While I don’t print so much anymore, I design invites from time to time and I offer letterpress/digital printing combos to brides who want to save a little bit of money. The color matching is a bit of a pain, especially if it’s running on digital and not offset where you can specify the Pantone color to match. I recently did a job where the bride wanted letterpress invites and digital printed RSVP/info cards, I had the digital printer print me a special swatch sample page on the digital Lettra I intended to print on and I found a close match to the letterpress prints, only to get a call from the printer that said “um, these are printing grayish-purple” — I was trying to match a coppery/gold color. My bride was flexible and we were able to switch to the closest paper we could get to the Lettra.

My advice is…find a few local printers you can trust, make sure you let them know you’re trying to match to a letterpress print and provide them with a sample of what you’re trying to match (that’s what saved me!) and CYA by mentioning that the color match may not be exact, like Val said above.

Good luck! 🙂

Thanks Dondrea! I was hoping it was this process, but I wanted to be sure before I charged to little and ended up with a ton of work on my plate! 🙂

Hey Liz,

 

Congrats on your pregnancy! I didn’t read through all of this other thread, but I know this has been something that’s been covered in the past on LofL…if my memory serves me correctly, there was a discussion about being pregnant and what chemicals other ladies used:

 

http://ladiesofletterpress.ning.com/forum/topics/press-wash-suggestions

i’d be interested in specifics if you decide to start one up…let me know!

 

Kristina

Hi Jen!

 

Just sent you a friend request, so I could send you a message. I’m definitely interested, because my bride definitely wants the Savoy paper for sure! I got a few samples of the envelopes from Reich…and I’m seeing that these are definitely unique envelopes…the flap sits a little higher than what I’m used to seeing. I’d love to discuss the possibility of you cutting these for me! I have time…the wedding is in September and I’ll be printing these next week. Looking forward to chatting with you! 🙂

so the paper source templates are a good match for lettra envelopes?

i’m interested in hearing what folks say about this…i have a golding jobber #6 that does a little shudder when i have her up and running…i’ve always noticed it but never thought much of it. i hope it’s not a serious issue! i haven’t been printing at all on my press, but i’d like to get it worked out before i get into printing with it…great question, davina! 🙂

when my press lived in my former home (a townhouse i rented with wood floors), i was very concerned about the damage it could potential cause and the money i would be charged for said damage. i knew i wanted to have a metal tray constructed for it, so i contacted a local sheet metal company to fabricate one for me…they did a fabulous job…creating me a big enough metal tray with three lipped edges (I did find that the edges were sharp and i went to the local auto parts store and bought some of that rubber stuff you put on the edges of your car doors to prevent damage if you were to open the door and hit the car next to you). below my metal tray, i have a piece of plywood cut to that exact size so you can’t even tell it’s there. when i moved, there was zero damage to the hardwood…plus it allowed me to be a little messy with my oiling of the press! good luck!

this might go without saying, but be sure to check with the individual font foundries…not all are the same. i’m not sure if microsoft’s website will have further information about calibri specifically, but i know the ‘font czar’ at my day job has an entire binder of all the different foundries and their licensing…good luck in your search! 🙂

Hi Emily,I’ve been reading a really great book, “The Designer’s Guide To Marketing And Pricing: How To Win Clients And What To Charge Them”, it’s a recently published book (I think in ’08) and I’ve found it very helpful in determining how much to charge clients for custom design services.This book has a few worksheet-type pages where you breakdown the costs associated with running your own business, including overhead, your salary, making a profit, etc. I’m completely new to the custom design/letterpress business, so having this as a guide is helpful. The thing that’s stressed in this book is not to charge an hourly rate, rather figure out how much time the project will take you and name your price, but it does help you figure out your hourly rate so you have it to figure out how much to charge!It’s also got information about contracts, marketing and whatnot that could prove to be helpful…the one thing I like about it too is you can pick and choose what you want to read about and jump right to that chapter and not be completely lost!Good luck!Kristinahttp://www.amazon.com/Designers-Guide-Marketing-Pricing-Clients/dp/1600610080/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252691150&sr=8-1

I am also looking for suggestions for a press and roller wash. My rollers are composition, from Tarheel Roller. I’d like to use something other than kerosene as Tarheel and the ‘old-time’ printer that’s been helping me out have suggested I use.I was going to use California Wash, until I found out that it’s not good for the composition, but I think I might still get it to clean my ink disc and photopolymer plates. Can anyone suggest a healthy-as-possible roller wash for composition rollers?Thanks for your help in advance!

Hi Christie,I’m no expert, but all of the folks I talked with when I began my search said the C&P Pilot was an excellent starter press. The unfortunate drawback is that they?re in very high demand, so if you can find one, they?re ridiculously expensive! I recall seeing one on eBay recently?completely restored and beautiful, for a couple thousand dollars! Ouch!To add to Jessica?s suggestion to check briarpress.com?s classifieds, I?d also post a ?Wanted? ad on that site once you determine one, or a few models you?d be interested in?I did that and said I was interested in either a C&P Pilot or a Golding Pearl and I received responses within a matter of hours, and had the deposit check in the mail for my press (I opted for the Golding Pearl) in a matter of days!Also, I?d suggest keeping an eye out for auctions and a great site is auctionzip.com, you can search for keywords to weed through all the different options. This was my first attempt at getting a press, at an auction near my grandparents house in New York, unfortunately I wasn?t the only one at the auction eyeing up the presses they had and I didn?t win either of the ones they had there (I had to tie myself down to a limit of what I wanted to spend, the Pearl the had went for pretty cheap, but the Pilot went for a lot more) but it allowed me to get a look at the press, to see what kind of shape it was in (although, I?d have to say that was one of the drawbacks as well?I could see that there were no welds, breaks, rust, etc. on the press, I just didn?t know if all the parts were there! I would have gone higher on them had I known they were complete and in working order)These were just some personal experiences I?ve had in my search?I?m a newbie myself :o)Best of luck!

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