Magpie Press

Well the big news this week at Magpie Press is the long-awaited arrival of a fantastic new paper stock.  The Crane Lettra in bright white has a smooth finish, and is just perfect for double-sided work, or when you want a brighter white than the lovely warm whites we usually work with in the Somerset range.  The first project off the press in the 600gsm is this awesome card for Urban Logic.  Crane is an American company with a great eco ethic (’green since 1801′) and the Lettra range is made from tree-free 100% cotton fibre, in a mill which uses steam from a nearby waste-to-energy plant.  You can read more about this here> We also have the matching 100% cotton envelopes available in a variety of sizes in stock now.

We printed up these great cards for Nick Cattell recently on Somerset 330gsm.  I’m still not entirely sure about what a ‘matte painter’ actually is, but clearly he has some great practical skills, as we received these shots soon after delivery, of the cards with the corners cut!  Thanks Nick for the update.  (We’re happy to cut the corners for you too – just ask when ordering).

It’s been a busy week printing, with many requests for delivery pre-Easter.  One of the stand-out designs and a brilliant example of ’simple-works-best’ in letterpress is this lovely card we printed for Gina Hufton.  She designed the ‘Hufton’ font herself, and it was certainly worth the effort as the blind (no ink) print is stunning.  The paper stock is a sturdy 600gsm (!) off-white.

So my fashion conscious friends tell me that cycling is cool again, but you have to pay close attention to your choice of cycle and your outfit.  Someone who needs no help in this department at all is the owner of these fabulous letterpress personal calling cards.  Everyone should have some!  These are destined for Amsterdam, and feature the classic Gazelle bicycle.

We’ve printed up a number of great business cards (and some personal visiting cards) of late, but this one has to be one of the most handsome of the lot!   Designed by Mike Collinge at Designworks for architect Michael Davies www.daedal.co.nz its beauty is in its simplicity, complemented by a brilliant choice of paper stock – the Somerset 500gsm.  We took some snaps through the printing process – wander on over to Mike’s blog to have a look at these here…

design by Mike Collinge @ Designworks

We had a flurry of beautiful projects to work on this week.  Artist David Jones’ card was one of the highlights – understated, elegant and it feels good, printed on Somerset 330gsm cotton stock.  David’s website, showcasing his work is at www.dojones.co.nz

Feel free to contact us if you would like a beautiful card of your own – we love printing these up, and they’ll certainly set you apart from the crowd!

A designer asked me this week if we could print silver onto black stock (he’s been throwing around ideas for super special business cards)…  I remembered that I had a tube of lovely Charbonnel silver ink in my cupboard (we usually print using vegetable or soy-based inks) so I dug it out, and the test kitchen fired into action.  Here are the results – wee black beauties, I think!  The stock is a whopping 650gsm, so lends itself to printing (or blind debossing) on the reverse if that is your whim…  tricky beasts to photograph, but you’ll get the idea.

It’s one of those jobs that always seems to slip down the list – your own business card.  So here it is finally, letterpress printed on glorious Somerset 500gsm.  It’s thick’n'chunky folks!  Henry (the magpie) looks superfine too, if I may say so.

Magpie Press letterpress business card