We’re seeing lots of great designs come through our platemaking shop these days — so here are a few favorite letterpress cards from some of our talented platemaking customers. Have favorites of your own? Want to share your own letterpress valentine’s day work? Comment below!

1. I love you so so much greeting card by Pink Orchid Press | 2. I love you card by Blackheart Letterpress | 3. Letterpress love tags from Sweet Harvey | 4. Love you like a blank loves blank card from The Hungry Workshop | 5. Valentine’s Day Love Birds by Blush | 6. Hypno Cat by Anemone Letterpress | 7. Valentine postcards by 1Canoe2 | 8. Pigs in Love by Twin Ravens Press | 9. XOXO by Studio SloMo | 10. Love to you Valentine from The Permanent Collection

Printer and designer Ivan Gulkov first molded his passion for print in the colder climates of Siberia, Russia before turning out clean, modern collections at Pillowface Press that pay homage to the printing roots in the sunny state of California. Now, Gulkov balances the cool with the fun, with a nod to the old while creating the new. And he does it in spades.

Read on to get the full scoop.

SMOTHERED IN INK My name is Ivan Gulkov. I hail originally from the frozen wastes of Siberia, though currently reside in sunny California. PILLOWFACE PRESS is a small printmaking studio I set up to experiment with handset typography and photopolymer. Until recently, ours was one of the most traditional and conservative trades. For five hundred years, the tools and techniques of assembling type have not changed. Fonts were discreet, tangible things, you experienced on a physical level. In every letter, every space and ruler, there was a trace of the creators hand. Computers changed everything.

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The holidays are here, letterpress friends! Enjoy this festive & free vector set including glittering trees and shining snowflake ornaments to bring cheer to your holiday designs! Both are free for use and in both EPS and PDF format. Cheers!

Kent Aldrich is everywhere: from falling in love with World War II posters, cutting his teeth on metal type, and standing quite still as the elusive (and brilliant, we might add) man behind Nomadic Press. He refuses to be defined by printing parameters, rather, he deftly commands them in his letterpress work. Read on to find out more on the musings of this passionate printer.

THE NOMADIC PRINTER I was born in 1964 and I am still living today. I was fascinated with type forms as a young child and designed a couple of fonts (leaning heavily toward an art deco style) when I was in second grade. I have lived most of my life in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. I have been married for 22 years to the same woman, Emily, with whom I have 2 children. I ride a scooter with 46 rearview mirrors on it, I shoot a decent game of pool, and I like a beer with a strong hop flavor.

TEXT, FUN & ROCK ‘N ROLL When I was fourteen years old, I had fallen in love with poster art: Rock posters, French night club advertisements, WW2 recruiting posters. Anything intended to be tacked upon a telephone pole or hung up on a wall. So, I stole a composition stick (and the first line of a dead form) from a local jobbing shop and rode a hound down the Mississippi river to Winona. Once there, caught in the yellowing teeth of a full moon midnight, I sought out a lonely gravel crossroads where I met with the Devil and sold my soul for to print.

From there it was a series of graphic arts classes in high school,wooden renaissance festival presses, and a 3 year run-in with Coffee House Press and (the then just established) Minnesota Center for Book Arts. All of which conspired to push me into starting my own print shop, The Nomadic Press.

MAJESTIC MINNESOTA The building housing The Nomadic Press was built in 1914. The brick, from which it was built, was fired in a kiln a mile and a half away on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. It was originally a Mom & Pop grocery store and sat at the end of a street car line. The owners lived above the store, as did my wife and I for the first 7 years of our owning the place. With maple floors and woodwork and big, west facing windows, the interior of The Nomadic Press has been laid out following suggestions published in Mechanick Exercises on the Whole Art of Printing (1684) and has been outfitted in the style of a jobbing shop from the 1930s.

Nomadic’s press stable includes: two hand fed Chandler and Price old style platen presses (10 by 15 and 8 by 12), an automatic feed Kluge (12 by 18), a Vandercook Universal I (with a power carriage, adjustable bed and take-up tapes), the Pearl (more on that press later), and a spattering of table-top hobby presses.

PRINTING LEGACIES Al Schwerdt showed me how to print clean work using inking balls and a solid oak lever press and taught me the satisfying importance of the ethical and respectful treatment of both clients and vendors.

Allan Kornblum, who founded Coffee House Press, and spent years patiently teaching me the craft of letter-spacing and the fine art of keeping my hands out of the hungry jaws of a roaring platen press.

Will Powers, who made it plain that a printin’ man is a man well satisfied.

And Joseph Moxon, who said it best when he said; “As he set this stick of letter, so he sets on till his page is out”.

THE DAILY GRIND When I was first learning to print I slept on the floor of the print shop with my head on the feet of the press. Every morning I drink a hot cup of Van Son rubber base ink. Black. I have a ream of 80 pound text for lunch and bowl of 24 point em quads for dinner. My children were conceived in a room directly above my C&P 10 x 15. Too much information? Probably. But, heck yes, I print full time! For the last 26 years I’ve printed full time, and I plan on dying with my stick in my hand (that’s composition stick).

DESIGNED FOR PRINT Letterpress printing is, by its nature, a process who’s accessibility and immediacy demands a skillful confluence of art and craft. It is not enough to know how the press is best run, nor is it at all well enough to fix a pretty picture in one’s mind. Rather, a holistic knowledge of afore and after is called for.

ALL THAT’S FIT TO PRINT When I am designing my own work, and am using movable metal type, I like to set an element and print it. Then I set the next element and print that. And so on ’till the work is finished. It is a process that often finds me printed into a corner. And it is always a thrill to find the word, or type face, or ornament or color which, when laid down with the rest, finally pulls it all together and lets me walk out clean. When designing for clients, it all must be planned out beforehand though. Then I set great store in knowing what kinds of printed pieces they do /not/ like. Here be monsters.

PRINTER’S PARADISE The Nomadic Press is run out of a brick building which was built in 1914. Last year, Emily and I paid off the mortgage, and we now own the building outright. I have done printing for Nelson Mandela and Vaclav Havel, and I have produced work for the King of Norway and the Palace at Versailles.

BOXCAR’S ROLE Having begun my letterpress printing career more than a quarter of a century ago, and having cut my teeth on metal type, I have worked with all manner of plates and blocks: Linoleum and end grain maple, electro-plate and zinc, copper, lead and magnesium. All have graced chase and bed here at The Nomadic Press. And they have all served adequately well.

But the photopolymer printing plates that Boxcar has developed, and now sells, are a printer’s dream come true. They are quick and clean and precise and they provide a seamless interface between my state-of-the-art presses (circa 1890s) and the cutting edge graphic design technology of today. And they impart, into soft papers and onto hard, a crisp impression that does a printer proud. It is hard to imagine the occurrence of the 21st century letterpress revival without Boxcar steaming into the station and hauling most of the freight.

PRESS HISTORY You always remember your first press. As is so often the case, I simply mentioned that I was looking for a press to someone who had talked to a person who knew of a clamshell platen that somebody had somewhere. So, for fifty bucks, I bought a 7 x 11 inch Pearl press, a Paragon guillotine cutter and a cabinet of type. And I had to get them out of a basement by the end of the week. I still print with her (and oh, the sweetness of her kiss!).

SHOP TIPS Know in which direction the grain of your paper runs, and be very kind to your register pins.

WHAT’S NEXT Big picture; I am working to build another 21% growth in gross over the previous year. Small picture; I hope to be able to print something using Pantone Mixing System number 332 (uncoated).

Huge thanks to Kent for letting us get a sneak peek at the fabulous Nomadic Press!

Photographs provided by Kelsey Johnson and Andrew Hine

To guarantee a happy, press-ready Boxcar plate, follow our Top 10 checklist before finalizing and clicking UPLOAD to your job ticket. These handy steps will go a long way towards a smooth, quick platemaking turnaround. If you are having files created for you – pass these on to your graphic designer so they too can follow this Boxcar Checklist.

1 ) Are the file dimensions 17″ x 22″ or smaller? Is the file size less than 26 MB? (Our maximum plate size that we can proof at this time is 17″ x 22″ – if you need larger, please call.)

2 ) If my plate type is the KF95, Jet 94FL or 94SB, are my lines 0.25 pt or thicker? Are my dots 1 to 1.25pt thick? Dots (in a dotted line or by themselves) need a greater minimum thickness so they can hold on the plate by themselves.

3 ) If my plate type is KF152, 152SB, 145HSB, or 148SHSB, are my lines 0.35 pt or thicker? Are my dots 1 to 1.25pt thick?

4 ) If I created the art in Illustrator or InDesign, is the artwork in 100% CMYK Black (as in 0% Cyan, 0% Magenta, 0% Yellow, and 100% Black)?

5 ) If I’m doing color separations, are they assigned to a spot color or a Pantone Swatch Color?

6 ) Is my text outlined into vector shapes if I’m using InDesign or Illustrator for the text? (You can convert them to shapes by selecting the text and going to Type>Create Outlines in either Illustrator or InDesign.)

7 ) Have I indicated what linescreen (LPI) I’d like in the comments section of my ticket if my image is in greyscale or halftone and I want to keep the tonal qualities of the image? (We like 100 lpi for all plate types)

8 ) Is my image converted into bitmap mode of tif if I’m using only Photoshop (and not choosing a linescreen) ?

How to easily create an image in bitmap mode of tif:

• Opening your image in Photoshop and selecting Image > Mode > Grayscale*.

• Select Yes if a window asks about discarding color.

• Then Select Image > Mode > Bitmap. A window will pop up looking for info – use a resolution of 600-1200 dpi and an output method of 50% threshold.

• Save your file as a tif (with LZW Compression) and either send us the tif or place your tif into illustrator or indesign.

*Images in higher resolution (600-1200 dpi) will give better, finer results than images in lower resolutions (72-300 dpi). If your images lose a lot of detail, you can either re-scan or adjust your levels of black (Image> Adjustments> Levels or Brightness Contrast). For info on this, please call 315-579-3366 for instructions.

9 ) If I have added crop marks to my file, do they meet the minimum line thicknesses? Are they in registration black if I have more than one color?

10 ) We don’t need a faxed hard copy of the file, simply a PDF and the original file. Are these both uploaded? (e.g, an .EPS and PDF of the same file.)

Stay tuned for more in-depth blogging on file prep when we amaze you with “Did You Know That…”!

Six years working at a cozy letterpress shop– especially one that’s basking in sunny Pennsylvania — is going to create some nifty pieces and fine design. Or at least it will inspire an entire weekend devoted to the art of the letterpress, ala The Ladies of Letterpress conference. After working in Mainz, Germany for a half-year of traditional typesetting and printing before opening up shop (Thoma-Printers), Kseniya Thomas’s love of letterpress is founded on skill, encouragement, and a big scoop of care. Here, Kseniya weighs in on the letterpress community, printing adventures, and her love of miniatures.

LIVE, WORK & DIRECT I’m Kseniya Thomas, and I’m a recovering English major from Salt Lake City. I currently live and work in Pennsylvania, where I’ve been happy to call myself a letterpress printer since 2005. I own Thomas-Printers, a commercial letterpress shop, and, with Jessica White of Heroes and Criminals Press, am the co-director of Ladies of Letterpress. I’m crazy for the Tour de France, old houses, running, newspapers, and anything in miniature.

INSPIRED BY GUTENBERG After graduating from college, I had a fellowship to study and work in Germany for a year. A friend and I happened to go to Mainz one weekend (I loved movable type, but didn’t yet fully understand the implications!), where the Gutenberg Museum has a working letterpress print shop. I wrote and asked if they accepted interns, and they did, so I moved to Mainz. I worked there for six months, and learned how to set type and print from guys who had spent their whole careers in print shops as pressmen, stonemen, or compositors before offset printing edged them out.

It was great: the shop has hundreds of lead typefaces, and I could print whatever I wanted. I also once printed a birth announcement for a princess, which was neat. I had no idea at the time that I had found my calling in life; even after I returned to the U.S., and realized that letterpress was happening here, I still only knew the basics of the history of printing and the craft of letterpress. And I knew nothing about running a small business!

A SUNNY SHOP My shop is located in the corner of an old shoe factory, with a room for shipping, receiving, and communications (ie, email), and a pressroom with a loading dock. The best thing about it is the tall, south-facing windows; in the summer, the only light I need is my color-correct lamp. I don’t think I’ll ever have another shop so sunny. It’s not decorated per se, except in a paper-stack, envelope-inventory, sample-shelf sort of way. It’s more workshop than showroom, so I don’t worry about hanging too much on the walls.

CARE FOR YOUR BUSINESS My best business advice is to learn to love your customers like family. They need care and attention just like family, and are the single thing, even more than hard work, that will keep you in business. Also, if you’re just starting out, don’t get caught up in playing catch-up with more established printers; there is no right way or one way to get where you want in this business, so your way is as likely to succeed as anyone else’s.

DESIGNED FOR PRINT I’m a printer who can design in a pinch, but I work with several great designers who can handle it when things get complicated. It’s nice being able to have designers who are familiar enough with the letterpress process that the finished product is going to print up great.

THE DAILY GRIND I do print full time. And when I’m not printing, I’m doing the 1000 other things a small business owner must do. Chief among them: worry, answer emails, write estimates, talk with clients, and a host of other pre-press, post-press, finishing, and ordering duties. Every day is different and yet comfortably similar, and now that I’ve been doing it full time for six years or so, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

ADVANCING A COMMUNITY I’m proud that Thomas-Printers is surviving the economy and doing well. Most recently, I’m proud of Jessica and I for organizing the best conference I’ve ever attended. The Ladies of Letterpress conference was such a happy, fun letterpress-fest, and it was thrilling to see so many ardent letterpress supporters and printers in one place.

It was also encouraging to see that letterpress is still going strong, new people are starting to print every day, and people are loving what we make more than ever. I cannot wait for a repeat next year!

BOXCAR’S ROLE It’s not an exaggeration to say that, without Boxcar, neither Thomas-Printers nor Ladies of Letterpress would exist. I got my start setting type, but setting type for every client isn’t a good business model for me. So the Boxcar Base is as important and valuable a tool as the press itself. Aside from the base and plates, Boxcar is the friendliest, fastest, nicest supplier I work with; the positive attitude and enthusiasm of the owners and staff has in turn contributed to the good-feeling and camaraderie in the letterpress community.

PRESS HISTORY My first press was a 12×18 Chandler & Price that I bought from Bill Welliver through the Letpres listserv. I used it for everything, large and small, for almost three years, until I bought a 10×15 C&P that allegedly only had had one owner and then sat in storage for 30 years. I also have a treadle-powered 8×12, which is handy when the power goes out. C&Ps are great presses, simple to use and relatively readily available, and are capable of a lot of fine work.

WHAT’S NEXT Ladies of Letterpress will be at the 2012 National Stationery Show for a third year with a new, super, wonderful, talented group of printers. And the second-annual LOLP conference is happening again-stay tuned for more details.

We’d like to give bigs thanks to Kseniya for taking the time to give us the scoop on Thomas Printers!

Jackie Robinson is wonderful letterpress gal creating beautiful designs with 42 Pressed. Armed with typographical know-how and an acute attention to detail, Robinson’s work has been hit after hit with her letterpress customers. Read on to get the full scoop on this extraordinary lady of letterpress!

Can you tell us a little about yourself?
My name is Jackie Robinson and I am the owner/creative director of 42 Pressed. I live in St. Augustine, Florida with my husband, two dogs and brand new baby girl, Riley Magnolia Robinson. We also spend a lot of our time at our other house in Charleston, South Carolina, where my family lives and hope to get back to one day!

How did you first get involved in letterpress?
I went to grad school at a small portfolio school called the Creative Circus. I studied graphic design there and had a professor, Berwyn Hung, who was a big letterpress printer. It wasn’t until after I graduated that I really got into it, and he taught me everything that I know. After I started messing around with designing stationery and doing a few wedding suites for friends and for my own wedding, it just kind of clicked that this was what I wanted to do.

Tell us a little about your design process.
I really like to think out of the box and be different. My design style is heavily based on typography (I love type) so you will see a lot of that throughout my lines. When I am designing for a wedding, I really try and hit all different styles and imagine myself a bride again who wears Jcrew, one who is a hippie, one who is classic and chic, etc. and I pretty much establish a style that seems to fit every bride in their own right. My line appeals to pretty much everyone who likes to be a bit different and stray from the ordinary. I love using different materials and textures; I love to pair rough with delicate. I really just like to play with the unexpected.

When did you start printing?
42 Pressed has been operating since November of 2009.

What are some accomplishments you are proud of?
I am proud and fortunate to have gotten lots of great press: we’ve been featured on Martha Stewart, countless amazing blogs, and recently landed on the cover of Stationery Trends. We also attended our first National Stationery Show in May of 2010 and landed in 30 stores nationwide as a result.

How has Boxcar Press helped you with your business and printing?
Honestly, so so much! I was using Magnesium that was mounted on wood for my plates for a long time. I had issues with warping, with the magnesium pulling off the wood etc. Yes, it’s true that the mag mounted on wood is what real letterpress is all about, but the photopolymer plates have given me so much less of a headache. I know what to expect from them every time, and it’s a great product that I can rely on to get the job done well without the added stress that letterpress sometimes brings. If you are a letterpress printer, you know so many things can go wrong, so it is nice to eliminate a problem all together, and Boxcar plates help me do that.

What was your very first press? Was it love at first sight?
My first press was a Vandercook 15-21 and is still my only press. It has an adjustable bed which I love, it would be hard to bring on another press since I am just so in love with the one I have currently.

Describe your print shop. Any cool or nifty things about it?
It is fun, lots of color, lots of sunshine pouring in, dogs lounging around, music is always blasting. It’s definitely an inspiring space to be in.

Any neat tricks or advice you can share?
Never let a letterpress defeat you or frustrate you, always try and solve the puzzle and win.

What plans do you have for 2012 that you’d like to share?
Well, we just had our first baby!! So things have been insane around here, but I am starting to get back into gear again and think about the 2012 stationery show that we plan on attending. There will be a lot more ready made things, and I am also planning on designing and releasing new products once a month (ready made items) to keep us fresh and new with limited quantities. Stuff will go fast and remain relevant and in the now!

Many thanks to Jackie for letting us take a sneak peek into her shop and hard work! Check out out her cool designs at 42 Pressed!

We’re excited to share an event that Smudge Ink (one of our long time letterpress friends) is putting on next week. They’re teaming up with local vendors to put on a holiday sale, and will be donating a portion of the proceeds to the Greater Boston Food Bank! The Holiday Sip + Shop event will take place on Thursday, November 3rd (that’s a week from today!) from 4-8pm at their shop in historic Charlestown, Massachusetts. Because we think it’s so cool that Smudge Ink is supporting their local food bank with their event, we donated the plate for their letterpress posters, and we’ve gotta say — they came out pretty awesome, don’t ya think?

If you’re in the Boston area, be sure to stop by! There will be a drawing for a gift basket filled with awesome prizes like a calendar, gift wrap, boxed notes, holiday cards and coasters from Smudge Ink; a 2-box subscription from Boston Organics for home-delivery of organic produce; a soy candle from Crash, plus soap goodies from Stella Marie, a few bottles of craft brews from Pretty Things Beer + Ale , and a special gift from 2-Fresh-Threads!

Smudge will also be giving away a 4-pack of these amazing letterpress coasters to their first 50 customers, so be sure to stop by and support these local businesses!

Having a cool letterpress holiday event at your print shop? Let us know and we’d love to help promote it!

Turns out, the Boxcar Press staff loves food nearly as much as they love letterpress.

In 2008, we partnered with Grindstone Farm, a 240 acre organic farm located in Pulaski, NY. Boxcar Press now subsidizes the CSA Shares for all of their employees, and provides a pick up location for the community. Turns out, it was an easy way to make a positive impact for a cause we care about! According to Grindstone owner and farmer Dick de Graff, participating in a CSA is one of the best ways to support local farmers; by purchasing a “share” of the farmer’s crops at the beginning of the season, the buyer shares in the risk and reward of whatever the season brings.

Pictured here are some of the “rewards” of this year’s harvest season, which is about to come to an end.

Interested in finding a CSA in your area? Check out localharvest.com for information on CSAs, U Pick Farms, Farmers Markets, and Co-ops near you!

We want to hear from you! We love how much letterpress community members pitch in to help others. What causes does your letterpress shop support?

Want to see more photos from our trip to Grindstone Farm & our CSA pick-up location here at Boxcar Press? Click here to view our slideshow on Flickr!