Want to make a big impression with your invitations or business cards? Hand someone a textured letterpress card—they’ll feel the difference. Choose from our existing stock of hand-carved and vintage images, or let us design something specifically for you. We’re also glad to offer our printing services to help you turn your own design into a beautiful letterpress piece. Please feel free to peruse samples of our work. Announcements, personalized notecards, and posters are under "ephemera". If you have any questions or would like an estimate, please email Kathryn at blackbirdletterpress@gmail.com.
OUR PROCESS
Printmakers at heart, we’ll use anything to make a print—a wooden spoon, a printing press, a screen. But our primary mode of production is a Chandler & Price, "Old Series", platen letterpress (circa 1904). We print with lead “movable” type, vintage letterpress printing cuts, and linoleum and woodcuts we carve by hand. We also use plates created from digital files when we need to print a typeface that we don’t have in our drawers or when we want to reproduce a specific image. But we still love getting our hands in some lead type when we can!
The impression you see in our printed paper goods will vary depending on the paper and type of relief image we use. A lino cut leaves less impression than a magnesium plate, for example. While we enjoy the texture debossing creates, we cannot exceed the ability of our press or compromise our type or print blocks to make a deeper impression than good printing demands. In everything we print, we strive to maintain high quality and strong design. We’re proud to say that everything here is, hand fed, and treadle driven or hand cranked.
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