Custom Questions

WHAT IS LETTERPRESS?

Letterpress is old. Real old. Dating back hundreds of years, letterpress is the original printing method invented by Johannes Gutenberg. And these are the same printing presses we still use… hot damn is right!

If you’re interested in the nitty gritty - letterpress uses the relief method, in which a reversed, raised surface is inked and then pressed into a sheet of paper to produce a positive right-reading image. First, we design our greeting cards or custom paper projects, and then a custom plate is created for every design. After the plate is made, we hand mix each ink color and hand register the press for printing. Next, each piece of paper is fed into an antique press one sheet at a time. And keep in mind that only one color can be printed at a time – so the card has to be separately run through the press for every color used. Wowza.

The end result? An elegant card or custom project on thick 100% tree-free paper, with original humor and crisp, classic typography. As each card is fed through the press separately, each piece is distinctive and a true work of art.

Pretty fucking cool!

DO YOU OFFER FULLY CUSTOM PROJECTS?

Sometimes. On very rare occasions we will take on custom letterpress projects. If something is super exciting to us, if it is a bad-ass woman owned brand that we want to collaborate with, if it is super PINK, basically we call the shots and sometimes we say yes. That said, we are a very busy global brand and unfortunately, we often can’t! If you do have something super cool in the works email us at hello@piphpaper.com and we will get the convo started.

DO YOU DO WEDDING INVITATIONS?

Fuck, no! We LOVE a beautiful wedding invitation, but that’s not our bag. If you’re based on the West Coast and are looking for a fully custom wedding suite with a wow factor, we recommend you reach out to Boarding School Collective— a woman-owned business run by a wonderful human, Jess Astrella. Let her know we sent you. If you are based on the East Coast and looking for a luxury, bespoke wedding option, we recommend Suite Paperie — a woman-owned business run by a badass lady, Becca Goldberg. Tell her we sent you.

HOW LONG DOES CUSTOM LETTERPRESS TAKE TO CREATE?

A fully custom letterpress project can take anywhere from a minimum of 3 weeks to over three months to create, print and ship. Semi-custom stationery orders generally take about 2-3 weeks to produce after proofs have been approved.

CAN I RUSH MY LETTERPRESS ORDER?

If you’re in a hurry, custom letterpress rush requests can be accommodated for a 40% up-charge and a time frame must be agreed upon before an order is placed. Basically – we can make it happen but it is gonna be way more expensive than just planning ahead.

WHY IS LETTERPRESS SO DAMN PRICEY?

Letterpress is an art. It requires skilled technique and everything is created by hand. The press registration and ink mixing is all done by hand and every card is printed individually one color at a time. We’re tired just talking about it. Also, we source the best materials and use gorgeous, luxe, 100% tree-free post consumer recycled cotton paper. Basically, you get what you pay for…and this shit is good!