Guerrilla by Design
I had the pleasure of printing some promotional postcards for Guerrilla by Design an upcoming exhibition of furniture designers in Minneapolis. If you happen to be in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area August 10-12 this is something you’re definitely going to want to check out.
Resources
Underneath every good design is a frame work of high quality resources. We here at Pig & Weasel use only the finest paper, ink, and printing plates. While it is admirable to use the best, we also believe we should go the extra mile and use suppliers that are part of our community.
Take paper for example. We use the best of the best: our business cards hail from Holyoke Paper based in Holyoke, MA and other prints are made on Crane Lettra from the Wisconsin-based Neenah Paper.
When it comes to photo-sensitive polymer plates used in the printing process, we chose the good folks at SmartSet in Minneapolis, MN.
This is just another way that choosing to do business with Pig & Weasel ensures you will get the best possible print.
Blind Embossment with Ink…
I’m just finishing up printing this sweet little card for omformedesign.com.
Challenges
Every now and then, we run into technical challenges that seem like they should be easy to solve. However, in reality, it is never that simple. That’s been the case with this ultra-minimal black card stock business card that’s been on the work table for the last week. The design is simple, crisp, and easy enough to print, but making the card stock obey has been a distinct challenge. First it wasn’t heavy enough to take a good blind impression, so it has been duplexed by gluing an additional backing sheet. Next, the soft and supple nature of the card stock has yielded to every single object that has come into contact with it. Finally, the ultra-thickness (it is now thicker than most matboards) means each card must be individually trimmed.
Time to take a deep breath and get back to the labor of love which is letterpress.
Letterpress Promotional Postcards
While doing my usual cup of coffee and blog roll this morning, I came across these remarkable promotional cards from Glasgow Press. What’s not to love about beautiful typography combined with clean and crisp letterpress printing?
Why Letterpress?
A number of folks have inquired about our printing services and why they are better than using an over-night discount printing service. The answer to that question really brings up a few of the core beliefs of Pig & Weasel Press: quality and tradition. A letterpress business card is an object that has been precisely made by hand. We don’t use a giant automated offset printing press. Instead, each card comes from a plate that has been hand-inked on a press that is hand operated.
Its a slow process, but it is one that allows us to monitor every step of the production process. As a result, when you order a stack of business cards or invitations from us you end up with a a distinctive, hand-made and memorable product.
Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum
One of the best things about being located in Northeastern Wisconsin is being just up the road from the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum. It is an absolutely amazing place for anyone that loves letterpress. Actually, it is an amazing place just for the intermingling smells of a woodshop and a printshop… all that ink! Scattered throughout the museum are fully functional presses in all shapes and sizes. If you happen to be in Wisconsin I highly recommend you make a stop in Two Rivers to check it out.
Metal Type
Although most of the work we at Pig & Weasel print is laid-out digitally, we have a growing library of metal type. If your design demands Gutenberg-like authenticity or you just like the quirks of metal type, we’ve got you covered. Aside from a huge font of Helvetica, we also have Cooper Black and Sans-Serif. Yum.
The Magic of Pantone
One of the major challenges of running a small letterpress operation is color management. How does one ensure color consistency from the client’s files to the press bed? To answer that question, we at Pig & Weasel use only the latest and greatest Pantone Color Guide. By chosing Pantone colors, we can ensure that the perfect robin’s egg blue you chose for your invitations doesn’t turn out like a rasty periwinkle.