A raised plate presses into soft paper under heavy pressure, transferring ink and leaving a tactile impression you can feel with your fingertips. No flat printing method can replicate it.
Get a QuoteLetterpress printing presses a raised plate into soft paper under heavy pressure, transferring ink and leaving a tactile debossed impression. The technique dates to Gutenberg, but modern letterpress uses photopolymer plates made from digital artwork rather than hand-set metal type.
The impression — that satisfying bite into the paper — is the defining quality. You can see it at an angle and feel it with a fingertip. It communicates craft and intention in a way that flat printing cannot.
Your artwork is output onto a photopolymer plate — a light-sensitive material that hardens where exposed and washes away where it is not, leaving a raised relief of your design.
The plate is mounted on the press and inked. Paper is fed through, and the press applies pressure — typically several hundred pounds per square inch — transferring the ink and pressing the design into the paper surface.
Each ink color requires a separate plate and a separate pass through the press. A two-color letterpress job means two plates and two press runs. Registration — aligning the second color precisely over the first — is one of the skills that separates good letterpress from great letterpress.
Soft, thick cotton papers produce the deepest letterpress impression. Crane's Lettra is the industry standard — 100% cotton, available in fluorescent white and pearl white, in weights from 110lb to 220lb cover.
We also print on Colorplan, Gmund, Keaykolour, and other specialty stocks. Harder papers still take letterpress well, but the impression will be shallower. We match paper to project — a deep-bite cotton card for wedding invitations, a firmer stock for hang tags that need to hold up to handling.
See our full paper selection for options.
We mix letterpress ink by hand using the Pantone Matching System. Every color is mixed fresh for each job — we do not rely on pre-mixed cans or CMYK approximations.
This matters because letterpress ink behaves differently than offset or digital ink. The pressure, paper absorbency, and ink coverage all affect the final color. We adjust the mix until the printed result matches your specification, not just the swatch book.
We offer over 1,800 Pantone ink colors and can match custom samples. See our ink color guide for details.
Letterpress is often one layer in a multi-technique piece. Here is what pairs well with it.
Letterpress ink is transparent, so white ink on dark paper will not produce a clean, opaque result. The dark paper shows through the ink, producing a faded or grayish appearance. For white on dark paper, foil stamping or digital white ink are the better options. We frequently combine letterpress with foil stamping on the same piece.
Letterpress pricing depends on the number of ink colors, paper stock, quantity, and any finishing techniques. Each ink color requires a separate polymer plate and press run. Business cards typically start around $750. Wedding invitation suites start around $1,500. Contact us with your project details for an accurate quote.
Letterpress holds fine detail well, but text below about 6pt may lose readability depending on the typeface and paper. Thin serifs and hairline strokes are the most vulnerable. Sans-serif faces with consistent stroke widths tend to hold up better at small sizes. We review every file and will flag anything that may cause issues.
We accept vector files in AI, EPS, or PDF format. All text should be converted to outlines. Each ink color should be on its own layer or specified as a Pantone spot color. See our file preparation guide for full requirements.
Yes, with some preparation. Canva exports raster files by default, which are not ideal for letterpress. We can work with Canva Pro PDFs, but the best results come from vector artwork. Read our full guide: How to get the best letterpress prints from your Canva designs.
Tell us about your project and we will help you choose the right paper, ink, and techniques.
Or call us at 1 (800) 213-6408