This year we introduced a monthly print that highlights new and unique fonts. Last month’s card celebrated the New Year (Happy New Year Letterpress Card), and this month we’re celebrating Valentine’s Day. For the entire month of February, when your order ships, we’ll include one of these cards.

We used three different fonts for the design but the HeartBeats font was where it all started. Who doesn’t remember those tiny heart candies as a kid!

One of the best parts of the HeartBeats font is the knockout of each letter. A knockout like this creates what we call a faux-emboss, by giving the appearance of raised text. We’re in love with Appetite because of all great ligature glyphs that come with it and Singela is great unique hand written font. All of the fonts were found on the MyFonts website.

The card is 3″ square and was letterpress printed on cotton paper scraps with PMS Red 032 U ink.

Stay tuned for next month’s letterpress card! If you’ve got ideas for the card or a favorite font, share them below in the comments.

Nothing is more indulgent than a letterpress coupon. Today we’ve got a project we printed for Network Redux, a web hosting and data service provider based in Portland, OR. These cards were designed by Rhonda Spencer, a designer at freshfruit creative - a creative agency also based in Portland. We spoke to Network Redux before posting these and they said the promo code is still in effect: NetworkRedux2011 – which is good for a $50 service credit. Check out more photos after the break. 

The cards were printed on 110lb pearl white cotton stock in black and blue ink. We printed them 6-up on the Vandercook because of the solid coverage of the blue. We had to strike a balance between ink coverage to get a nice solid blue and keep the small text in the knockout clean and easy to read.

The final cards are 3″ square and the white text knockout is raised creating a faux-embossed effect.

If you’re working on a letterpress project, send us an email (contact@dolcepress.com) for more information, samples, and a quote.

The new year comes with a special treat from your friends at Dolce Press. We love new fonts but don’t always get to try them out. Starting January we’re going to be including special prints with each order. These prints will feature different fonts we love that might spark your creativity! This month’s card celebrates the New Year with three great fonts: Dusty Circus, Snob, Carolyna Pro Black.

Place your order now and we’ll include this limited edition card when your cards or invitations ship. Stay tuned for next month’s card!

Happy New Year!

We wanted to do a review of all the great instagram photos we posted this year. We started posting daily photos of our work to instagram from shots of new machines being installed, to ink mixing, platemaking, letterpress printing, foil stamping, edge coloring, and the list goes on! To follow what goes on in the shop and get regular updates on our work you can follow us on twitter (@dolcepress) or check out our tumblr page (from the press room). You can also check out the photos directly by following us on instagram (@dolcepress).

Check out all of the photos after the break!

The Word Search card is a new design in our 2011 Holiday Collection.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you should have heard by now that one of our designs was selected by Uncommon Goods as a semi-finalist in their holiday card contest. We’re really happy to have caught their eye, but the most important part of the contest is still going on now!

In fact today is the last day to vote, which you can do here.

We put together a little walkthrough if you’re unsure of what to do.

Step 1: Vote for us by clicking thumbs UP. You could vote thumbs down – this is a democratic process after all – but that’s just no fun! Once you place your vote, you’ll be taken to a registration page to sign up (it’s very easy).

Step 2: Once you’ve voted, you can post the link on facebook/twitter/etc. and spread the social media word. If you don’t have a facebook handle or aren’t hip to tweeting, we can’t help right now, that’s a completely separate post.

Step 3: The last favor we’re asking – for now – is to leave a comment. Tell us and everyone else what you think about the cards!

For everyone who has already voted and commented, we really appreciate you taking the time to support us! In case you’re wondering what people are saying about the cards check out this sample of comments posted:

Images courtesy of Uncommon Goods and the Community Voting App.

A stylish save the date and invitation designed by Korissa Tsuyuki

We’ve worked with Korissa before – printing her business cards – so we new we were in for a treat! She designed this custom save the date and invitation using a perfect mix of patterns and typography. We had almost as much fun photographing the finished pieces as we did printing them. Check out the mix of foil stamping and letterpress after the break.

The first piece we printed were the save the dates, which had a really striking heart pattern. We used a 600 gsm cotton stock that was single ply, instead of 220# Lettra (which is just duplexed 110lb sheets). The thick paper allowed us to get a deep impression. The design was 2 colors: transparent white / orange-red.

Check out this 3D photo of the STDs:

The detail in the design is really stunning (see below). Ken & Korissa even included some of their favorite songs along each of the 4 sides (Yellow, I Believe In You, Crash Into Me, and You Are So Beautiful).

The invites take it up another notch. Printed on French Muscletone 140lb and then duplexed to a blank sheet to make the final piece 280lb. While silver ink done with letterpress on black stock looks nice, metallic foil looks amazing and her design really highlights that. We printed the background pattern using transparent white ink to add shading to the intricate design.

The text and border was done in a silver metallic foil, which really pops off the page. She continued the heart theme by including them in the background pattern, the border, and the text – just enough to tie the two pieces together.

Wedding invitations are always special to print, its something we really enjoy doing. If you have a custom letterpress project your working on, email us at contact@dolcepress.com for more information and pricing.

The perfect card for any holiday greeting!

We’re happy to announce another addition to our 2011 Holiday line, the Word Search greeting is something we had a fun time creating. The first thing we did was create a list of holiday words. Once we had our list of 34 – and there was some heated debate!! – we started laying out each word. The first 20 or so went pretty fast, but it was those last ones that took some creative work to fit! They’re now for sale in our SHOP. Take a peak at the letterpress cards and the instruction card after the break.

The cards were letterpress printed on a Vandercook Universal III using Crane’s Lettra (110lb Pearl White) for the cards and matching Lettra envelopes. We wanted a neutral color so we used metallic silver ink, a good choice for this text filled holiday card.

The cards come blank so you can circle your own message or let your friends and family find all of the words themselves! Each card is A2 (4.25″ x 5.5″) sized and creased to create a landscape card.

Each box set comes with 6 cards & envelopes, and 6 instruction cards for those people who want to cheat. Below are some photos of the instruction card:

We flat printed the instruction cards using a textured stock. The front of the card has the list of words – we left a few off the list for fun – and a brief description of the card. The back has a key to the location of every word, there were so many we broke them up into two groups (cyan / magenta).

As with all of our cards, they’re available in our online SHOP for purchase. For custom holiday cards, contact us by email at contact@dolcepress.com for more information. Lastly, LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

Our modern partridge in a pear tree letterpress design is the newest holiday card.

We’re really excited to post photos of our newest holiday card, Pear Tree. The cards were printed on pearl white Crane’s Lettra and paired with an A2 (4.25″ x 5.5″) envelope. Like the rest of the cards we have available for purchase, these were printed on our Vandercook (Uni III) using photopolymer plates. A box set of 6 cards and envelopes are $18 and available in our shop.

 The card is printed in 2 colors – a poppy pear green and a pink bird red.

The card is creased and folded to a final size of 4.25″ x 5.5″ and we left the inside of the card blank.

Each envelope is stamped with the dolce press logo on the edge of the flap in blind. Below are some photos of the production we took using instagram. You can check these photos and more on our Tumblr page (From the press room).

Flocking stockings adorn this new letterpress design.

We love the holidays, not just because it means we get to work on holiday card designs! We’re kicking off the season with this new limited edition design for 2011 we’ve lovingly titled Flocking Stockings. A boxed set of 6 cards and lined envelopes (A2) is $22 and will be available for purchase in the shop.

The cards are printed on 100% cotton (110lb pearl white) paper in an A2 size (4.25″ x 5.5″ folded). We used a holiday red ink for the stockings and text, and a simple black ink for the clothes line.

Each card was printed on a Vandercook Universal III using custom-mixed ink. After printing, the cards were trimmed, scored, and hand glittered and flocked. Due to their unique hand-made nature, the flocking and glitter varies from card to card.

Below are two stereoscopic photos, which will help you see the texture the flocking adds to each stocking. To see the 3D image, cross your eyes until the images overlap and bring them into focus.

Each boxed set also includes six lined envelopes with the two patterns below (3 of each).

Stay tuned for more holiday designs coming soon!

Interested in holiday cards for your business or clients? Please email us for pricing and information.

Steel blue edge coloring is a classic touch on these business cards.

It’s always interesting to work with different clients, we like to think of it as working for a new boss every day. Now some people might think that’s a nightmare because they have horrible bosses, but we’re lucky to have really great clients. George Romaka, founder of Classic Type of New York Inc., was no exception. CTofNY specializes in typesetting, proofreading, and book design from print media and cover art to graphs and eBooks. Check out the classic styling used for George’s cards after the break.

George supplied the design and layout for the business card. Nothing is more classic than neutral black ink, so thats what we used. This isn’t the time to get flashy with multiple colors.

We printed the cards using a 600gsm cotton stock. The soft stock works great with letterpress and take a nice impression, even with some of the more delicate parts of the design. Standard sizing was also used, 3.5″ x 2″.

Edge coloring was critical to these cards, after all we want them to stand out. Not like a hot pink mini-skirt, more like a well tailored suit. We edged these cards using a steel-blue color. Edge coloring works best on thick stock like this, which measures in at 0.042″ thick.

Here is a great closeup of the CTofNY logo. The stroke on the outline was thin, too much impression and that could wear away on the plate. A little makeready and we were able to get nice impression and balance that with the fine elements. The paper has a nice subtle texture.

Do you want to be our next boss? Email us (contact@dolcepress.com) if you’ve got a project you’d like us to quote, we’re happy to help!