Finally had a chance to make some traction on a part we'd been meaning to offer for some time. We are now making reproduction chases for the C&P Pilot letterpress. These old presses still see a lot of action and are EXTREMELY popular. Since the chases have become rarer than hens teeth, we decided it was time to start production. Our hopes are that these chases will help printers expand their capabilities as well as their, speed up production, and allow an affordable option to book art centers to host larger and more comprehensive classes. No time like the present to breath a little life into letterpress printing! Click HERE to 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!
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.
Dig on these absolutely beautiful gold foil business cards. They're trimmed at a stylish 2.5" square dimension and printed double sided on our single-ply house stock. We just finished these super cute cards for Nicola Harger. She's a photographer based in the North Loop area and her work is absolutely stunning. Check out her site and maybe if you get a chance to meet her, you'll walk away with one of these beauties?!?!
Business cards, wedding invitations and so much more! Contact Dick & Jane Letterpress for all your Hot Foil and Letterpress needs!
We ran these last July but today I was going through some of our archive books and found a couple left over prints. These we're absolutely one of our favorites from 2014. The interest in foil was just starting to pick up and lucky for us, Catherine and Ken we're amazing to work with. We started by looking at some examples but after talking some more about other possibilities, Catherine gave pretty free rein to "do what we do." The final result couldn't have been more stunning. Gold foil and cool grey letterpress filigree invitation. We knocked these out on the 220 Lettra and finished everything off with a gold painted edge.
Many thanks to Catherine for giving us the opportunity to really knock one out of the park.
The BIG announcement we've been waiting to finally share! We're moving to a brand new storefront studio location. We're still in the same building but we're no longer occupying the interior unit. We've expanded to the street front and the new studio is being built out as I type! So many new things are happening. New floors, doors and lighting; we're adding some fun furniture and some really killer decor sourced from some of our favorite local vintage and modern furniture companies. It looks like we're even buying some new equipment to increase productivity!
Real talk: For a long time we've quietly cranked out some really amazing work for clients across the globe. Well now it's time to share what we do and how we do it with everyone right here in our home town! We're really excited to show you just what we're up to so definitely stay tuned!
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If you'd like to schedule a consultation hosted in our new space or even just come see what we do please contact us either by phone or email.
2496 University Avenue Saint Paul, Minnesota 55114 P.651-756-8990 | E.info@dickandjaneletterpress.com
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 get a lot of opportunities to work with a lot of different business and this job is not exception. Unmapped Brewery ordered up these cards last week and we couldn't be happier with the final product! We ran a duplexed French kraft stock with 465 and black. The cards we're final trimmed and hopefully JD will drop off a couple brews when he stops by to pick up!
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)
The Minnesota Bride Magazine - Spring/Summer 2015 issue hit stands this month and it is jam-packed with all kinds of fantastic photos and articles. Even better, this issue has their annual Invitation review and guess who made it in!?
Woo-Hoo! I swear no matter how many years we've been doing invitations, every time I see our work in a printed publication, I get all kinds of super excited! Everyone around the shop is a buzz and our spring/summer clients are starting to come out of hibernation to begin working on their invitation suites. So much fun and great new designs in store for 2015.
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If you're considering invitations and you've got a crush on letterpress, definitely hit us up! We've got all kinds of packages to fit you needs AND your budget! - xoxo DJL!
Just a few images we snapped over the last week or so. Although running a letterpress shop all day takes a lot of focus and attention, we always squeeze in time to play with our baby boy, Sonny. Usually, he's hanging out in the lounge area tearing up dads books!
We're very pleased to announce the kick-ass addition to the gang, Sara Bischoff! Sara has come to us from MCAD. Her background is in marketing and design. She is helping Dick and Jane reach out to the Minneapolis / St. Paul design community. We're working on a great new self-promotion initiative which Sara is spearheading. Be sure to check out the blog for more news on that topic. In the meantime, Sara has been featured in a recent YouTube video posted above! Sara is updating her site so we'll be sure to follow up with the new URL as soon as we receive word. Be sure to visit the Dick and Jane blog for more wonderful updates from the world of letterpress.
xoxo - DJL
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!
"Ecru Paper" is starting to emerge as a recent customer favorite!?!? Time and again, customers choose the Pearl Lettra paper for their letterpress invitations but as of late, we've had nearly a half dozen couples choosing the Ecru route. Perhaps is has something to do with early bird fall weddings? Then again, maybe it's something else? Maybe the Ecru paper offers that classic antique look that many traditional (and sometimes non-traditional) invitations need to put the design over the top? In any case, here's a quick snapshot taken from my iPhone of a recent invitation job featuring the use of Ecru paper and #10 policy envelopes.
Much love and appreciation goes out to Jon and Michelle. Have a great wedding day!.
xo - DJL
Hey all you Letterpress lovers out there! With the grand news of our new baby Sonny's arrival, we set to work to design a fun birth announcement, complete with an exposed baby bum and a friendly stork. We thought it turned out pretty cute and cheeky (hah!)
Dick and Jane Letterpress has been good to us. Natalie and I have met some wonderful couples, business owners, and received recognition from all sorts of unexpected places. All of which we are extremely grateful. Our blog is intended to let people in to our world, share in our joys and experiences. We want people to get an inside look at what exactly goes on in a family run letterpress shop quietly located in a midwest town. That said, we wanted to announce something that is just a little out of the ordinary of the letterpress wedding invitation theme.
I (Brian) recently received an award for web design by the AIGA Boston Chapter. Coming from Boston, I work with a business partner who is based there (in Boston). Our firm is called Dirk+Weiss. We develop web sites for upscale salons and marketing companies along with the super popular iPhone aps. It's pretty much the exact opposite of a letterpress life but hey... You've got to have variety. Every two years, AIGA hosts the Bone Show (Best of New England). This year we were selected to receive the award of best web design for a project called anyonecanswiss.com. (I'll save you the description of the site) We were completely surprised by the unexpected win. Much love and appreciation to Boston, AIGA, Bone Show Judges, friends, family, and mentors. Included are images of the award and catalog.
What a surprise! We received a package in the mail on the third of July from ProjectWedding.com. Inside was a congratulations letter. Dick and Jane Letterpress has been chosen as one of Minneapolis ~ St.Paul's "Best of Project Wedding" vendors for 2008. WOW! Who knew? According to the details of the letter, the award is granted to the top 5% of wedding professionals in the area. You'll note that our site now has a "badge" sent from PW. Here are a few reviews from PW members.
- "...we came up with a really unique template, they were fun to work with, and I had the cards in less than two weeks."
- "...we were really able to express ourselves creatively with the two owners, who listened to us, offered their input, and made some really beautiful cards."
- "The invitation cards were perfect. My favorite part would be the save the date cards, which was a picture of a calendar. It was something unique and original that I just hadn’t seen before, and really loved. They really have so much to choose from, so much originality, that I think every bride should make them their first stop."
MUCH LOVE AND APPRECIATION TO ALL OUR CUSTOMERS. We've had a blast working with you all and appreciate all your kind words and referrals. We're so happy that everyone is pleased with our wedding invitation printing. Check out projectwedding.com for vendor references in your area!
xoxo - brian and natalie durk ~ DJL