{"id":33278,"date":"2024-04-04T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cloudinary.com\/blog\/?p=33278"},"modified":"2024-08-02T22:22:48","modified_gmt":"2024-08-03T05:22:48","slug":"transforming-letterpress-printing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cloudinary.com\/blog\/transforming-letterpress-printing","title":{"rendered":"Transforming Letterpress Printing"},"content":{"rendered":"

In support of International Women\u2019s Month, the London team at Cloudinary were given the opportunity to help Pecan\u2019s Women\u2019s Hub<\/a> create some thank you gifts for the charity\u2019s sponsors. We partnered with Nice & Graphic<\/a> to design prints using an original letterpress printer from 1961. What struck me was how much time we spent preparing the letterpress printer to get the perfect prints compared to the fraction of the time it would have taken to prepare similar images in the digital world. And yet, there was something really special about doing things the old-fashioned way.<\/p>\n\n <\/video>\n <\/cld-video-player>\n<\/div>\n\n

The Letterpress Printing Process<\/h2>\n

In a nutshell, letterpress printing is applying a text overlay<\/a> to an image. In our case, the images were pages of old books about flowers, such as this:<\/p>\n

\"Page<\/a><\/p>\n

The text was Pecan\u2019s slogan: \u201cKindness | Belief | Hope\u201d, and the finished result looks like this:<\/p>\n

\"Page<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

First, we chose the fonts for the lettering from huge cases of letters, and selected the right letters to make up the words:<\/p>\n

\"Letterpress<\/a><\/p>\n

Then, we packed the letters into the printer, using wood and metal spacers to space out the letters exactly as we wanted them. We had to be careful to get them in the right orientation \u2014 back to front and not upside down!<\/p>\n

\"Letterpress<\/a><\/p>\n

After locking the letters in place, we mixed the ink, which was the blue color from Pecan\u2019s branding. The ink is translucent, so you can see the image beneath the letters.<\/p>\n

\"Translucent<\/a><\/p>\n

We added the ink to the roller on the printer, and applied it to the letters:<\/p>\n

\"Letterpress<\/a><\/p>\n

Then, we ran test prints on blank paper to perfect the alignment, and to make sure the letters were at the right height, minimizing the gaps in the ink application. This was a painstaking process, involving cutting up bits of paper to place under the letters that were too low. It was amazing how much difference the thickness of one piece of paper made!<\/p>\n

\"Test<\/a><\/p>\n

When we were happy with the setup, we created the prints by positioning the paper, rolling it over the letters, and pulling it out the other side!<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Hit play to see it in action:<\/p>\n\n <\/video>\n <\/cld-video-player>\n

Here we are with some of our finished designs:<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

And here they are displayed in a Product Gallery<\/a>. Select each one and zoom in for more detail:

<\/p>\n