Letterpress Coasters

I’ve been seeing a lot of printing on round, thick coasters lately. (wedding favors, business cards, ect.) Have any of you tried it? Where did you purchase the paper?

Thanks!

Hey Christy,

Shot you a tweet, but just in case you see this first, you could check our site out (it’s in our profile). If I were you, I’d check out the heavy Crane’s colors for a project like that – but the world is your oyster!

Let me know if you have any questions!

Josh – Paperworks

I’ve bought pre-cut ones from Katz America before and have had good luck. They have squares, circles, and rectangles too I think.

I hate katz, they are cheap but the surface cracks really easily.  I’ve heard neena blotter paper is best, but expensive

Thanks for the info! I went ahead and got the Medium size 3.5 round from Katz. Printing soon – will update with review.

I print on them all the time.. there can be some crackling but if you get the grain direction and pressure right its typically minimal.

I sell them blank in my etsy shop for those who want to order smaller quantities than Katz sells.. ladybugpress.etsy.com

I have used the neenah blotter too its not nearly as heavy but it is nice stuff… less crackles typically. And the 220# lettra is expensive but makes nice coasters too! (same with the heavy savoy stock!)

Hi Christy, have you printed on these coasters yet?  I was just wondering how you found the quality, as I have seen so many conflicting opinions for this brand.  I’d hate to be stuck with 992 blank circles…   🙂   ~Marina.

Hi Marina,

I’ve been printing on these for the past 5 months and they have pros and cons.

Pros:

– super affordable

– fast shipping

– accepts impression well

– photographs well

Cons:

– printing surface is fluorescent white. I print mainly with “pearl white” paper, so in comparison the coasters look… cheap. However by themselves they look fine.

– edges are off-white, almost dingy.

– they do tend to crack – especially if you have an enclosed impression like a circle, or small type. However if you get the packing just right cracking is no longer a problem

– doesn’t accept a deep impression (cracking)

– they come with these itty bitty tabs on the edges. I assume from cutting. Not a huge deal.

– they get soaked under a normal glass with ice. I worried about it ruining my table, but it somehow didn’t.

– After they dry from beverage condensation they have permanent water marks. Think if you were to set your glass on a stack of regular printer paper.

– I would say they are totally unusable after 5 uses.

Ok, all that being said, I love them. They sell like crazy. You can sell them for pretty cheap (set of 6 for $8) and still make a good profit. They work out to .03 each so really customers are paying for the ink, polymer and labor. I use them for my business cards and people love them. I’m writing a blog on them as we speak, and I’m even thinking about getting the heavy stock. Paper source just started selling some nautical ones (I started selling them first! haha) and theirs are the heavy stock.

I hope my review helps you make your decision! 🙂

Happy printing,

Christy

Wow Christy, thanks for the detailed review!  I’d love to see your blog too!!

I buy from Katz America, especially square coasters and 4×6 postcards out of the same coaster stock. Have always had a good experience.

I haven’t done any deep impressions, so don’t know about the cracking. They do absorb water, much like the coasters at a bar. But, if you spray them with an automotive enamel (both sides) then they last much longer. I found a triple-thick auto glaze that is like a resin surface, so there’s always that. The auto finishes are better and more stable than artist acrylic gel, which sometimes is too sticky (and not sprayable).

We discontinued buying Katz a few years ago when the cracking issue developed. It used to be a fine coaster but…something changed. It sounds like others in this thread experienced this as well. I don’t believe the coaster stock is grained like other types of paper, and the problems routinely surfaced whenever we hit the stock relatively hard. This caused complaints from customers who felt they deserved more impression since they were “paying for letterpress.” We experimented with a lot of alternate papers and found that thick printing papers (though they printed well) did not absorb moisture as a coaster should. To our surprise, we were most happy with an 0.050 double white chip from Newman Paperboard. This had the right combination of impression and absorbency. We currently purchase this in lots of 630 26×28 sheets, but I’m not sure whether or not they sell in smaller quantities. Perhaps there are other sources for 0.50 white chip who can sell in smaller amounts. Hope this helps!

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