new orleans Archives - Boxcar Press

Here at Boxcar Press we are dedicated to making the world a better place and providing our customers with the finest quality letterpress stationery items. Recently we’ve been able to combine our two loves on a couple of special projects. (We’re sure other letterpress shops are out there supporting causes they believe in too. Post a comment and tell us what you’re doing, or email us at info@boxcarpress.com so we can promote you in future blog posts.)

If you follow this blog regularly, you may recall that we donated the printing for this Tara Hogan (of Ink + Wit)-designed card earlier this year. The sanctuary “provides shelter to cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, ducks, sheep and goats who have been rescued from cases of abuse, neglect and abandonment.” It promotes the respectful, humane treatment of animals and the benefits of a vegan lifestyle. Learn more by visiting their website:www.woodstocksanctuary.org.

Our friends at Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary liked the cards so much they called and asked if they could buy more! We were happy to do the job (who doesn’t love cows and pigs and sheep?) and extend them a discount in recognition of the great work they do. To learn more about the Sanctuary see our January 24th blog post.

(Boxcar Kids* modeling the tee shirts sent as a thoughtful thank you from the kind folks at Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary.)

We recently received this message from Greta Gladney, Executive Director of the Renaissance Project: “I cannot begin to tell you how much pride we take in using our new stationery. We appreciate Boxcar’s craftsmanship, commitment to sustainability and support of our work.”

“The mission of the Renaissance Project is poverty alleviation and improving the quality of life in New Orleans’ low-income African American communities by implementing programs and supporting partnerships in the areas of food access,education, economic development and the arts.” (from the mission statement of The Renaissance Project)

We printed their letterhead, envelopes and business cards at a discount. The identity package was designed by the talented folks at Big Tada in New Orleans.

The letterhead is letterpress printed in silver and navy ink on the front and features a map offset printed in silver on the back. The same navy and silver are used on both sides of the letterpress business cards. Crane Lettra Fluorescent White papers and envelopes served as the canvas for this handsome identity suite.

by Mary Raymond, Client Coordinator.

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!

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Tag Archives: new orleans

Letterpress makes the world a better place

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