lazer printing onto Lettra or other letterpress type paper

Hello Ladies.

Am visualising ‘imprintable/fill in’ range.  Was thinking of promoting it to customers as being able to ‘put it through’ a lazer printer to fill in missing information after purchase- shall we call it hybrid printing!?….

Has anyone had any success with any papers that will go through a lazer printer after it has been printed on a letterpress -ie Golding Pearl.

Thanks in advance once again.

Davina

I have also wondered about this, including wondering which type of ink [oil-, rubber-, or soy-based, etc.] would be best, or if any of those would NOT be suitable for printing something that would eventually go through a customer’s laser printer– say, letterhead. Sorry I can’t be of any help! Hope to see some other replies, though. Have you posted this question on the LetPress or PPLetterpress lists?

Have only posted question on Briar Press.  Good point about which inks as well!  Will update if I find any success.

Only oil-based inks are stable in laser printers after a minimum 24 hour cure.  I have used Van Son oil-based for letterhead stationery and my customers report no problems.  Lettra will safely go through laser printers provided the printers will accommodate that that thickness (most laser printer manufacturers recommend nothing over 90# . . . Lettra is #110).

I have put Lettra 110 through my Epson 2200, but only using the back feed so it is fed flat. I have not taken the time to experiment with oil vs. rubber ink, thanks for the info Sheree.

Just noticed this so it must be VERY possible….. Wonder if Apple would care to share!

 

http://www.apple.com/ilife/print-products.html#letterpress-cards

 

Scroll down to ‘letterpress printing’

FYI: Have found this paper: http://www.letterpresspaper.com/entradalopes/

 

Looks to be just the thing… Quite expensive though.  If anyone has used or seen, let me know what the paper is as far as using for letterpress is.

I’ve done it on a very nice laser printer at my office (a xerox digital press). It went through just fine on the highest setting (which is based on gsm). Just know that the printer can’t lay down large areas of toner without getting that “cracked” look on the lettra. I just used it for text and it worked just fine with oil based ink that had dried for a day.

 

Sorry no picture- I’ll see if I can dig one up.

Thanks heaps for this!

Recon Ill need to upgrade my printer soon. Ink-jet may be the way to go…

How would ink jet hold up on Lettra.I would imagine it would bleed a lot since the paper is so absorbent. Have you tried this? Its a great idea I have also toyed with, I may have to give it a run through my ink jet to see!

I’ve printed on Lettra with my Epson 1400. Just wording and it looks nice. I haven’t tried any intricate designs but I think that before running the invitations through their compression plate system, Letterpress Light runs them through a printer. They use Lettra but I couldn’t tell you if they ran it through an ink or laser printer.  I’ve run Lettra through our solid ink printer and it didn’t look that great (entire page design). Hope this helps!

Hi Diana,

I had not heard of Letterpress Light. That process looks very interesting. I wonder how she achieves the impression with unlimited colors? Do you know what a Compression Plate System is? Her website is a little vague.

 

Thanks for the tip on the ink jet. I have an Epson 1400 too and I will start to test some of my designs.

Well, there was a post about LL in another discussion here wondering about what she was using. My thought (along with others) was that she was using photopolymer plates to press the design into the Lettra, maybe with a sizzix type or quickkutz type machine because she’s not using an actual letterpress. After looking at her site and walking around the craft stores I revised the photopolymer idea to having both the positive and negative plates made. Similar to the quickkutz embossing folders that have both a positive and negative. I along with several others have looked up the “compression plate system” and have found nothing on it but what she has posted. I also remember that as of last summer she was only charging 4.50 for her invitation suites that included an RSVP but now they’re $12 for the suite. Good for her that she can command those prices. I think she achieves unlimited colors by just printing regularly on the Lettra then uses her system to line up the design and press. Or I may be totally wrong! =) Hope your designs come out! I just use the ultra premium matte setting in the print preferences and then hand feed them through the printer. Let me know what your outcome is!

As far as I can tell, Lettra is not a laser-certified sheet. Certain papers are, and are marked as such, (namely text-weight papers used for letterhead/correspondence). Have tried laser printing Lettra a number of times with no success; but we have inkjet printed Lettra 110 lb. just fine through our Epson Stylus Pro 4000 with great results.

 

There are some extraordinary inkjet papers on the market, such as Moab Entrada (sold at Calumet), which has a special surface treatment to take inkjet beautifully. We’ve inkjet printed wedding invitations on the Entrada for heavy/full color coverage, and then letterpress printed the type… a sweet combo! It’s expensive, as the pigmented inks (K2 cartridges) are pricey. Will post a photo example soon.

 

Lars.

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