Cards & Swear Words!

We released our Spring line this past week! It is a colorful mix of note cards and a small print that are getting a great response so far! Both presses were used for the actual printing, which went quickly and surprisingly without any issues!

This is our "Ship In a Bottle" note card. It is an A2 size card printed in Navy Blue ink on 110lb Cranes Lettra paper.

This guy is also an A2 sized card. The Turquoise ink is printed on 110lb Cranes Letttra, whereas the Charcoal Grey is printed on 100lb Kraft Cover stock. The "You Got This" was hand drawn lettering we had made into a plate for printing.

This is our first small full color print we've made. The lettering for "Quit Slackin & Make Shit Happen" was taken from old type block designs and made into a printing plate.

And then we made these guys. A very simple concept, these are cream colored note cards that so subtly have "Go Fuck Yourself" pressed into them! The lettering was hand drawn and made into a printing plate, which we printed using our etching press for an intensely deep impression. Like 3-D deep! They are on a classic cream stationary paper and come in a set of 5 with matching envelopes!

Printing the "You Got This" cards on the Kelsey press. This turquoise we mixed up is my new favorite color.

The "Ship in a Bottle" plate locked up on the Kelsey press.

This is a picture of the Ship cards drying in our "Slinky Drying rack"! I swear I did not invent this idea. A Slinky is stretched along a piece of 2x4 and stapled into place, creating a drying rack that holds 70 pieces of paper or cards.

This image comes from a drawing I created and had made into a polymer plate for printing. Each of these guys come with a dark charcoal envelope from French Paper Mill.

We printed these using a process called "Split Fountain", in which the ink is bright green on one end of the brayer and dark teal on the other. They naturally blend in the middle to make a gradation. Each print has a slightly different color blend because they were each inked by hand one at a time!

Inking up the plate.

Drying Time

We achieved a nice deep impression on these using the etching press!

All of these new cards and our new print are available in our Etsy store. Check them out! We are already cooking up some new ideas for Summer!

CHRISTMAS IN OCTOBER!

This year being our 1st Christmas at Spofford Press we made Holiday Cards. We went with 3 different designs that all started as drawings. Once the drawings and the lettering were complete we had plates made to print the cards off of. We used Boxcar Press, a company that takes your drawings and designs and processes then into polymer plates. These plates are inked and printed in relief, the same as our engraving blocks and linocuts. Using plates instead of hand-carving blocks also allows for a deep impression in the paper: that heavy letterpress look we all love!

For the first card, we mixed a custom red ink. The traditional MERRY CHRISTMAS ornament design was printed using our etching press. The dark green branch was printed second, and then the radiating lines were blind debossed last. Each card went through the press 3 times, using 3 plates, one for each color.

Our second design was the snowflake card. We mixed a custom Silver oil-based ink with some fine mica, giving it a glittery shine! The silver design was printed 1st. We then printed all of the small snowflakes as a blind debossing. It added a fun element to the cards!

Our third design was the most fun! The Christmas lights cord was printed in the same custom dark green as the branch from the ornament card. This design trails onto the back of the card, where the strand of lights is plugged into a wall socket! The next color printed was the yellow for the light bulbs. We then printed a message inside of the card, which reads "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" in bright red.

Once all of the cards were dry and happy, the paper was scored and folded, corners were rounded out on the Snowflake card, and they were all packaged up with beautiful envelopes from French Paper Mill.