On Press: Overprinting

For this year's new trade releases, we are doing a whole mess of overprinting, but Max's registration is super clean. By overprinting one color smack on top of another, we can turn two colors into three, and it looks super cool. But it can be a difficult process that allows no room for error.

On Eunice's new hand-drawn "Thanks A Brunch" card, the overprinted third color outlines the images and is the color of the text. So, even the slightest shift in registration would not go unnoticed.

 Max is an exceptional printer, and they look amazing. Great Job!

Employee Spotlight: Meet Max

Technically, Max isn't at a desk all day, and that's the way he likes it! He's one of our pressmen here at Hello!Lucky. He keeps our vintage presses humming along and masterfully cranks out our letterpress greeting cards. He knows all there is to know about letterpress and we love him for his easy going attitude and sense of humor.

My role at Hello!Lucky is...

Print-Wallah.

I can't get through the day without...

apple and peanut-butter.

My ideal weekend activities include...

sleeping, walking, separately.

My favorite Hello!Lucky design to print is...

Wiser, and anything by Julia Rothman.

If I wasn't a pressman I'd be...

a fishmonger.

Secret insider info you might not know about Hello!Lucky...

it used to be a billiards supply.

On Press: Dinosaurs--Polymer Plates

This is the first in a series of videos on the production of our "Dinosaurs" birthday card designed by Julia Rothman. Here Max demonstrates the polymer plate making process.

To create the plates, we first start with a film that has a clear image area and an opaque non-image area. We place this film on top of the polymer plate that has a layer of photo sensitive emulsion and expose it to UV light. The light that shines through the clear image area of the film hardens the light sensitive emulsion. Then we scrub the unexposed soft emulsion away, leaving a raised relief plate. After rinsing the plate and putting it on a heating tray to dry, we expose the plate to light again for added strength. Lastly, we apply an adhesive backing to attach the polymer plate to a boxcar base.

Stay tuned next week for the next step in creating this letterpress Dinosaur greeting card.

Ginger Bomb

We have a talented group of people here in the Hello!Lucky studio. Our colorful team is made up of not just paper lovers but also singers, crafters, cooks, and ginger beer brewers. Watch as pressmen James and Max crack open some of James' freshly brewed homemade ginger beer after a long day at the presses.