Frequently Asked Questions

Why letterpress?

Investing in high-quality letterpress printing offers you a unique way to stand out in a digital world saturated with mass production. The tactile impression, rich textures, and timeless elegance of letterpress communicates care, craftsmanship, and attention to detail. Whether for business cards, invitations, or branded stationery, letterpress elevates your printed piece above all others and leaves a lasting, memorable impression.

How much will it cost to print my project letterpress?

Pricing letterpress, foil, or die-cutting projects involves many dynamics, including how many pieces you have, number of colors, paper quality, and complexity of the design. We can generally turn around an estimate in 24 business hours or less. Request a quote.

Is letterpress more expensive than other printing methods?

Generally speaking, yes. Letterpress is an over 500 year-old relief printing technique. Printing letterpress is a time-consuming process of laying down one color at a time. Our presses are 60+ years old but print as well as they ever have. It takes expertise, patience and experience to print letterpress.

That said, our experience and low overhead means we can provide fine letterpress printing at an affordable cost. We’ve been at it for over 25 years and print every day. We’re experts at efficiency without sacrificing quality. If you can design it, we can print it, and print it well.

What is the turnaround time for my project?

Generally, we need 10 business days to complete a project once approved. Scheduling depends upon current project work. We do offer rush services for an additional charge.

How do I prepare my design for letterpress printing?

It all starts with your design! If this is the first time you’ve prepared a design for letterpress printing before, that’s all good. Reach out and we’ll be happy to help. We even have a set of Adobe Illustrator templates, in popular paper sizes, that you can use to speed along the process.

Old North State Press File Prep Guidelines

A few words about typesize…

Generally speaking, the smallest type size we can print with letterpress is 6pt. You’ll get the best results with 8pt type or larger. Below 6 pt type, the counterspaces in the letters tend to fill when printing, especially if you’ve after the deep impression that is a trademark of modern letterpress printing. That said, it all depends upon the typeface. We’ve printed plenty of work with 6 pt type so it is possible to hold type at this small size. We are happy to review your designs for printing and advise, simply email them to us.

Can you send me a proof before you run the full job?

We’re happy to provide physical proofs when requested. For letterpress, foil stamping, and embossing, physical proofs require the same preparation as a full production run. This includes plate making, press setup, and labor — which represents a significant portion of the overall cost. For that reason, proofing for these processes are billed independantly from the production run.

For digital printing, proofing costs vary depending on the number of items being proofed, the paper selected, and turnaround time.

If you move forward with the proof, the cost of your plate(s) is applied to the final production run, so you’re not charged twice. However, additional setup and labor charges are required for the production run. If you make any changes to the artwork after a physical proof has been produced (letterpress, foil, or embossing only) new plates will be required, which will incur additional charges.

Can I learn to print letterpress?

Of course! We enjoy sharing what we know with others. We occasionally offer workshops for both beginners and advanced printers. You can sign up here.

Why aren’t there more letterpress printers?

Letterpress printing was the predominate printing method until the latter half of the 20th century when phototypesetting and offset printing took hold commercially. While there are many active hobbyist letterpress printers today, skilled commercial printers can be quite rare. It takes more than a table-top press to be a letterpress printer. Fine letterpress printing requires a significant level of skill, patience, experience and specialized equipment. The best letterpress printers are those with a deep appreciation for typography, a mastery of the printing process and an intense focus on details that the casual observer may not even perceive.

If there's anything that holds true to the axiom "it's all in the details" it is letterpress printing.

Ready to learn how to print letterpress? Sign up for a workshop today