The art of letterpress

- [Narrator] Letterpress printing is a fairly ancient process but it has new life, it's really had a revival. The Origins of Letterpress go back to the 1400s. This was Gutenberg's transformative process, even though it's an ancient process, it has character and elegance. It was the predominant process in printing until the mid-20th century, that's how long it reined. It's created one color at a time. It's not high speed. It's not high volume. And now, it's used mainly for specialty pieces. In letterpress printing, a raised surface, wood, metal or even linoleum is inked and then pressed into the paper and that pressure can create an embossed effect adding dimension to the printed piece.

There's been a resurgence of letterpress printing as an artisan process and there are now even photopolymer plates that can be adhered to a base, giving designers the ability to use letterpress with digital artwork. Letterpress printing often uses exotic or handmade paper stocks to add to the personality of the piece, and it's often used for invitations such as this. While original old metal type components are highly prized, small niche foundries are now producing new metal type, some on refurbished antique type equipment. Think about it, a printing process that was created in the 1400s is still putting ink on paper today.

Isn't that wonderful?