| What
is Letterpress Printing?
 etterpress
is the oldest form of printing. When a person outside of the industry
thinks of printing, typically they're thinking of letterpress printing.
The process is one of the easiest to understand.
Letterpress printing starts with a single piece
or multiple pieces of metal (or wood) made up of an image or letters
of type on a printing plate. The area that is intended to be printed
is raised up higher than other areas of the plate. Ink is applied
by rollers onto the raised surfaces. The raised surfaces then press
on paper and the ink, from the raised areas, is left on the paper.
The print quality can be sharp and clear but can vary depending
on the quality and texture of the paper. Typically only spot
colors are used with this method.
Letterpress, also known as relief printing, is pretty
rare today but can still be found in oldstyle print shops and in
school woodshops. Some use this process as an artform to produce
limited edition books and prints.
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