Letterpress Business Cards

Letterpress is one of the oldest forms of printmaking that dates back to the invention of moveable type in the 1400's. Instead of antique moveable type, we use a printing plate with a raised relief surface. This printing plate is inked up and pressed against a sheet of paper. This pressure also leaves a slight indentation, or impression into the paper.

Before the 1960's letterpress was the most popular form of printing. As times changed, offset printing and now digital printing have almost completely taken over. Letterpress is still greatly sought after for its unique ability to use Pantone spot colors and achieve deep impression into the paper. The old-world charm of letterpress has now become an essential process for creating embellishment in print.

Letterpress is a more labour intensive process compared to Digital and Offset printing and as such, is quoted as a premium service.

This specialty process creates the most elegant pieces – perfect for wedding invites, special occasion announcements and premium high end business cards.

Get a Glimpse of Jukebox Letterpress Printing In Action

Samples of our Letterpress products are available by ordering a Specialty Sample Pack.

The recommended stocks for Letterpress are the Cotton or Pulp paper stocks.

Cotton

Pulp

The following stocks are available for a standard order of letterpress business cards:

• 45pt Brown Kraft
• 40pt Cotton
• 20pt Cotton
• 20pt Pulp
• 16pt Pearl Silver

If you are interested in a paper stock that is not listed above, please request an inquiry via a Print Quote.

We offer the widest range of colours with Letterpress printing. Over 2,161 colors are available for you to choose from out of the Pantone Matching System! You can specify any CMYK value, or standard Pantone formula colour. We also have options for specialty inks in Fluorescent, Pastel and Metallic shades. To view available Pastel and Fluorescent options see:

Letterpress Pastel Colours

Letterpress Fluorescent Colours

We offer silver, gold, bronze, brass and copper for Metallic ink options.

Please note, if you require White or a specialty ink colour not listed as one of our regular options, you can submit a Print Quote request for pricing and availability.

We use the highest quality offset-grade inks on our Letterpress equipment. We house a full range of both rubber based and oil based inks to best suite your project.

See: What colours are available on Letterpress?

We can provide a wide range of custom pastel spot colors for Letterpress, including:

	Pantone 0131 U	Pastel Yellow
	Pantone 0331 U	Pastel Red
	Pantone 0521 U	Pastel Magenta
	Pantone 0631 U	Pastel Violet
	Pantone 0821 U	Pastel Blue
	Pantone 0921 U	Pastel Green
	Pantone 0961 U	Pastel Black

Colour samples are for reference only

We offer the full range of inks from the Pantone Plus Series Swatch Book which includes all the pastels and neon colors. Learn more about these specialty colors for Letterpress via a Print Quote.

Our range of fluorescent colours for Letterpress include:

	Pantone 801 U	Neon Cyan
	Pantone 802 U	Neon Green
	Pantone 803 U	Neon Yellow
	Pantone 804 U	Neon Orange
	Pantone 805 U	Neon Red
	Pantone 806 U	Neon Magenta
	Pantone 807 U	Neon Violet

Colour samples are for guidance only.

We can offer a wide range of custom colours for Letterpress via a Print Quote.

The finest detail for Letterpress output is 0.5pt line-weight.

Letterpress printing is a different process for printing. As it is an older form of printing, there are some restrictions on the design. Our Prepress team will inform you of any issues.

We have a wide range of products available with Letterpress output. The most popular uses for Letterpress include:

• Business Cards
• Wedding Invitations
• Posters

Please note, the largest size we can Letterpress is 12 x 18 inches.

Colours cannot be combined in the same way they are with Offset and Digital output.

Colours should be solid. Gradients, shades and colour combining can be done using colour half-tones, however this is not recommended. This is a complex process that a designer will need to set up for you.

Ink colours can be "overprinted" on to each other – however as we cannot test every ink colour, the combined colour can be somewhat unknown, so it is not a recommended setup.

Yes, Letterpress can be combined with other forms of printing such as CMYK Digital or Offset output. Please place a Print Quote request for this.

Letterpress is not just for printing letters and text – it can be used to print many kinds of graphics.

The name “Letterpress” is from a time when individual pieces of movable metal type (letters) were arranged and set for printing. Letterpress processes are now more advanced than this, we cast custom plates for each order which can be any combination of text, shapes and graphics.

Letterpress is the oldest of the major printing processes. It uses a plate with fixed raised surfaces and pressure to apply ink to the material. This pressure also leaves a slight indent (or relief) in the paper.

It is not a CMYK print like Digital or Offset output.

Letterpress is a more labour-intensive process (compared to Digital and Offset output), and hence premium and expensive service.

See: What is Letterpress?

Debossing makes use of two separate metal dies that come together with the sheet of paper inbetween them. The force of a press sandwiches the paper between these two dies and sculpts the paper with the effect of deep impression into the sheet. The reverse side of the paper will appear embossed while the front will appear debossed, or pressed in.

Blind letterpress uses a single metal die that presses into the surface of the paper on one side. It's called blind letterpress because this process is usually done with ink. Without the ink, all that is left is the impression into the surface of the paper stock.

Debossing is best for shaping larger areas where a greater level of depth is needed. However, the reverse side will be heavily affected.

Blind letterpress is ideal for small details on thicker paper stocks and looks best on soft cotton paper.

We can offer colour matching (and even Pantone colours) on Letterpress – however there still can be some minimal colour shift.

Yes, the amount of pressure used for letterpress products can be specified by adding a note during the order process. This will affect the impression left in the finished product. Please contact our Customer Service team to ensure that the note was received and to verify that it can be achieved.

Although there is a minimum level of pressure that has to be used, letterpress impressions cannot be very deep like the deboss method. For a more pronounced impression, you may want to consider a deboss or emboss order.

We can produce Letterpress prints with over twenty colours! However, there are some strict requirements for this type of process.

For designs that have more than three colours – a custom quote will need to be made. Please request a Print Quote and upload your print-ready file for review. An estimator will assess your design and will notify you of any limitations or design challenges.

For standard orders of single or double sided letterpress business cards, we accept a maximum of three spot colours (or "passes"). We call it a "pass" because a letterpress can only print one color at a time so printing a second or third color means the paper needs to "pass" through the press again. Below is a breakdown of the variations:

1 pass

• 1 colour one side only

2 passes

• 1 colour front side, 1 colour back side OR
• 2 colours one side only

3 passes

• 2 colours front side, 1 colour back side OR
• 3 colours one side only

The use of the same ink-colour on both sides of the card is counted as two separate passes. For example, if the colour black is used on both sides of the card and magenta is used on the front side only, it would be considered as a three colour letterpress business card.