My letterpress printing journey (so far)
/Embarking on the world of letterpress printing has been a major event in my small business journey. With my personal experience I have had wins and roadblocks as I’ve moved from discovering that the craft of letterpress printing exists, to today as I continue to develop my letterpress skills. But for those who don’t know, here is a brief history of my letterpress journey (so far).
2019 - Realizing the Dream
It is very rare that I’ve heard of a journey that doesn’t involve someone designing and printing their own wedding invitations in some capacity. Although I it was my intro to graphic design and I learned how to use the programs that go along with it for my own 2018 wedding, that wasn’t my introduction to letterpress printing.
It was however the reason I began creating wedding invitations and in March of 2019 made Naebr Design a real, official business (as far as the Ontario government was concerned), and began designing the products that started it all.
It was with this new deep dive into the ins and outs of wedding stationery that I first discovered letterpress printing. It kept popping up when I was researching printing methods: you’ve got the standard, digital printing which is cost effective and used widely for invitations. Foil printing was pretty self-explanatory, but this third method was new to me. I fell in love with the analogue nature of it all. I love a good antique machine, regardless of it’s function, and seeing old presses smash ink onto paper to create delicate florals and luxurious wedding invitations was astounding to me.
2021 - Introduction to Letterpress
In December of 2020 I took a chance on an online course being advertised by Britt Rohr. An established print shop owner herself with a studio based out of California, Britt was producing a full video course teaching others the basics of letterpress printing- from sourcing shop supplies, designing for letterpress, and the basics of each press type to name a few of the course offerings. In March 2021 the course went live and I was able to dive into watching the many hours of course material, taking pages of notes as I went.
The quest for a press
After finishing Britt’s course and having a very good understanding of not only the different types of presses, but also the one that would be the best fit for me and my space, I began searching for a press of my own. A listing on Briar Press (a very niche letterpress forum that is very well-known within the printing world) led me to reach out to a fellow printer named Alan, who had a small floor model press available in Kingston, Ontario.
After getting some more details from Alan about the condition of the press- which unfortunately included learning that it was located in a basement (why are they always in a basement?) - I made all of the necessary plans to pick up the press at the end of May. We needed to rent a motorized dolly that could lift the 700lb press up the stairs at his place as well as the stone steps leading up to the door at our own house. Other than getting the rental sorted and a truck borrowed, we were ready to go and pick him up!
Chuck already had a space in my office, and over the next little while I acquired the tools and materials I needed to be able to print my first things. The very first thing that I did was typeset a Charles Dickens quote and print it in a (very predictable) teal colour. The type was upside down and backwards in my composing stick from what it should have been, I misused a ‘d’ instead of a ‘b’ that needed to be changed out, and I had too much impression, but it was the first and best thing I had ever printed up until that point and I was hooked.
Luckily Chuck, as he was later named, didn’t have any real work to be done other than a good dusting and finding a piece of wood that could be used as a feed table since he didn’t have one. I did get a bolt stuck for a good number of days before it could be removed, but other than that everything went smoothly in Chuck’s makeover.
2022 - Evolving Creatively and Business(ly)
The summer of 2022 was my first big push to bring physical products into my repertoire and bring my business online. September of that year had a lot of firsts- my first market, my first year taking a full leave from my teaching career, and my first attempt at creating a product that wasn’t wedding invitations. I worked that summer to design 7 greeting cards, 12 notecards, and 3 art prints, and raced the week before the market to have everything ready to sell. The market had a good turnout, and I made what I considered to be a lot of sales- especially for someone who hadn’t made many before. It gave me the confidence I needed to know that what I was selling had value and that my few designs were on the right track to meet what customers were looking for.
2023 - Evergrowing
After what felt like testing the product waters in 2022, 2023 was for continuing to build my foundation, develop more products, and expand my audience so that I could share my stationery across a wider audience.
In February I applied for the Haliburton Art and Craft Festival, and when I got my acceptance the next month I knew that it was go time. It was nice to have the very strict deadline to work towards, and since it would be my first multi-day and outdoor market there were a lot of things to prepare for ahead of time. Anyone who knows me personally knows that one of my downfalls is not letting things come to fruition without being perfect, so I had quite a big list of what I thought needed to be done before this event.
By the time the festival rolled around my greeting card SKU count was at 36, my notecards had grown to 25, and I had added a new product category - stickers - even though the SKU count was only 2. Long story short I had a great weekend meeting a lot of people who had never seen my products. I got to talk stationery, printing, design, and my very specific sense of humour to so many festival guests.
Some other milestones from 2023 that I am very proud of (but will need their own details another day):
My first wholesale accounts, from 3 retailers in Haliburton County and 1 in Minnesota
SO many markets. Some good, some not so good, one horrible
A lot of behind the scenes work on the website, workflows, and automations to streamline things a bit more
Worked with new business clients to create some custom, branded stationery
Having enough time and experience on my press to know what will print well, and what should be avoided design-wise