We wanted to share a few snapshots of a variety of edge colored cards from business cards to stationery and wedding invitations. We think its a great way to add a touch of color to your letterpress project. Almost any color can be painted on the edge of your cards from light pastels to bright neons and even dark colors like purple and black. Metallic colors can also be painted on the edges like the silver and gold metallic cards shown below. We can even match the edge color to the colors printed on your cards or stationery.

It seems that a majority of business cards fall into two categories: simple cards that look like they were punched out on a 1950’s era typewriter or flashy gloss-coated cards that blind you with colors and graphics. Once I was given a dark purple business card with navy blue text. The lack of contrast between the purple and blue made it almost impossible to read the contact information. The key to a great business card is to strike a balance between the two by creating a simple and refined look and sweetening it up with some color (something these letterpress business cards accomplish).

Two colors (cotton candy pink and dark gray) add some punch to these letterpress business cards. The serifed font is classic, elegant, and readable even in small print. Legibility is one of the most important things to consider when designing your business cards.

Just the facts
Designed by: Dolce Press
Stock: 110# fluorescent white cotton paper (Crane’s Lettra)
Size: 3.5″ x 2″
Ink Colors: pink, medium gray (custom mixed – by hand)

Lastly, we’re suckers for anything sweet so if you’re ever near the lower east side of Manhattan go check out the How Sweet It Is pastry shop. You won’t be disappointed!

I’ve been sick recently and haven’t been able to share these beautiful letterpress invitations with you. Being sick, I’ve had more time to keep dreaming of the wonderful details on these invitations that I helped photograph several weeks ago.

Aren’t the details so cute? Sophie Nicolay, who designs for Martha Stewart, created this invite for Daniel and Jessica. I love the little icons which make up the heart – they represent meaningful things to the couple.

The wonderful thing about working with a designer and a custom letterpress company like Dolce Press is not just the quality but all the meaningful little details. I think invitations, particularly from important events in ones life are things people save for a long time, I know I do. Long after I have lost or used the favors, cannot recognize half the friends in the photos, I have a carefully saved stash of graduation, bar/bat mitzvah, and wedding invitations mixed in with special birthday and holiday cards. And the best ones evoke the people themselves at that stage in their lives.

Look at the little chicken and vegetable, so cute and thoughtful!

I love the embossing that happens, it makes a great design pop! Cute, modern and thoughtful, combines with classic and enduring quality. This is why letterpress is the best; what letterpress does for ink and paper to make them so much more together.

For multi-event/ multi-part invitations, a booklet invitation like this one bound with eyelets are the perfect fit. They keep all the parts of the invite together in a nice little packet. The RSVP is perforated and tears off to be mailed in a standard A2 envelope. Don’t you love it? We do.

Check out a previous Dolce Press design to see another invitation in this fabulous format – Celebrate Invitation Booklets.

Just the facts
Designer: Sophie Nicolay
Stock: 110# pearl white cotton paper (Crane’s Lettra)
Size: A9 – paired with a pink A9 envelope
Ink Colors: pink, chocolate brown (custom mixed – by hand)
Finishing: 3 pages, creased to allow for folding, 2 brown (matching ink) eyelets used to bind the booklet

Hello All! My name is Rose and I am Dolce Press’s new intern. I am going to be posting about twice a week so you can look forward to plenty of new updates. Tell me you are not excited to see more exquisite work and explore more about the fascinating process of letterpress.

To tell you a little about myself, I am finishing up a Studio Arts BFA degree at SUNY Oswego. I love all kinds of art but have always been particularly attracted to printmaking. I love all sorts of mediums and styles, and papers and books of all kinds. I like the musty smell of used bookstores; I gaze slack jawed and not quite drooling in my local art supply store. But what attracts me to printmaking particularly is a combination of aesthetics, its mix of old fashioned craftsmanship and state of the art technology, and the deeply satisfying gift of being both hand-crafted and replicable. I love the feel of the good heavy paper and the bite of the inked plate as it comes off the sheet.

In my studies, I have worked with a lot of different printmaking techniques but not letterpress. Despite quite a few contemporary printers, including Dolce Press, making some really outstanding work both commercially and artwise, a lot of art departments have lost the ability to teach the method. So I would like to share with you my journey in learning all about letterpress and the beautiful things it does on paper.

Ta Ta For Now, Rose

We’re doing a very early spring cleaning at Dolce Press.  We have decided to sell 3 tabletop presses to make some room.  We love our presses but since they are not being used here at Dolce, we figured we would sell them to someone who wants to put them to use to create beautiful prints.
The 3 presses we have are:

1. Chandler and Price Pilot (6.5 x 10) – includes chase, 2 brand new rubber rollers, 4 delrin trucks, some furniture ($1800 obo)

2. Sigwalt #5 (6 x 9) – includes chase, some furniture ($1200 obo)

3. Master (6 x 9) – no chase, some furniture ($600 obo)…Book Press in picture is NOT for sale.

Inquiries and offers can be emailed to press4sale{at}dolcepress{dot}com.
All of our presses will be for PICK UP only.  You can pick them up in either Ithaca, NY or Bohemia, NY.

The use of the 220lb cotton paper is best when pressing the negative space to allow for maximum impression and leaves more of the paper to be raised.

This card has a personal touch. The design that was printed as a blind impression was created by Ashleigh Tucker showing us her awesome talents in knitwear design.

Ashleigh’s  card was printed on 110lb cotton paper (our house stock) with clear and black ink.

The cards are a half inch wider than the standard business cards, the reason being that we wanted to capture all the details in each letter of his logo.  I initially had doubts about whether or not the fine details would resolve but once we started printing these up, the doubts disappeared.  The cards are printed on 134lb Cranes Palette in navy with silver and transparent white ink.

Seeing as we have not posted in a while, I knew the next post had to blow everyone away!

Kelly and Steve are getting married in Canada this fall in this breathtakingly beautiful hotel and wanted to have their invitations reflect the whole experience.  Using colors reminiscent of  fall; chocolate brown, ivory and copper, we created a beautiful invitation suite using the printing method of  foil stamping.

Foils come in a variety of finishes including shiny, matte, and holographic.  It is also a great way to show light colors on dark stock such as the white text on the cotton chocolate paper shown below. Unlike our letterpress printed pieces we do not give it much impression.  A light impression is best when it comes to foil.

I think the coolest part of this invite suite is how the design on the envelope carries over on the flap giving your guests a wonderful first impression.

These are some funky business cards we printed for John @ John Waire Photography. The cards are super thick, printed on 600gsm off-white cotton paper, using a combination of transparent white, medium gray, and kermit the frog green inks.

Our photos do a good job showing the cards from almost every angle but we aren’t photographers by any definition (except maybe the amateur one). John did a much better job of capturing the beauty of these cards, I especially like this photo he took:

Take a look at a great series of photos called the “Daily Dose O’Mady“  for some real candid shots taken by John on his blog!

The latte ink we used to print these letterpress business cards for photographer Sarah Kate was the perfect color. With all of the custom inks we mix everyday (almost every color we print is mixed by hand), this is one we just haven’t tried before. Its especially nice when printed with chocolate brown (the color of the text) to provide contrast. The thick cotton paper used means that the white space in between the lines of the logo as well as the distressed parts of the lines are puffed up. When you run your hands over the design you can feel the texture.

Small text is more difficult to print, especially 6pt text, since the counters will fill in if you’re rollers aren’t set properly. Thankfully, the chocolate colored text has minimal ink coverage allowing it all to be printed in a single pass. Choosing the right font is critical as well, some fonts just don’t work when shrunk down.