We’re so excited to announce that we have a few brand new shear collars in stock for the Heidelberg Windmill. It seems like maybe once every couple years we end up popping a collar and that means we’ve slowly been making our way through the last of our old stock. These collars can get pretty expensive when shopping directly with Heidelberg. At the time of this post, the retail price was $346 a piece! This pricing hike and shortage of local availability led us to go on the hunt for a new local solution! Minnesota has always had a long standing tradition of experience, knowledge and production in the machine industry. We didn’t have to look very far to find a proper reproduction for half the price!

Check your press drawer. If you don’t have an extra collar, we highly recommend you picking one up sooner rather than later to avoid the unnecessary down time. Click here to place your order!

December is a busy time of year for letterpress wedding announcements and love is in the air! These custom designed save the dates came in from a designer in Alabama. Blind impression and charcoal grey ink on Crane Lettra single ply. Finished size is A7 (5"x7"). Contact us today with your wedding invitation needs. We'd be happy to supply you with a quote!

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A letterpress wedding invitation has to have

the Wedding Invitation Essentials.

This custom wedding invitation was designed and printed a few months back and we think it has just the right blend of sugar and spice. We packed classic typography and a bold sense of style with feature and form. The real secret is in the personal flavors we added which came from really getting to know with the bride to be. The brides excitement was obvious and she was an absolute doll. We wanted to give this invitation the same sense of vibrance. We take a lot of pride in matching a couple to their invitation design and this one was no exception. Gold foil and slate grey ink on 2-ply. Oh - and who doesn't enjoy a little fun with an ampersand. Contact us for your custom quote today!

Custom Flora Wedding Invitation - designed in-studio.

This piece was all about being creative with the visual but more importantly, we combined some unusual finishes to push the boundaries. The digital printing was finished on BLACK paper. Yes, we printed full CMYK on black stock. How? - That'll just be our little secret. We then incorporated with fast and free foil script to add some life and energy. Lastly, we duplexed the stock to add that weight that everyone wants in a custom wedding invitations. This invitation design includes a matching rsvp, info card, and gold letterpress coasters as well as custom die cut address labels and a medallion circle cut tag with twine band. We'll post a few more pics to show the entire suite. Thanks for visiting our letterpress blog. You can contact us for your custom quote here.

Time for that Autumn Sweater!

Come September it's common to find invitations featuring warm reds and browns but sometimes it's more fun to push further into the concept. Seasonal invitation designs can be approached in so many more ways! Autumn Sweater- (Seasonal Wedding Invitation Design) - is very subtle but we snuck a few season-appropriate ideas into the final concept.

We often print others design work but every now and then we're given the opportunity to really let our design skills shine. This custom designed invitation was a labor of love and we had the pleasure of adding a few fancy print features to the concept as well. We included a touch of foil along with both letterpress printing and a blind impression. The pattern in the back is similar to a knit sweater texture which naturally lent itself to the diamond-shaped center area. Once we had these elements flowing it was just a matter of selecting the right fonts! The gold foil was an elegant exchange for the usual brown colors and the silver ink spoke more directly to our cozy Minnesota trees blowing in the fall breeze. The wedding was last week and it sounds like everyone was pretty pleased (as were we).

Check out more of our designs here!

We're in St Paul Minnesota so we really like to take as much advantage of the summer season as possible. This last summer lasted a little longer than usual but now as the fall approaches I can't help but daydream about warmer days, vacations and day tripping across the country. Here's a pics from driving across the tops of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Such amazing memories and adventures made this last year.

We LOVE printing business cards! Nothing more fun than running up some fun, funky little designs and getting to work with great clients in the process. Brewery business cards have been really big this past month thanks to the Portland based Craft Brewers Conference which went down a couple weeks back. Here are a couple of the cards we ran along with a few others from recent past.

If you're a business or individual looking for letterpress business cards, look no further. Dick & Jane Letterpress offers every possible finish you can imagine and we think our prices are pretty darn good too!

We recently worked with Jessica Wonders (Jessica Wonders Events) on a style shoot and it turned out absolutely stunning! Even more exciting, the whole thing has been featured on the Wedding Lovely blog! You can check out all the details including the cute, tiny menus we came up with and hopefully the post and pictures will bring a little inspiration to your plans! Many thanks to Jessica for organizing the whole thing and to Wedding Lovely for sharing everyones hard work!

We labored over what colors to run with on this for a while. Our palletes we're originally in the soft blues and sea foams combined with a deep blacks.After taking more time to look at the brides venues and inspiration we suddenly shifter gears in favor of the warmer tones. We ended with this super clean juxtaposition of a blush dry brush technique applied over a silver ink. The envelopes were also matched using a blush tone paper but for the liners, we went with a higher contrast steel grey. It was truly a labor of love. We couldn't be happier with the results!

Over a hundred years ago on Melcher street in Boston (also known as printers row), the pressmen would set type by hand and crank away all day. The work was tedious and tiresome. After a job was done, they'd walk out to the alley and pick a kid to come in and sort all the type back into it's appropriate drawer for the lesser half of a nickel. To my knowledge, this is where the term, "printers devil" was born.

Here I am today packing to visit kids at a local preschool for a hand-on workshop. I love watching the kids eyes light up as they print they're very first card. It's a far cry from todays iPad and iKea lifestyle but in most ways, I think that is exactly what makes these workshops so great. If you'd like to schedule an on location print demo for your school or event. Give us a ring. If we can fit it in, we would surely love the opportunity!

Whatcha got there?

1. tiny sigwalt press

2. denim apron

3. half can of Vanson Black

4. a pair of ruber gloves

5. roll of paper towels

6. ink knife

7. small box of pre-cut biz card stock

8. tiny bottle of press wash (properly labeled with skull and crossbones)

It's been a busy month in the studio with the holidays fast approaching. We just finished up these sweet double sided business cards on 2-ply paper. We can't get enough of this color combo!

Happy fall afternoon everyone! We just got word that we've been named a finalist in Mpls St Paul Magazine's Diamond Awards in the Outstanding Invitations category. We've been chosen by a national panel of judges but the rest is up to you! Voting opened this morning is runs through the whole month of October.

Please take a moment to place your vote! We are honored to have made it this far and would love to bring it home. You can help us by voting once a day for the next month. A big thank you to all of our customers who have made our job so totally awesome over the years!

Much love, Dick and Jane

We were lucky enough to finally reconnect with some old friends last weekend. Lauren and Michael Crigler (a.k.a. Prank Design) were are staying in Minnesota for the summer developing a CSA with family members and getting their fill of the boundary waters area. Michael and Lauren will be in the area for another month or two so hopefully we will get a chance to see them again here in the next few weeks. We love you guys! - DJL

Here is a set we finished this past summer which eventually found its way into a spread in this seasons issue of Minnesota Bride Magazine. We've had a lot of buzz regarding this invitation suite since then and are now in the works of producing Minnesota Wild themed tickets! They should be quite amazing too. If you're looking for some kind of plane ticket invitation, do let us know as well. There's something already in the works there too!

That's right! We set the letterpress wedding invitations aside Thursday night for an evening of fun and entertainment as Dick and Jane Letterpress (along with an A-list of wedding vendors) partied with the Knot Magazine (MN). We managed to keep our heads together long enough to snap a few quick pics and even capture some small video clips. We compiled the pieces and posted to Youtube today for everyone to check out. Check out our videos posted under username: "LETTERPRESSfilms"

Special thanks to everyone at the Knot for hosting such a wonderful evening. We greatly appreciated the invitation and will be sure to stop out again in the future. Be sure to check out our letterpress blog for regular updates covering the local Minneapolis, St Paul wedding scene!

One more video update from Dick and Jane Letterpress! This time we just finished a letterpress wedding invitation set that included a pocket folder feature. We decided to make a quick how-to video displaying exactly how these pocketfold invitations can be assembled. We're using double sided scrap book tape but there's a lot of options for adhesives. Please feel free to comment with questions or help.

enjoy!

xoxo - DJL

Last Friday Dick and Jane Letterpress took a little day trip to the University of Minnesota. We received invitation to their St. Paul campus for a visit with a fine fellow by the name of James Boyd-Brent. James has been hard at work collecting an ensemble of letterpress equipment for their blossoming letterpress courses. Just a quick four block walk from our shop to McNeal Hall, the studio is simply too intriguing to pass up a visit. The walls were lined with type cabinets and the shop currently consists of a couple Vandercook Proof presses along with a hand press in AMAZING condition. We spent a hour or so discussing the shop and the many possibilities of the program. With the semester now at an end we are eagerly awaiting the fall term to begin so that we can drop in once more for additional letterpress photos and discussion. Admittedly, the photos are a little lower quality than I'd prefer but I was using the iphone camera.

enjoy!

xo - DJL

A great big THANKS to Minnesota Bride Magazine! Minnesota Bride Magazine was gracious enough to post a super awesome review of our shop and services on their blog today! What a great Friday surprise!

Click here to read.

Have you visited the Minnesota bride Magazine blog lately? Minnesota Bride magazine is a great tool for brides seacrhing for resources in the twin cities and surounding areas. Being one of the only locally operated bridal publications, their knowledge of the area and resources is priceless. Check 'em out!

xo - DJL

As promised, Dick and Jane attended last nights Minnesota Association of Bridal Consultants first 2009 gathering. We are pleased to report; What a blast! Everyone was super friendly, an outstanding turn-out, snacks and deserts were supplied by Pracna on Main and Jessica's Cakes. Cheri was an absolute doll as were all the attendees. I even had a moment to chat with Jessica (of Jessica's Cakes) a bit more as we are both contributing to the Duel of the Design, hosted by the Style Laboratory.

One of the hot topics that came up a lot last night revolved around social networking, web development, marketing and blogging. I tried my best to offer up some kind of a general understanding throughout the evening. I only hope I wasn't super confusing?!?! Blogging is a common occurrence for us at Dick and Jane. We just really enjoy sharing the day-to-day developments like last nights (ABC) Association of Bridal Consultants MN gathering. Brides considering a planner? - check out the planner and vendor listings at http://www.bridalassn.com/

xo - D&J

Thanks again everyone for the wonderful evening

Tonight Dick and Jane Letterpress will be visiting with the Association of Bridal Consultants (ABC), Minnesota chapter! We were invited by both Cheri Rice (ABC Rep) as well as Angle Swits of By Your Side Weddings. We're very excited to mix it up tonight with the Minnesota bridal consultant scene! Any of you brides out there thinking of hiring a planner, be sure to check out the Association of Bridal Consultants.

See you there!