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Friday, November 5, 2010

LOVE-ly Letterpress

Everyone loves letterpress. I might love it the most :). When I was thinking about this post tonight I was thinking about that word - it's kind of an odd one if you think about it too much. It really means taking letters and smooshing them against paper in a press. It's not actually nearly as glamorous as the end result.

Someday if I win the lottery, I will have a big smooshy for real letterpress that I can make pretty things on.

But luckily, I do have a small scale letterpress - the Big Shot - and some uber fun letterpress plates.

So here's my late review of these plates in the Big Shot, in case you haven't decided if you'd like to buy them yet or not.

The first thing you need to know, is that they recommend that you use craft (pigment) ink with these plates, and this is why. Here is an experiment with dye ink. A blotchy, somewhat frightening experiment :)

Next, I tried a lovely pigment ink from Technique Tuesday. Better, eh?Next, I tried white craft ink on Crumb Cake cardstock. I LOVE this! My only complaint with using regular cardstock is that the impression is not as deep as I like it. Also, with a light ink on darker paper, the ink does get sort of pooled at the edges of each image - on the leftmost "O" you can see this in my photo - there's a brighter white outline.


My favorite is using these plates on actual lettepress paper. I bought a ton of this from Crane when I got my Epic 6, and MAN does it make a difference. Look how deep the impression is, and how smooth it is at the edges of the designs. Truly perfection. And I have to say - the white on white is still my fave.
So I took the Crumb Cake piece and cut it up for a card front and I love it.


It's the weekend! Hope that wasn't a newsflash for you! Hope it's a crafty one!

8 comments:

  1. Can this be done with just a lil ole Cuttlebug? And, oh Guru of SCS, what can you tell me about shpritzing water on cardstock before running it thru the bug ? Love your stuff, and you ! (In a crafty sister-hood kind of way)

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  2. Very nice! Love it that you showed the different options, looks great! The white on white is very pretty, but I also like a lot the white on kraft! Lovely!
    Thanks for showing!
    Hugs, Wendy

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  3. i got this with my latest order and was somewhat underwhelmed by how it looks on regular card stock. not the deep impression you expect from letterpress.

    just wondering if you've tried watercolor paper as an alternative. i'm off to do it right now.

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  4. Gorgeous (as usual)! I haven't gotten my Letterpress plate out yet. I think I've been a little intimidated by it. But with this post, you've made me want to get it out.

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  5. I actually like the look of your dye-based sample..It is splotchy and faint in places but that's the charm for me.

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  6. Ohhh...very pretty..I have to try this..I only got one plate so far..have to try it I guess. Thanks for doing the Guinea Pig for us!

    WV GORIDEPO..as in..
    ..um...lets just leave it alone this time around okbyethanks

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  7. Lydia! You are going to cost me money! This is so fun and pretty.

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  8. Fabulous! Does SU sell the letterpress paper? and does it work with the Cuttlebug?

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