Dolce Press has always done their part to be green but now we have taken it one step further. I find there is so much wasted paper here in the studio so we have decided to use the left over paper and make mini cards. These mini cards are 3 inches wide by 1 inch tall. Despite their size they will make a huge impact (and besides, they are so cute) when letterpress printed.

For a limited time, we are offering special pricing on these mini cards:
200 cards - $100
500 cards - $200

Please feel free to contact us by phone or email if you would like to place an order.

This is a set of 36pt and 54pt sans serif lead type (caps only) that we are selling. We are quickly running out of space in the studio and would be happy to see this type go to a good home.

In the upcomming weeks we will be posting more type and letterpress accessories for sale which includes individual cases, type ranging in size from 8pt to 72pt+, and several type cabinets. In addition to the lead type, we have a full cabinet of wood type ranging from 2″ to 10″+ in size. If you are interested in purchasing any of this, contact us directly via phone or email. We will be posting the items bit by bit to a special section of the blog, which you can access here: Letterpress Stuff For Sale.

This is a letterpress graduation announcement we printed recently for a local Ithaca College student. The design features a simple anchor printed in navy blue (which you may recognize from our wedding invitation line in our product catalog) and a nice script font also printed in blue on textured 100% cotton paper. The paper and the simplicity of the design gave the invitation a special look and feel which is just what the soon-to-be college graduate wanted. To add a little bit extra, we printed the anchor on the navy blue envelope in silver ink which gave it a nice shimmer. Here is a close shot of the invitaiton which shows the  anchor and script text:

This was a fun project to work on, sort of like a mini-wedding invite, and was a nice break from our busy print queue of business cards and wedding invitations. In addition to letterpress wedding invitations, we have printed letterpress baby announcements (more on this to come soon), graduation announcements, anniversary parties invitation, and many more. We’re so happy to bring the craft and style of letterpress to all of these events.

We have been busy today printing a lot of business cards for a startup publication, Knack. Their cards aren’t done yet so we’ll post more specifically about the cards once they are. Until then here are some pictures of the back of the cards:

What this post is really about is bulk business cards orders. We have had a lot of inquiries lately about ordering multiple sets of business cards and we are happy to announce a special promotion that will be running from June 18th all the way through July 18th 2008.

5% discount (2-5 Sets)
10% discount (6-10 Sets)
15% discount (11+ Sets)

Please contact us for special pricing on bulk orders.

We’ve been on a wedding kick as of late and so when close friends of ours told us they were getting married we couldn’t resist letterpress printing their wedding invitation set. They wanted something that was simple and reminiscent of summer as they are getting married in Mexico this August.

The dandelion was printed in strawberry ink on the invite and reply card and in chocolate brown ink on the invitation envelope. Printing on the envelope is yet another way to make the invitation stand out among regular mail and has been a popular choice lately.

We have a special place in our heart for wedding invitations. These invitations, which we designed and printed, features a retro flower and vine design that is carried throughout the set.

The centerpiece of the set is the invitation which is a flat A7 card letterpress printed on 220# cotton paper in turquoise and brown ink. The chocolate brown invite envelope has the return address and vine design printed in turquoise ink. The insert which contains information on the wedding website and registry, highlights the retro flower design and unique typography.

The vine design was originally photographed in this post on Impression Depth. Caroline really liked the vine design but also wanted flowers and a second color on the invitation and thus the retro flower and vine design was born. We really like how the vines and flowers intertwine and curve around the body text. The bride and groom’s names are accented in turquoise ink and the same unique typeface.

We hope everyone enjoys these wedding invitations as much as we do! For more information on our custom letterpress printed wedding invitations, please feel free to contact us.

We have been working on several letterpress stationery sets recently and wanted to share some pictures of one of the sets - we originally posted about our Custom Personalized Stationery in January.

The set contains letterpress printed A2 flat cards with a pointed flap envelope and matching liner. The great thing about our stationery box set is that everything can be customized from the design, the paper, the envelope color and the liner. All of our stationery sets are packaged in a wooden box or tin. Here are some more shots of the envelope and card:

For more information on our custom letterpress printed stationery sets please feel free to contact us.

Grace and Arthur contacted us because they wanted a classic invitation to compliment their wedding, so we put together a simple yet elegant design. The invite features a monogram in chartreuse and text in gold ink letterpress printed on cotton paper, wrapped with a matching ribbon and mounted on stardream paper. The combination of textures on the invitation between the ribbon, the letterpress design, and the stardream paper give it a unique look and feel which we love.

The addresses on the invite and RSVP envelope were wax printed and the invite envelope was lined with a chartreuse swirl vine design which brought a little extra flair to the invitation set. The RSVP card was letterpress printed on the same cotton paper using gold ink which matched the shimmer of the stardream paper used on the invitation.

The last unique part of this invitation set are the custom pink pineapple wax seals with adhesive backs. They are a great way to bring extra flair to your wedding invitations. We are now offering custom wax seals in any size, PMS color, and design for invitations, announcements, stationery, or for whatever your want. We can even go as far as scenting them. More details on the wax seals will follow shortly. For more information, please feel free to contact us.

The Internet Archive website has a great selection of historical documents and videos, one of which we have highlighted previously on the blog (How to use a composing stick). We just came across this video which is part of a series of vocational films made in 1947. The movie covers the opportunities and training available in the field of printing and highlights hand typesetting, linotype, monotype, display, make-up and layout.

Letterpress isn’t all about cast iron presses, in fact there are a wide variety of machines out there. A while back we wrote about a new Adana press that was being manufactured in Japan. So when we came across pictures of this plywood press made by a machinist (Chris Vanderbroeck) from Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1960 we had to share them with you.

The press was built around a Kelsey 5×8 chase and is constructed primarily from plywood and readily available hardware with specific parts machined from masonite and aluminum. Surprisingly, plywood is incredibly strong and has held up over the years although some of the adhesive in the plywood has begun to deteriorate.

The press has some great features including custom built tympan bales and a specially constructed clip which holds the chase in place. If you’ve ever used or taken apart a press like this you can understand the complexity and precision involved in making a press like this. This is certainly a one-of-a-kind machine that demonstrates the craftsmanship of the machinist who made it.

Here are some more pictures of the press: