What's the difference between letterpress/hot foil printing vs digital printing
Before I started The Dairy Studio, I had no idea that letterpress printing even existed. My understanding was that pretty much everything was printed using a computer and a digital printer, but how wrong I was. I’ve since learnt a lot and couldn’t think of printing stationery any other way than using the hand-crafted art of letterpress + hot foil.
LETTERPRESS
Hot Foil
The process behind digital printing simply takes a design/image from a computer and using an electronic printer, it prints the design/image on the surface of the paper. Digital printing inks include cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK) toner and ink, which means digital printing is great for printing photographs. However there are limits to digital printing, for example, the heaviest weight of paper that can be used in most digital printers is 300gsm. Also, the paper needs to be fairly light in tone as you won’t be able to see the CMYK ink colours on dark shades of paper.
Now let’s discuss my favourite printing method; letterpress + hot foil. These are both methods of relief printing and both need a printing plate to be made. The printing plates that I use come in 2 versions, either a photopolymer or a magnesium version. Letterpress printing uses a photopolymer plate whereas hot foil printing uses magnesium plates, this is because a hot foil press heats up to around 100 degrees Celsius. Both of these plates get pushed into the surface of the paper, creating not only a beautiful visual aesthetic but one that you can touch and really feel the tactile embossed and debossed surface of the paper.
The difference between letterpress + hot foil
The difference between letterpress + hot foil is that the photopolymer plate used for letterpress printing gets inked up with a very thin layer of special letterpress inks. The paper then gets pushed into the inked photopolymer plate and the ink is left along with a deep impression on the surface of the paper. Whereas hot foil stationery uses a roll of foil which has an adhesive back. This then gets sandwiched between the printing plate and paper, leaving the foil pushed into the surface of the paper. I am able to mix pretty much any colour, just by using a few ready-made colours, meaning I can match any colour you have in mind. Letterpress inks are also transparent so the best colour paper to use for letterpress printing are white tones. Foils not only come in your typical golds and silvers but also in white, black, matte colours, transparent colours and some special designs too. Meaning foils are great to print with if you want to use coloured paper. One of my favourite ways to print is by using coloured paper and then a white foil to print the design, as the white really pops on the surface of the paper.
Letterpress & Hot Foil
Hot Foil
Blind letterpress
The best type of paper to use for lettepress printing is 100% cotton paper. Heavyweight cotton paper (I normally use 600gsm, so double the thickness you can use for digital printing) allows you to create a pillowy impression. Letterpress printing truly elevates any style of design, whether it be a bold and eye-catching design or if your aesthetic is minimal and modern then lettepress printing takes your design to the next level. Hot foil stationery is best printed on heavyweight paper too and is great if you want to use coloured paper for your stationery.
Both the letterpress + hot foil stationery I print in-house are all printed by hand. I feed each individual piece of paper into the bed of the press, and once I apply pressure and it gets pushed into the printing plate, I simply remove it and then repeat again with the next piece of paper. This way of printing is a labour of love but the results are truly magnificent and once you discover it, you’ll be completely won over by this ancient art form of printing.