stock calipers at .039″ (40pt) and the new 180lb cover stock calipers at .031″ (30pt), roughly a 25% reduction. Available in fluorescent white, pearl white and ecru, we’ve added this to our list of preferred house stocks.

Our first project to hit press with this new stock was for director Nathaniel Freeman. Letterpress printed with a navy ink and a custom varnish, the 90lb pearl white stock was duplexed after printing–concealing the impression show through in the center of the card. The finished product features a nice sculptural impression, but with slightly less bulk to the card.

See Jane Blog Business Cards

Jane, from the family/design/lifestyle blog See Jane Blog, approached us to design and produce some fresh cards for her before she headed off to the annual Alt Summit blogger conference in January.  Jane was great to work with, she had a few ideas and elements she wanted included but really lets us run and create something that would look great letterpress printed. Some of our favorite features include the custom diecut (designed to accentuate her signature asterisk) and the thin linework pattern (referencing back to her patterned blog header).

Production wise, these were printed on Crane Lettra Flo White 110lb cover stock that was custom duplexed to a 220lb weight after printing. With two inks, a blind impression and a custom diecut, the presssheet for these cards ran through the press a total of four times.

You can also read about these in a lovely post over on Jane’s blog.

Duct Tape and Glitter Business Cards

Today’s post is brought to you by the color pink! Rubine Red, to be exact. Created by the fellas over at Duct Tape and Glitter, these cards used almost every production process we offer, printing with three ink colors (one of them a flood) along with a blind impression, custom duplexing after printing and finished with a swipe of edge coloring.

Despite the multiple processes these went through, we were able to keep an eye on the cost by printing the fronts and backs up on the same presssheet. By setting up the sheet this way colors that were common to both sides (like the Rubine Red) only had to be setup on press once, rather than once for the front and then again for the back.

After printing we duplexed the presssheet back to itself which created a hefty 220lb sheet and also allowed us to conceal any impression show through (impression area from the front the shows on the back of the sheet) in the middle of the card.

AIGA Minnesota Design Show Call for Entries

We are very involved with the Minnesota chapter of AIGA and always try to enter their annual Design Show that comes around each spring. Last year we were honored to win the “People’s Choice” award (voted on by those who attended the show) for our Golden Rule Poster. As per tradition, the winner of the People’s Choice is asked to design the show materials for the following year–we gladly accepted the job.

Under direction of the AIGA MN Design Show committee we were challenged to make an interactive object in lieu of the usual poster. Charles Youel jumped into the project as writer and after several meetings, sketches and cups of coffee, we came up with an idea to send a pair of cards with punchouts that could be used to actually build something on your desk. We had to go through multiple rounds of prototyping to adjust the construction and functionality of the die, but we couldn’t be happier with the end result.

The set of cards (everyone receives two, for a total of 16 punchout pieces) were letterpress printed with two inks on Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Eggshell 100c, custom duplexed after printing to make 200c. To achieve the our final product, every card was trimmed down and run through the press two more times after printing to diecut with two custom dies–one used to create the slits and one to cut the shapes. A custom envelope was also designed and produced before the whole set was sent over to Shapco for insertion and mailing.

Be sure to check out the hash tag #designshow on Twitter as people tweet their creations and enter AIGA MN’s 2012 Design Show–online entry opens March 5th!