What is Letterpress Printing?

Letterpress printing is a vintage style of printing that uses a large scale printing press. Instead of an automated machine printer, it is run manually by an individual. The letterpress printer works with metal dyes, which are basically like large metal stamps. It presses the metal dyes into the paper, creating an indented marking onto the page.

This style of printing is very three-dimensional, as you are able to feel the indent that the dye leaves on the page. This creates not only a fantastic texture, but is a great way to step up your game when it comes to quality products. Letterpress printing is primarily used for large scale printing jobs, as it takes manual, precise setup to make sure the press prints correctly onto the page.

At our store, we have two vintage Heidelberg Windmill presses, along with a Heidelberg QM2-46. The QM2-46 is a much more modern press, but still follows many of the same procedures for operation that our Windmills do.

Jeff, our master press operator, has been running different letterpress machines for over thirty years. While he primarily runs the letterpress here at Minuteman Press Gresham, because of him we are also able to do foiling and embossing jobs! Foiling is the technique of applying metallic foils to specific parts of your stationery. On the other hand, embossing is the technique of stamping the paper to raise it up, giving your stationery raised spots or sections. This requires a great amount of skill and takes time, but the payoff for these jobs is 100% satisfaction guaranteed!