Invitation Printing Methods | Affectionate Digitals

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The Wrap on Invitations | Do It Yourself | Wording Etiquette

HANDMADE INVITATIONS AND FINE STATIONERY

Printing techniques and typefaces (fonts) add beauty and personality to your custom invitation and stationery. Choosing the printing method is a fun and expressive way to present your special event. There are four methods used for printing invitations:

Engraving - traditional type of printing still used on formal invitations

Letterpress - imprinted lettering created from metal plates

Thermography - raised lettering created from a heat process

Offset flat - lettering created using laser or inkjet printer technology

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The Wrap on Invitations

Printing - Types

The Wrap on Invitations > Printing - Types

Engraving

Engraving was traditionally the preferred method and is accomplished by rubbing or impressing on the back of the paper while the front rests on a reverse indented plate with the indents filled with ink, providing a raised finish embossed front surface. The signature mark of engraving comes from a slight bruise that appears on the back of the paper.

Engraving generally works best on a cotton fiber paper, which can hold up to the stress of the process. Paper made from wood pulp will likely break apart.

The process was developed in Germany in the 1430s.

Letterpress

Letterpress has become an extremely popular and preferred method and is created by a reversed, raised surface inked and then pressed into a sheet of paper to obtain a positive right-reading image. Letterpress is the oldest traditional printing technique, dating back to the fifteenth century. It was the normal form of printing text in the west from its invention by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-15th century and has taken over the modern market.

The process requires a high degree of craftsmanship, but in the right hands, Letterpress excels at fine typography.

Letterpress publishing has recently undergone a revival in the USA, Canada, and the UK, under the general banner of the 'Small Press Movement'. Renewed interest in letterpress was fueled by Martha Stewart Weddings magazine, which began using pictures of letterpress invitations in the 1990s. The beauty and texture became appealing to brides who began wanting letterpress invitations instead of engraved, thermographed, or offset-printed invitations. At the same time, presses were being discarded by commercial print shops, and became affordable and available to artisans throughout the country. The movement has been helped by the emergence of a number of organizations that teach Letterpress such as Columbia College Chicago's Center for Book and Paper Arts, New York's Center for Book Arts, Studio on the Square and The Arm NYC, the San Francisco Center for the Book, Bookworks, Seattle's School of Visual Concepts, Black Rock Press, North Carolina State University, Penland School of Crafts, and the Minnesota Center for Book Arts.

Dark ink on a light paper gives the best image. Inks are translucent and the paper color will show through. For light colors on dark paper, foil stamping or engraving should be used instead of Letterpress. To build up the color density of a specific color, Letterpress pieces can be run through the press two times using the same color.

Thermography

Raised lettering is created by printing with a special ink, covering the ink with a heat sensitive resinous powder and heating the product which melts the powder and ink into a raised image. Thermography is designed to be a value replacement for engraving. Indents on the back—engraving has it, thermography doesn't.

Lithography or Flat Printing

Offset flat lettering normally created using an offset press, a laser printer or an inkjet printer.