Green Printing (oxymoron or not?)

I am frequently asked about the steps We Do Printing takes to minimize our impact to the environment.  There are many print companies out there that are claiming to be completely green print shops-but this is impossible.  Printing, no matter what kind of printing you do, is never going to be completely green but there many choices we can make to ensure it is as eco-friendly as possible.

So here are a few things WDP does:

1.  Paper: Whenever possible we use recycled stock, especially for our offset printing.  Our letterpress paper is either tree-free cotton, fast growing bamboo or local paper made from a variety of industry waste like denim off-cuts and flax straw.  Any scrap paper is reused or recycled.  One of the main benefits of letterpress printing is that there is not nearly as much paper waste with each press run as there is with offset printing.

2.  Ink: The majority of our inks are soy based and rubber based.  Soy ink was thought for a long time to be greener than rubber ink but honestly if you gave them a score-they would be tied.  We find that the rubber based inks print nicer so we find ourselves using rubber ink more often than soy ink.  Most ink colours are mixed by hand so we don’t have to order in a full tin each time we have a job to do.  We also use some oil based inks that were rescued from heading to the landfill after a local print shop went out of business.  Reduce is the first R after all!

3.  Packaging: The majority of our customers are not local so packaging is a major concern for us.  Custom packaging for our printed goods is something we did think about but it really does seem wasteful.  So, all of our business card boxes are plain and made from recycled materials, and for shipping, we re-use boxes, bubble wrap and packing from supply orders whenever possible.

An example of how we packaged a wedding invitation suite for shipment.  No wasteful custom packaging here!

There are many other choices we’ve made such as having our shop on our property so we don’t need to travel to work everyday, buying in bulk to reduce shipments, using energy efficient lights in our shop and taking donated scrap cloth to use in clean-up.  We do consider Mother Earth Everyday, not just on Earth Day.

Stitched-Up Letterpress

I haven’t had much time to post on the blog lately with the springtime rush for wedding invitations!   So, today I have a card we letterpress printed a few months back for Matias Sandoval,  a brilliant denim designer who needed a creative business card with room for stitching, yup-needle and thread!  The card was designed (and sewn) by Matias and letterpress printed on Crane’s Lettra cotton paper in perfect Pantone 532 ink with enough impression on the logo to make an old-school printer have a heart attack.  Matias wanted the logo to show through to the back of the card, and with our Heidelberg Windmill we easily made it happen!

Photos with the funky stitching were taken by Matias and given to us to use!

Need new jeans (or cool shoes)-check out Matias Denim’s website!!  www.matiasdenim.com

If you know what you want and you want letterpress-let us give you a quote!

ianbristow@wedoprinting.net

jenniferkibbee@wedoprinting.net

White Photographie Business Card

Today on the blog is this beautiful business card designed by Aileen Fretz for her photography business White Photographie .  The card was printed double-sided on duplex 100% cotton paper in a lovely shade of grey.  The pattern on the front of the card highlights the 3D effect of letterpress and the retro camera logo is a perfect match for the old-school printing!

Pictures were taken by Aileen for us to use!  Please check out Aileen’s website http://www.liveworkmedia.com if you need the help of a fabulous designer.  And if you already have a fabulous design send it on over for a quote!

ianbristow@wedoprinting.net

jenniferkibbee@wedoprinting.net

Charisa Letterpress Business Card

So most people believe that letterpress printing is best for a limited number of ink colours.  One, two or three max.  Well, we don’t believe in limitations at We Do Printing and this card proves it!  This eye-catching business card for Charisa Marketing is another great design from Aileen Fretz at Livework Media http://www.liveworkmedia.com.

A five colour logo and another colour for the text set the record for most ink mixing in one day at WDP’s shop!  The printing was quite a feat of patience due to the exact registration that the logo required, if even one of the plates was not in correct position the whole logo would have been a mess!  The card was printed on extra thick 220lb cotton paper to reduce the impression that would show through to the other side.

Do you have a design that you think can’t be letterpress printed?  Send it over!  Let us take a look, you might be pleasantly surprised!

ianbristow@wedoprinting.net

jenniferkibbee@wedoprinting.net

Tea Length Wedding Invitation

Since we haven’t posted in awhile, I wanted to give everybody a real letterpress treat – an invitation suite we printed last year.  This was our first time printing in Hawaiian and our first tea length invite.  The whole suite was designed by the bride Brytani Bedard, one half of the talented Wishtree Invitations & Stationery company in Ottawa Ontario.  Brytani wanted her invitation to be beautiful and unique, and it certainly was!  The invitation is tea length (3 3/4″ x 9″), RSVP is a double-sided postcard and the program is square.  She also designed sweet little table cards so the guests could write messages to the happy couple during the reception.  Customizing your invitation suite to suit your needs and taste is not always an option but when you design them yourself, it is!

All pieces are printed on Crane’s Lettra 100% cotton paper and we letterpress printed a blind (no ink) pattern and then the text in gorgeous Pantone 7532.  We always talk about the challenges we face with letterpress printing and this time it was the ink.  No matter how hard we tried, we could not get that shade perfect!  Thankfully, we were able to get on the phone and order a pre-mixed tin for the job.  We still have lots left if you love this colour!

We believe when it comes to your wedding, everything has to be perfect.  This invitation suite is perfection!

If you are looking for a letterpress printer for your wedding invitations, please contact us!

 

jenniferkibbee@wedoprinting.net

 

ianbristow@wedoprinting.net

Warmest Wishes!

Oh, it was so nice to wake up to a visit from the Snowman, dusted frozen white bits of fun everywhere!   Especially after a long month pounding out the seasonal letterpress work!  So, with Santa on the mind, we wanted to share a few of the Holiday projects we worked on this year.

1.  Coaster in Holiday Red ink we printed for Anick Bauer Design  http://anickbauerdesign.ca

2.  Happy Holidays card we designed for Dr. Natalie Samson (our chiropractor-every printer needs one!)

3.  Joy, Peace, Hope, Figgy Pudding! double-sided card we printed for Xquisit Communications   http://www.xquisit.ca

4.  Warmest Wishes card printed for friends of WDP

These were all so much fun to print, we used lead type, polymer, and polymer that looked like lead type!  Three different paper stocks, ink and sans ink printing, 3 different envelopes, including a new deckled flap we just ordered a bunch of, and a borrowed die to cut out the coaster (Thanks Steve at Weathervane Press!)

Of course, it wouldn’t be WDP without some hiccups, like when Ian didn’t completely clean the red ink out of the press before printing the blind pattern on Xquisit’s cards and Jenn asked “why are they all pink?”  Yup, gone into the bin.  Or when the Warmest Wishes was originally printed as “Happy Holidays” with a nice script font and a couple letters were destroyed in the press, yeah, we have no more Ps in that font….

But, letterpress is our passion and without out clients our Heidelberg would be so lonely!  So a big thank you to all of our clients and we do hope for you a Joyful Holiday and a Prosperous 2012!

 

Weddings Unveiled Duplexed Letterpress Card

We just loved printing this business card for Ottawa wedding planner Lynn Lee.  She really wanted her new business card to be an original and stand out & it sure does!   The card was printed in 3 ink colours and we printed the front of the card and the back of the card on separate sheets and then duplexed them together ourselves.  Duplexing the cards after printing enabled us to print a really deep impression and not worry about any show through.  The paper we used was Crane’s Lettra 100% cotton paper and we mixed 2 gorgeous ink colours for the text & then used transparent white ink on the blind patterns just to bring out a little more detail.

The card was designed by Beverly Hyatt at Cinnamon Toast New Media, check out their website here: http://cinnamontoastnewmedia.com

If you need a fabulous wedding planner in the Ottawa area, give Lynn a call!  Her website is http://weddingsunveiled.ca

You may think your design won’t work with letterpress printing or with your budget, but there are always options! Send us an email with the details and we can send you ideas for getting your vision onto paper.

ianbristow@wedoprinting.net

jenniferkibbee@wedoprinting.net

 

Longgrass Business Card

Today on the blog is this fabulously designed business card for Longgrass Marketing which was sent to us by Aileen Fretz at Livework Media.  It is letterpress printed in 2 ink colours, double-sided and on duplex cotton stock. For printing double-sided cards we always recommend a thicker stock to avoid impression showing through to the other side.  And it really does get your card noticed too!

If you are looking for a brilliant graphic designer in the Burlington Ontario region, give Aileen a shout!  Her new website is http://www.liveworkmedia.com and her email address is aileen@liveworkmedia.com

At WDP we love it when designers send us their beautiful work for us to print. Our turnaround time for standard business cards is about 2-3 weeks and we don’t mind answering your dozens of questions about letterpress, inks, paper or how to set up your files-we just love talking about letterpress!

ianbristow@wedoprinting.net

jenniferkibbee@wedoprinting.net

Die-Cut Letterpress Wedding Invitation

Kristen and Jason were getting married at Ottawa’s oldest movie theatre and wanted invitations that fit the venue. Their designer Angela Poitras came up with this fun and unique design inspired by classic posters & movie tickets.  We couldn’t wait to fire up the Heidelberg for this unconventional wedding invitation!  The invitation & map were printed on Crane’s Lettra 100% cotton paper and the “ticket” was printed on French Paper’s Pop Tone paper.   (French Paper is our new fave!)  We mixed the blue ink by hand to match it to the French Pop Tone envelopes & the invite was then die-cut to the shape of a ticket. These invitations turned out fantastic and were perfect for this couple and for their wedding. Remember, letterpress is not just for damask patterns and muted colours, it can be whimsical, silly & fun!

If you want to see beautiful pictures from their wedding and see how the theme carried through their whole day,  check out the blog of  BH Photography right here:

http://www.bhphotography.ca/married-at-the-mayfair-theater 
-reception-glebe-community-center

Don’t count letterpress out because you think it won’t work with your budget, design, etc., there are so many options for your wedding invitations.  Give us a shout, send over your designs & questions & we will do our best to get you your dream invitations!

jenniferkibbee@wedoprinting.net

ianbristow@wedoprinting.net

Eye Heart Films Letterpress DVD Covers

When Isabella and Jacky from Eye Heart Films contacted us about printing their DVD covers we thought “Cool!”  Since our usual orders are business cards, wedding invitations and the odd greeting card, we knew this would be an interesting project.  The covers were designed by Jacky & Isabella and we letterpress printed them on Crane’s Lettra 100% cotton paper.  We used red and blue ink to match their logo and printed a blind deboss (no ink) for a real distinct look.  The next step was to send them off to our die-cutters to be cut, folded and glued into the completed covers.

If you are in need of a creative company in the Montreal area to film your next event check out their website:  www.eyeheartfilms.ca 

And if you need a printer for your next project give us a shout for a quote!

ianbristow@wedoprinting.net

jenniferkibbee@wedoprinting.net