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Frequently Asked Questions:
1. What is letterpress anyway?
2. How is letterpress different than regular printing?
3. What kind of wingnuts print letterpress nowadays?
4. What does "hand-set type" mean?
5. Does it take a long time to set type?
6. How can you read the type when you're setting it if it's backwards?
7. What is a "zine"?
8. How long have you been printing?
9. Where do you get all those fancy papers you use in your cards?
10. Do you use any recycled paper?
11. Can I find your cards in my neighborhood gift or card shop?
12. I'm a retail establishment. How can I carry your cards in my store?
13. Can I get my website listed on your links
page ?
14. Why don't you have prices for your custom work on the website?
15. What information do you need in order to give me a quote on invitations?
16. How long does it take you to print wedding invitations?
1. What is letterpress anyway?
Letterpress is a relief process where surfaces with backward versions of the text or image in question are inked and impressed into paper (or more often than not, the paper is pressed into the text). Click here for a link to more letterpress information.
2. How is letterpress different than regular printing?
Almost all contemporary books, magazines, and newspapers are printed via offset lithography, where a chemically sensitive plate offsets the image backwards onto a metal cylinder, which then prints forward onto the paper. An automatic feeder puts the paper into the press, up to thousands of copies a minute. Letterpresses, on the other hand, are often not motorized and often hand-fed. The big difference, though, is that the image or text is printed from a RAISED SURFACE, rather than a flat, chemically treated plate. You can feel this difference in the printed surface, where the printed image or text is debossed into the paper.
3. What kind of wingnuts print letterpress nowadays?
There are many hobby printers with small printshops in garages or basements. Often they have been printing for a number of decades and are old enough to have taken letterpress printing as a vocational class in high school or even worked in a pressroom before the advent of offset lithography. The book arts and fine press communities often have letterpress printers in their ranks. Some neo-Luddites and Arts & Crafts era buffs use letterpress. There's also been a resurgence of interest in letterpress within young alternative folks looking to preserve this esoteric art form.
4. What does "hand-set type" mean?
It mean that the type is set letter by letter into a metal "composing stick." After the text is printed, each letter can be distributed back into the case and reused. Alternatives to this method are linotypes and polymer plate. With a linotype machine, each line of type is cast as one unit, and must be melted down after use in order to be reused. Most contemporary letterpress printers lay their text out on a computer and from that file etch a photosensitive polymer plate. This is still considered letterpress, although once the plate is used, if the printer has no future use for the same text, the non-recyclable plate is thrown away. We at Crafty Cards use hand-set type almost exclusively, employing polymer plates only for custom text work and some image printing.
5. Does it take a long time to set type?
Yeah, we'd say so. But it takes a long time to do a lot of things, doesn't it?
6. How can you read the type when you're setting it if it's backwards?
Trust us, you get used to it.
7. What is a "zine"?
"Zine" is pronounced like what it is--- the last syllable of "magazine." It's a term ascribed to any small press publication usually with a small budget and published by one person or a small collective. An exact definition is hard to pin down. Zines are often produced with copy machines or offset printing and occasionally through more artsy means like letterpress and screenprinting. They are usually self-published in small editions and can be about any topics you can think of (and even some you can't imagine).
8. How long have you been printing?
Since 1994.
9. Where do you get all those fancy papers you use in your cards?
Our specialty papers come from a few different sources, but many of the beautiful printed papers are from Japan, usually purchased directly from the people who import them. One of our suppliers even goes back to Japan from time to time to get the highest quality papers.
10. Do you use any recycled paper?
All of our cardstock is made from
at least partially recycled paper, and so are the envelopes.
We are very excited about the green cardstock we use because
it is made of 100% post-consumer fibers. If you are interested
in using recycled paper in your custom order, please let us
know and we'll suggest some sources for you to check out to
help you make your decisions.
11. Can I find your cards in my neighborhood gift or card shop?
Right now, Crafty Cards can be
found in select card shops and book stores in the San Francisco
Bay Area, San Diego County, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington
State. If you want to see our cards in your favorite shop or
boutique, feel free to pass our information on to the store's
buyer or local sales rep. Artisans and craftspeople often rely
on their satisfied customers to get the word out.
12. I'm a retail establishment. How can I carry your cards in my store?
Wholesale orders are not done through the online store, although it can be used for style number reference. If your area has a local sales rep who carries handmade greeting card lines, please tell him or her about our cards. Alternately, you can look through our online catalog, note which styles you would like to order, and then email us for a wholesale order form and price sheet, which we can email or fax to you.
13. Can I get my website listed on your links
page?
There isn't much rhyme or reason
as to who I list on my links page. It's usually my friends or
things I think people might be interested in looking at. I don't
trade links though. I just put things up as I think of them.
14. Why don't you have prices for your custom work on the website?
Custom work varies so widely, and
so do the prices. Some letterpress websites include custom pricing
when they have specific products in which the style does not
vary, only the words and names themselves. At Crafty Cards,
all of our custom work is different, so it is only after getting
the details on the work, materials, and time schedule involved
that we can issue a quote. If you are local and would like to
have a meeting to discuss your design, please email or call
to make an appointment.
15. What information do you need in order to give me a quote on
invitations?
In your preliminary email or phone
message, you should indicate what you want printed (invitations?
announcements? reply cards? programs? etc.) and how many. Let
us know if there is a specific paper you have in mind, and if
you will need a custom typeface or graphic. And last but not
least, please let us know your wedding date so we can figure
out what time schedule we're working under.
16. How long does it take you to print wedding invitations?
Again, it all depends on how complicated
the job is, as well as how many other projects we're working
on. Many people get married in the summer and fall, so we are
often swamped with work around that time and have a hard time
squeezing in rush jobs. Usually there's a four to six week turnaround
time starting from the point when we have a deposit and all
information including the finalized text, layout, and materials.
However, it is always best to allow for extra time, especially
during the busiest invitation seasons, namely February through
August. Often during peak months, the turnaround time is longer
because we have so many invitation projects we're working on
simultaneously.
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