We printed some very cool letterpress business card designs this week and wanted to share a few of our favorites with you. These three cards are unique in their own way. The first card was printed by us at Dolce Press but designed by Cara Kleid (left).  We thought this 2 color card emphasized a nice way to combine illustration with a creative font layout.

The second card (center) we designed and printed for Tina Chang who wanted an elegant card with a flair so, we decided to do a subtle background in transparent white so the card wasn’t overpowered with color. The transparent white is an easy way to get a color 1 shade darker than the paper.

The last card (right) was again printed by us at Dolce press but designed by David Caso. We actually took 1 of his cards, scored and folded it.  When we spoke with David, he told us that he had different intentions for the card. He was going to cut the 3.5 x 2.5 business card and dry mount them to make a duplex card. He is also considering adding rounded corners. When he is done putting the finishing touches on this great card, he promises to send us a few to photograph for the blog. So if your interested in seeing the finshed card, definitely check back on our blog.

Check out our flickr letterpress card album for more business card designs. 

First, we have to apologize for the lack of posts but we have been swamped with print jobs these past few weeks. We have a few exciting posts planned for the next week so stay tuned for more information on that. Getting down to business, we posted last week about two small presses that we have for sale and finally got everything together today to photograph the larger press. This press is a Kelsey Excelsior 5×8 letterpress in great condition. Above is a photo of the press and accessories which include a wide variety of wooden furniture (a lot more furniture not shown), many quoins and a key, one chase, a variety of type (not shown), two rollers (need to be recovered) and metal trucks in a wooden box (not shown), and 3 galley trays.

Here are some more photos of the accessories and close-up shots of the press:

As you can see from the photos, the press is in great condition and is ready to be used. The platen, chase, ink disk, and press bed are all smooth and free from defects and rust. The press comes with one fully functioning gripper arm, unfortunately one of the arms must have been lost by the original owner. While this press can be shipped we will give preference to those who can pick it up in Ithaca, NY or Long Island. Please contact us with an offer for the press and accessories as a set. 

Just wanted to let everyone know that all the lead type and wood type has been sold. Thanks to everyone who inquired.Currently at Dolce Press, we are in the process of restoring 2 presses; a 5 x 8 Kelsey and 3 x 5 CMC Master. There is some work that needs to be done to them before they will be ready to be sold so please check back periodically to the blog if you are interested in purchasing 1 or both.Please no emails about pricing since a price has not yet been set.

Dolce Press has always done their part to be green but now we have taken it one step further. I find there is so much wasted paper here in the studio so we have decided to use the left over paper and make mini cards. These mini cards are 3 inches wide by 1 inch tall. Despite their size they will make a huge impact (and besides, they are so cute) when letterpress printed.

For a limited time, we are offering special pricing on these mini cards:
200 cards - $100
500 cards - $200

Please feel free to contact us by phone or email if you would like to place an order.

This is a set of 36pt and 54pt sans serif lead type (caps only) that we are selling. We are quickly running out of space in the studio and would be happy to see this type go to a good home.

In the upcomming weeks we will be posting more type and letterpress accessories for sale which includes individual cases, type ranging in size from 8pt to 72pt+, and several type cabinets. In addition to the lead type, we have a full cabinet of wood type ranging from 2″ to 10″+ in size. If you are interested in purchasing any of this, contact us directly via phone or email. We will be posting the items bit by bit to a special section of the blog, which you can access here: Letterpress Stuff For Sale.

This is a letterpress graduation announcement we printed recently for a local Ithaca College student. The design features a simple anchor printed in navy blue (which you may recognize from our wedding invitation line in our product catalog) and a nice script font also printed in blue on textured 100% cotton paper. The paper and the simplicity of the design gave the invitation a special look and feel which is just what the soon-to-be college graduate wanted. To add a little bit extra, we printed the anchor on the navy blue envelope in silver ink which gave it a nice shimmer. Here is a close shot of the invitaiton which shows the  anchor and script text:

This was a fun project to work on, sort of like a mini-wedding invite, and was a nice break from our busy print queue of business cards and wedding invitations. In addition to letterpress wedding invitations, we have printed letterpress baby announcements (more on this to come soon), graduation announcements, anniversary parties invitation, and many more. We’re so happy to bring the craft and style of letterpress to all of these events.

We have been busy today printing a lot of business cards for a startup publication, Knack. Their cards aren’t done yet so we’ll post more specifically about the cards once they are. Until then here are some pictures of the back of the cards:

What this post is really about is bulk business cards orders. We have had a lot of inquiries lately about ordering multiple sets of business cards and we are happy to announce a special promotion that will be running from June 18th all the way through July 18th 2008.

5% discount (2-5 Sets)
10% discount (6-10 Sets)
15% discount (11+ Sets)

Please contact us for special pricing on bulk orders.

We’ve been on a wedding kick as of late and so when close friends of ours told us they were getting married we couldn’t resist letterpress printing their wedding invitation set. They wanted something that was simple and reminiscent of summer as they are getting married in Mexico this August.

The dandelion was printed in strawberry ink on the invite and reply card and in chocolate brown ink on the invitation envelope. Printing on the envelope is yet another way to make the invitation stand out among regular mail and has been a popular choice lately.

We have a special place in our heart for wedding invitations. These invitations, which we designed and printed, features a retro flower and vine design that is carried throughout the set.

The centerpiece of the set is the invitation which is a flat A7 card letterpress printed on 220# cotton paper in turquoise and brown ink. The chocolate brown invite envelope has the return address and vine design printed in turquoise ink. The insert which contains information on the wedding website and registry, highlights the retro flower design and unique typography.

The vine design was originally photographed in this post on Impression Depth. Caroline really liked the vine design but also wanted flowers and a second color on the invitation and thus the retro flower and vine design was born. We really like how the vines and flowers intertwine and curve around the body text. The bride and groom’s names are accented in turquoise ink and the same unique typeface.

We hope everyone enjoys these wedding invitations as much as we do! For more information on our custom letterpress printed wedding invitations, please feel free to contact us.

We have been working on several letterpress stationery sets recently and wanted to share some pictures of one of the sets - we originally posted about our Custom Personalized Stationery in January.

The set contains letterpress printed A2 flat cards with a pointed flap envelope and matching liner. The great thing about our stationery box set is that everything can be customized from the design, the paper, the envelope color and the liner. All of our stationery sets are packaged in a wooden box or tin. Here are some more shots of the envelope and card:

For more information on our custom letterpress printed stationery sets please feel free to contact us.