We hope you're able to find everything you need on our site, and here, we'll be regularly updating this FAQ to answer common questions

Contact us if you have other questions!

Pricing, "Almost Free™ Letterpress" Business Cards

Note that the special pricing on these cards takes into account discounts for standard color choices and a simplified workflow.

If you need multiple colors, two-sides, or other business stationery, please Contact Us!

Pricing, Wedding Stationery

Wedding invitations are complex jobs often involving weeks of deliberation, two, three, four or more different formats and envelope sizes, multiple colors and numerous print runs. Producing a final estimate for such a project can involve hours of our time. In order to give you the best possible service, we offer the following guide.

Can we get 25 invitation sets? What's your minimum?

We generally don't do quote less than 50 sets due to setup costs. In fact, except for a small difference in the paper cost, you will pay very nearly as much for 50 sets as you will for 100. 

We have a budget of $X. for each set, can we get invitations, rsvp, place cards, direction card, menu, order of service, etc within our budget? Why does your printing cost more than Letterpress Company X which has been in business for decades, or my friend who has a press in her basement?

We are happy to try to work within your budget, but we do not aim to compete with the commercial printer who still has a couple of letterpresses in the back of the shop. We are committed to the best personal customer service in the business, and will walk through the entire process with you.

Every printer has the right to offer their services at a lower price, but the proof is in the pudding. At Exquisite Letterpress you get the benefit of the our 25 years of fine typographic practice, along with absolute perfectionism in the quality of the final impression. No mushy ink oozing up from the impression, no vulgar mashing through the back of the sheet. Our paper is lofty enough to handle a deep impression without punching through the back!

How much should we expect to spend on a standard invitation set? (Invitation, RSVP with envelopes)

You can figure between $5-6 per set for 100 sets, printed in one color, single side, standard card (invitation A7 5x7in, RSVP A5 3.5x5in) with return address on the outer and reply address on the front of the reply envelope. The price varies slightly depending on the paper you choose, either Crane Lettra or Hahnemuhle Copperplate Etching which is our recommended stock.

What about additional colors, elements?

Each additional color will add about $2-3 per element for 100 sets. (that is, if both the Invitation and the RSVP are two-colors that will add up to $4-6 per set)

Additional elements, like directions, menus etc will add approximately $2-3 per piece for 100 sets, in one color, for standard sizes

Example Invitation Set - all design and art provided by client

100 sets on Hahnemuhle Copperplate Etching Warm White  300 gsm with color matched "Biblio" Envelopes

A7 Invitation in two colors $315.27

A7 Outer Envelope imprinted on back flap with return address $149.00

A5 RSVP in one color $218.14

A5 Reply Envelopes imprinted on front with reply address $139.00

A7 Directions Card $244.81

Total $1066.22

Shipping & Insurance $50.

Art Production

When you are producing your own art work for letterpress
Make all colors SPOT colors, use PANTONE libraries in Illustrator
No Photoshop or jpegs, vector only
No "Transparency" full 100% Opacity only (use a lighter tint instead of transparency!)

Calligraphy, Addressing (Prices, formats, samples)

We've been practicing calligraphy for almost 30 years, so we have very high standards!
With that in mind we have partnered with one of the world's most renowned calligraphers, Georgia Deaver, to offer truly exquisite calligraphy for your invitations. Please see Georgia's samples at http://slowprint.com/calligraphy/georgia

Pricing for invitation design starts at $450, for addressing starts at $4.00/envelope.

Addresses should be supplied in 'address label' format, rather than spreadsheet format.

GSM vs pounds (paper weights)

Papers are described by their weight, thickness and surface characteristics.
The weight is Grams per Square Meter (gsm), which is literally "how many grams would a piece of this paper one meter square weigh?" or "pounds per ream".
Of course, very few papers are actually a meter square, but GSM is a very useful way to compare the 'absolute' weight of various sheets of different sizes.

Pounds per ream is rather more troublesome, as it's not at all intuitive.
A 65# cover sheet is heavier than an 70# text sheet! And that's barely scratching the surface.
Different types of paper have different standard sheet sizes, so cover paper (ie thicker card-stock) is weighed as 500 sheets of 23x35, whereas bond paper is 500 sheets of 11x17, and 'text' paper is 500 sheets of 17x22

see http://www.limitedpapers.com/sizeweightchart.html

Solids

Letterpress is at its best with line art and typographic elements. It requires extra effort and often additional cost to make sure that solid areas - over 3/16 inch - are seen as solids. Smooth surface papers help quite a lot with this. We also will make use of fine-arts printmaking techniques such as dampening the paper to produce a perfect ink-film. However, for reverses, and solid coverage we often recommend the use of offset lithography which we offer through our local commercial print partners.

Bleeds

A design "bleeds" when it is printed across the trim, so that there is ink right up to the edge of the piece.
We can accommodate bleeds in many cases, but it's always important to check with us before finalizing the design.

Ink color, transparency, opacity, metallic

Actual metallic inks tend to be  problematic, since they depend on the gloss of the surface behind them to become reflective. Since our fine paper stocks are 'high-touch', ie, soft 100% cotton or rag fiber, we avoid metallics. The other option "metallic film hot-stamping" is also rather garish against the fine papers we prefer. Hot-stamping is similar to what you might find on a book cover.

PayPal

We use PayPal to process all credit card orders.
You do NOT need a PayPal 'account' in order to pay with PayPal. Just go to the "Send Money" tab, enter our email "sales@exquisiteletterpress.com" and follow the steps shown there. We can also send you a PayPal invoice which will have a link that takes you directly to the 'send money' page.

Deep Impression, Paper thickness (caliper)

The weight of a paper is a function of both its density and thickness. Thickness in papers is also referred to as the 'caliper', which is really just the name of the instrument used to measure thickness. Many of our favorite papers have a high 'caliper' reading, though the weight may be the same as a thinner paper. These high-caliper sheets are perfect for deep impression, as the fibers are softer, and the thickness allows for plenty of depth without punching through the back of the sheet, which is considered rather gauche...

Paper fibers, sustainable, recycled

Papers are made from fibers of cellulose, commonly cotton, linen, hemp, flax, or other plants. Fibers are recovered from the cuttings and waste in the garment industry, as well as new fiber from the fields. All of our fine=art papers are produced in traditional mills using high-quality sustainable fiber. Our commercial papers, including Crane, Strathmore and others are either 100% cotton, or  Forest Stewardship Certified (FSC)

Photos

While we can do photos on the letterpress, it requires a rather coarse halftone screen, and only works well on coated smooth commercial stock. We recommend any 'continuous' tone images be printed by offset litho or digital printing, and we can then do the letterpress imprinting on the same sheet.

The offset press also uses halftones, but can use a much finer screen. Digital four-color offset is also available.

Digital Letterpress, Digital Type, Typography

Our production process is entirely digital from intial design until the plate goes on the press. We start with digital files, either produced in house, or received from the client. We then do extensive pre-press evaluation of the files, correcting for a number of important variables which can affect the letterpress impression. For example, we check that all colors are specified as 100% solid spot colors, and that all type is correctly rendering as 'overprint' rather than 'knock-out'. We'll add a tiny bit of weight to very fine features, adjust the placement of punctuation and tweak the spacing of odd letter combinations. Most people will labor to see the difference before and after, but that is exactly the difference between "acceptable" and Exquisite!

Although we worked our way up with hot-metal and foundry type set in a stick from a "California Job Case", we cannot see ever going back, at least not for our invitation and business stationery work. Digital type faces are far more efficient, and can, in the right hands, produce typography which is more precise and appropriate than metal type ever could.

Printing Rough Papers

We enjoy printing on heavy and heavily textured papers. They do require substantial extra time, however, as the texture tends to make the sheets stick together in the press. We will surcharge certain stocks to account for this.

Scoring Heavy Papers, Folding

We do not recommend folding stocks over 80 lb cover weight (250 gsm), due to the risk of cracking along the fold.

Folding is separate from scoring, and generally, unless otherwise noted, we will score the work and deliver it flat.

Combining Letterpress with Offset and Digital imaging

We are happy to work closely with a very good small commercial offset shop, who provide a range of offset and digital printing services.

We've very successfully combined their work with our letterpress on our fine-art printmaking papers, as well as more commercial stock.