The popularity of scrapbooking has opened up a world of tools and papers that were hard-to-find and expensive just a few years ago. Now there are low-cost manual machines to apply glue (I have one myself — a laminator — that I use for my bookmaking). Similar rotary machines will die cut (mostly pre-made dies, but you can have your own made or there are models that are computer controlled). And now, coming to a craft store near you this fall, is L, “the Letterpress combo kit [that] contains everything you need to begin letterpress printing right away.” In the pictures below, you can see how it works…
But what exactly is “letterpress”? Is it only, as their website explains, “printing words or designs with ink while simultaneously debossing it into a thick, soft paper.” I suppose it is, although I stress in my Etsy listings that my printing work is all done on my vintage 1890s large cranky press. The Lifestyle Craft website doesn’t show an example of the impression you can get from their little machine, or what sort of designs and typefaces they will offer, or how to make and use your own. I’m also sure that registering two colors will be fraught with problems. I’m interested to see a demo in person!
Looks to me like the ancient “cyclostyle” thing schools used (50+ years ago) to print PTA notices.
I had no idea what these were when I found one for sale on Craigslist about a month ago. I think they’re a great idea for anyone who wants to play with the hard stamps you can get at Michael’s but I don’t think you can technically call this a letterpress. You can’t set actual type on it. From the looks of it, it doesn’t seem like you can even print a relief block that you carved yourself, so unless you get polymer plates made, it doesn’t look like the user will have that much creativity over what gets printed. I’m also curious how long they will actually hold up. It’s just plastic, I imagine trying to get a deep impression will stress the parts over time.
By the way, have you checked out the prices and turnaround time for their polymer plates? $40 and 2-4 weeks for a 6×8? You can get that for just under $30 at Boxcar and they have a 1 day turnaround.
I thought this would be fun to play with and ordered the set from the company last September, with the understanding that it would be delivered sometime in November. That didn’t happen, then it was to be delivered in January 2010; still nothing. So I finally, this week canceled the order. I guess I’ll never know how much fun it would be.