Letterpress love: 10 favorite letterpress cards for valentine’s day

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!

letterpress cards valentine's day

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

Harold is famous again!

Harold first fell for letterpress at a small town college in Northfield, Minnesota called Carleton (Carleton also happens to be the school where Harold & Debbie fell for each other, but that’s another story!). So we were so excited when Carleton’s art department asked Harold to write his story for the college’s web site, to show (we think) prospective art majors and their parents that those art degrees do go onto do great things. Read Harold’s romantic letterpress saga here!

Valentine’s Day at Boxcar Press

The Boxcar Toddler visited our letterpress headquarters on Valentine’s Day, decked out in a very realistic USPS postman outfit. He didn’t have much time to chat as he needed to pass out over 50 Valentines throughout the old artist warehouse that we call home. Though Valentine’s Day is perhaps a little less romantic with two kids, it certainly is a lot cuter. (Who needs flowers when you have a toddler anyway?!) And okay, okay, we’ll admit the little Valentines weren’t letterpressed this year, but at least they were eco!

Boxcar Press plates at work: more gorgeous political letterpress from Anagram Press/Springtide Press

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We get so excited when we see Boxcar’s photopolymer plates & the Boxcar Base hard at work making really beautiful stuff! Thanks to Chandler for sending us pics of “Prop Cake,” the latest installment of the Feminist Broadside Series, designed by Chandler O’Leary of Anagram Press and letterpress printed by Jessica Spring of Springtide Press, using a Vandercook Universal One, Boxcar’s 94FL plates, and the Boxcar Base. The Feminist Broadside Series has been such a success — the last two broadsides are SOLD OUT (yay!), and this one is going fast too I’m sure. Jessica and Chandler will be speaking at the Tacoma Art Museum on May 12, and the power duo had a great mention in City Arts Magazine. To purchase the latest broadside, go to Anagram Press’s etsy store. Check out the first broadside and the second broadside in the series

Chandler writes about the new broadside, “Because we believe everyone deserves an equal slice of wedding cake, the next broadside in the series features a quote by Alice Paul: ‘There is nothing complicated about ordinary equality.’ ‘Prop Cake’ features an original illustration inspired by the architecture of San Francisco, epicenter of the battle over Proposition 8 in California. The broadside is printed from hand-lettered typography, on 10 x 18-inch archival, 100% rag, recycled paper, in an edition of 108, and is priced at $30.”

Boxcar Baby #1 helps out in company headquarters

Since the Boxcar Baby #1 just reached his 2-1/2 year milestone, we thought it was time he started pulling his weight around the office a little more. Luckily, energized by a peanut butter sandwich, he was more than willing to help out with our ink jet printer upstairs and try his hand at answering the phones. We’re looking forward to more contributions from Boxcar Baby #2 (due July 30, 2009)!



From our print shop: cool letterpress and offset double-sided business cards

Sometimes we combine letterpress and offset printing to get the best of both printing methods – the back of these business cards were flooded with great color (with type in reverse), since letterpress isn’t ideal for large solids.

Boxcar Base and polymer plates in action: Fitzgerald Letterpress, New Orleans

It just makes our week when we receive beautiful letterpress things from our platemaking customers, so we were thrilled to open our mail a little while ago and find some great letterpress pieces from Fitzgerald Letterpress in New Orleans, printed on a Heidelberg 10 x 15 windmill with a Boxcar Base and 94FL photopolymer plates.


Owner John Fitzgerald was kind enough to send us some thoughts on letterpress and printing in New Orleans. John writes, “I’m running a mostly one-person operation in the Bywater section of New Orleans. Things are still a challenge here, but they were before Katrina too. I do custom work like invitations and business cards, plus some note cards and art prints that I sell at a local art market and wherever else I can. The letterpress scene here is small. When I moved here in 2003 there was one artsy letterpress outfit (Hot Iron Press) and they have since shifted to a fine art focus and don’t take much custom work. This town is not really up to speed with the hip, new letterpress scene, which is fine with me because being hip is a lot of work. As it is, there are a few people who like the look and want letterpress. As more people see it and want it word spreads and some day New Orleans will join the scene (which by then it will no longer be hip and we can all relax.)”

“The original idea came to do a print depicting something like the “last supper” but inclusive. We call it “All Are Welcome.” Girls stand very close to girls and boys hold hands with boys, men hold babies, old fat skinny young – we are all here. My wife Katy Quigley made the drawing and I cut the block and printed on Crane Lettra 14 x 20. Then Katy hand tinted them. People like the image so I scanned a print (not tinted) and sent you a re-sized file. Then I ran about 500 of them on Cougar (Domtar) 80# cover, natural white. Then I scored and trimmed them to A-7 size and wrapped them with a matching envelope. I think I’m done running cheap paper. Next time I’ll go with something like Crane Lettra (they also have a nice matching envelope.) The run was smooth and trouble free once I got the feeder to cooperate. I did a version of Pantone 4625 with some 874 metallic gold thrown in for that extra opaque punch and subtle glow.”

Thanks so much for sharing your work with us, John!

Sweetly cool letterpress cards – desinged by Salt & Syrup, letterpressed by Boxcar Press

We had the pleasure of printing Salt & Syrup‘s new and amazing letterpress line of stationery cards recently. Oh these designs made us and our presses so very happy! The cards are available for purchase right now at Salt & Syrup’s etsy shop. This cool line is based out of Stockholm, Sweden – fun to work so long distance with designer Emily too!



Even the backs of the cards are artful and sweet.


Sweetly cool letterpress cards – desinged by Salt & Syrup, letterpressed by Boxcar Press

We had the pleasure of printing Salt & Syrup‘s new and amazing letterpress line of stationery cards recently. Oh these designs made us and our presses so very happy! The cards are available for purchase right now at Salt & Syrup’s etsy shop. This cool line is based out of Stockholm, Sweden – fun to work so long distance with designer Emily too!



Even the backs of the cards are artful and sweet.


Boxcar Base/plates in action: the Studio On Fire letterpress calendar

Okay, we’re in love.

Actually, we fall totally head over heels in love with the Studio On Fire calendar every single year, and this year is no different. The design is always amazing. The letterpress printing is always amazing (amazing solids, great impression, super crisp type).

And we’re so thrilled that the calendar is printed using our Boxcar Base and Boxcar’s photopolymer plates.

Studio On Fire, by the way, is a design and letterpress shop based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and they consistently create some of the most original letterpress work out there — so go check them out and get inspired! The calendar is available for purchase for $30 from their web site — and sure, it’s March, but that means you can still get nine more months of authentic over-the-top letterpress pleasure from this calendar. Also check out their awesome letterpress blog Beast Pieces.