Processes: Letterpress

Invented by Gutenberg in 1440, letterpress is still used in some commercial contexts such as newspapers and books. It prints from cast metal type, molded duplicate plates or polymer plates on which the image areas are raised above non-image areas. Rollers apply ink to the raised areas, and the ink is transferred directly to combined board or paper. You can recognize letterpress printing by a heavier edge of ink around each letter, and sometimes a slight embossing on the reverse side of the paper.

PROS - Letterpress can use multiple colors. producing an image with strong color, image is usually sharp and crisp, but grainy.

CONS - Ink dries relatively slowly, and halftones are coarse. Significantly more time is spent in makeready. Letterpress tends to print mid to low quality compared with other main processes.

COST - $$

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