Peter and Donna Thomas in Santa Cruz also make their own paper for letterpress printing. They sometimes host papermaking classes too!Peter ends his classes with a cute ukelele concert, well worth the price of admission alone to hear him strum and sing about tiny type.

You can also double-ink the press if the quantity you’re printing isn’t too high.Good to note the addition of silver; I’ve letterpress printed PMS 877 Silver by first printing in opaque white, then doing a second pass with the silver ink. The opaque white seals the sheet and acts as a good primer for the silver to really stand out. Note that this…[Read more]

I second the French Paper recommendation — they have great colors to choose from, which is nice if your client’s after something beyond white. All of the French papers are smoother than Lettra and have a hard finish.Mohawk makes several beautiful 110 lb. papers — Superfine is a favorite for clients who want something smoother than Lettra; the…[Read more]

Hi Ondine! I always print on oversize press sheets when bleeds are involved, and trim down to final afterward. Allow an 1/8″ bleed and print with crop marks (offset the crop marks to avoid entering the live art area). This is standard practice in print. HTH, Lars.  

Sorry to chime in a bit late here… We offset Lettra 110 lb. frequently, often in combination with letterpress on one or both sides. The old Lettra formulation (before the line was bought out and reformulated) was difficult for offset — we had to clean the press blankets every 50 sheets due to linting. Now the paper’s changed significantly…[Read more]

Ditto to the two replies above (disengage the finger that rotates the disc) + add transparent base in between the two colors. This helps extend the hue of the original colors and prevents them from mixing too quickly. On some presses there are little separators that you can add to help prevent the colors from mixing as well — see the attached…[Read more]

Glad you found the right fit 🙂 Happy printing!

We produce and use all three plate types here (KF95, KF152, and KM152). I prefer the KF95 (standard relief Boxcar-style plate) for the Heidelberg Windmill because it’s easiest to use, and I really like the gridded Boxcar bases. It makes positioning a snap. Plus, I don’t have to worry about plates shifting during a press run or curling when being…[Read more]

Not sure if this is too late, but you might want to contact the Hicks Brothers. We also have a Universal III and they fixed it up and moved it into our shop… they are the moving experts! (415) 575-0933. Lars.

We use Quickbooks Pro. You can create (and email for paperless transactions): estimates, invoices, statements, enter vendor bills as well as accept payments from clients. Whips up income and expense reports in seconds, which is nice too. We use the QB integrated credit card processing. It’s pricey though, and Amex costs extra.  

I mix onto coated cover paper, leftover from an offset print run. I zero out the triple beam scale each time I mix ink, with the paper sitting on the left side of the scale. There’s no clean up needed after 🙂

Hi Dark Stamper, There are a coupla ways to look at it: – You can simply move the base up a few picas to avoid the gauge pins on your press. – You can also contact a local machinist and have them make a simple smaller base for you out of aluminum. We’ve done this for our large Heidelberg KS cylinder press, which takes a much larger base size th…[Read more]

I also use a triple-beam balance scale, and use the gram measurements offered on the right side of each swatch in the Pantone Solid Uncoated swatchbook. Here’s a little conversion guide I use when mixing ink; I convert ounces to grams for the most accuracy: 

• 1 oz = 28.57 g (rarely use unless I’m printing in the thousands, or want to mix enough f…

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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…[Read more]

Hi Pilar,Metallic inks are always oil-based, and it’s necessary to overprint using oil-based inks (nor rubber). Rubber-based inks also dry by absorption — not oxidation like oil-based inks — so the two don’t play together well. If you remember this in your next run you should be good to go!Lars.

I’d recommend purchasing the 6 x 9″ base — it’s a workhorse here at Logos Graphics. I would not cut it in half as you’ll most likely lose the “squareness” of either side of the cut.As far as your gauge pins, I’d add furniture at the bottom of your chase to prevent them from hitting your base. Or, you can simply cut away the area where the gauge…[Read more]