Lettra Schmettra

Hi Ladies,I was hoping that someone could share with me their sources for ordering Lettra, preferably online. I honestly hate printing on Lettra and have only done it once (I just don’t think it holds up well with my handset metal type, and I am often throwing off the press between even simple runs just to get it inky enough to print… annoying. I’m guessing it is much more suitable to polymer). I have a job coming up where it turns out that it’s the appropriate paper, and the last time I ordered it, it was from Crane’s directly and that took forever and a day to get here, with no communication during the process.If anyone has any good tips, sites, etc. I’d love to hear them!

I order online directly from Crane and it always arrives 2-3 days after I place the order. You can log into your account to see if it has shipped, although they usually send me a tracking number. And right now they have free shipping on orders over $75.

Thanks! Maybe I’ll give them another shot… it’s been a year, so maybe it’s improved. Or maybe I am just spoiled getting my paper so fast here from the Midwest Co’s I use!

I live closer to their shipping center than you do, so maybe I’m the one who is spoiled 🙂 Hopefully you have better luck this time.

I have been using a lot of Lettra directly from Crane, and it’s been arriving fairly quickly for me (I’m in Lawrence, KS), usually within 2 or 3 days. I can never find a tracking number when I log in to my account, but if I call, they don’t seem to mind giving it to me over the phone. Good luck!

I have been ordering sheets from Legion Paper, their pricing for me is better than Crane direct, but I usually order envelopes from Crane because that pricing is better than Legion.

Thanks Ladies!I just ordered some from Crane, so we’ll see how long it takes to get here. I worked with Legion many moons ago, so I’ll check them out as well.

i ordered lettra envelopes last monday from crane & co.they FINALLY arrived friday at 5:45pm. grrrrrrrrr.i hope you have better luck.

Keldonpaper.com out of LA is great for those of us on the west coast….and they’re cheaper than going directly through Crane.

While we’re on the Lettra topic, does anyone have a good trick for avoiding the cracking along the folded edge? I’ve tried scoring on one side (both the inner and outer), I’ve even scored on both sides before folding. I’m tempted to try lightly dampening the folded edge, or maybe running a thin line of wheat paste along the edge after folding, but I’m thinking there must be a better and more efficient way!To be honest, I’m not a big fan either – it’s like printing on a sponge, and looks salty unless I really over-ink. Has anyone found a good, affordable alternative that takes a deep impression?

Hello,I hear you on scoring; it’s a mess, and I’ve tried working it on both sides with no luck either way. I just don’t think it was meant for that. I’m not a deep impression kind of gal, but I do like the Gilbert Esse line that Neenah is selling; it has more of a squarish texture to it, but it’s a very affordable alternative to the cottons, and comes in smaller sizes. The only drag is that the texture is on one side, but it scores and performs beautifully with my handset type. There are also a few different shades to work with, including shimmery ones if you’re into that sort of thing. It’s not cotton, though, if that’s what you’re looking for.

i have never used Lettra…..does it have a grain direction like other papers? if so, folding it against the grain can cause cracking, scoring or not.

Good call… I’m not sure, but I’ll check the lot I have in the studio tomorrow. If it’s grained long, then I just did a project scoring with the grain and it cracked. But it could have been grained short… will check, for sure!

The only way to get halfway decent results with Lettra is to score it with the grain, which on the 22×30″ and 20×26″ sheets runs long (not sure about letter sizes, but testing will tell!). It seems to crack least when scored–hard–by hand with a bone folder, though I’ve had ok results with a scoring matrix (followed by a gentle bone-folding) as well.

I use lettra as my house paper and really like it. I might be wasting my time but I hand score with a fiskars 12″ trimmer and scoring blade set on. It creates a nice score/fold. If you don’t go with lettra though, Arturo has great pre-scored cards that I love too.

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