Let’s See That Printed: Carmela Heintzelman of Fiore Press : Architectural Artwork

We were pleased to lend support to Carmela Heinztelman when she was approached with a special print request. After seeing the results, we think more professional design projects like this should come to life in letterpress.

When architect Edward Deegan contacted me about making some letterpress prints of his architectural drawings, I jumped at the chance.  I admire Ed’s work and have seen many of his designs realized in our Illinois community and his work is absolutely impeccable. Below is one of the beautiful houses he designed, and one of the prints I made from his sketch of this house.

Carmela Heintzelman of Fiore Press

(Above: photography credit: Karen Loffing)

Carmela Heintzelman of Fiore Press

I love printing personalized artwork, and this was no different.  To take a talented architect’s sketches and translate it into letterpress printed art that could be framed and hung was such an honor. 

Carmela Heintzelman of Fiore Press

Edward had five sketches that he wanted printed. The challenge was to take these sketches and adjust them in a way that worked best for letterpress and kept the details. 

Carmela Heintzelman of Fiore Press

We needed to apply a screen, which I had never done before. Enter Prepress from Boxcar Press! I called Cathy and explained this project, and she was excited to help. She looked at each of the pieces and told me the best way to prep the artwork. I converted the scans to grayscale, adjusted the contrast, brightness and threshold, then saved it as a TIFF.  It came out perfect – the client was extremely happy!


Carmela Heintzelman of Fiore Press

In addition to the house renderings, I also printed for Edward a tall ships scene and two historical facades.  He framed and hung them all in his office.

Thanks Carmela for sharing the printing of these drawings.  In addition to being a learning experience for you on the file preparation side, it was a nice treat to see something a little out of the norm come to life in letterpress. This is a very limited edition art that will be viewed and enjoyed.