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Latest letterpress and hot foil printing projects. Bonus, exciting news!

May 9, 2017November 4, 2017 Andreea

We’ve been working like crazy lately and i figured i should share some of our latest letterpress and hot foil printing projects. Since there were quite a lot of them, i just had to pick somehow and it wasn’t easy. That’s because i really loved working on each of these projects! I loved the artwork (a bit of self-praise here, as some of them are designed by me) and i loved the end result. The best part of all is that our clients were happy with them too and that’s really the best feeling you could have regarding your own business.

So without further ado, let’s get started!

It really doesn’t matter what Pantone says, grey is definitely the color for letterpress. We’ve had so many projects in grey ink even from our very beginning about 2 years ago! Even now, the projects i’m presenting now are most of them printed in grey ink… You can’t deny the power of grey! Well these letterpress cards above rocked grey ink!

This time around we have gold hot foil tags. My personal favorite combinations for hot foil printing are the ones that use darker colored card stock; i feel like the shiny metallic foil stands out a lot more. However, it highly depends on the design too. And if it’s a simple, minimal design such as the one above, then it works wonders on our Snow White card stock as well!

I was totally in love with the color combination of these tags and the design as well! Using 2 ink colors on small tags is not that popular, although seeing how these cuties turned out, i definitely think it should!

Getting back to the grey area, the letterpress square hang tags above and the rectangular ones underneath are both printed in grey ink on our puffy Wild card stock. I love using this card stock for designs that have thin elements or thin fonts. Since it has 35% cotton in it, this card stock allows a deeper indentation.

The design for the letterpress round cards cards above is absolutely beautiful (no, sadly, i wasn’t the one who created it)! Using grey papier mache for round cards is actually quite popular in our little studio. I never would have thought, actually…

Finally, i am proud to say that the design for the copper hot foil save the dates above is created by me and is has gotten really popular! See what i was saying before with the combination of hot foil printing and darker colored card stock? We used a dark grey card stock (of course, back to grey again!) and copper hot foil.

Well, these are only a few of the letterpress and hot foil printing projects we’ve been working on lately, but you can see more of them on our Instagram.

And finally, i did mention something about some good news, right? Well, i am happy to say that starting tomorrow, we’ll have a special sale offer for our letterpress and hot foil printing projects!! So stay tuned and find out how you’ll be able to get custom letterpress or hot foil printed business cards, hang tags, wedding stationery, business stationery or any other type of card at a far better offer than usual!!

The Funky Studio Team wishes you, as always, a colorful day!

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Website design focus. Particularities, characteristics and functionality

April 6, 2017November 5, 2017 Andreea

Cashmio, who has only been established since 2015, is licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority and the UK Gambling Commission. It is one of the most designer online casinos that have ever existed. Even though Cashmio was launched relatively recently it provides all those who visit with the amazing design experience and functionality of a site that has been around much longer. It comes to no surprise that Cashmio experienced a substantial growth in popularity since its launch just over two years ago.

The people behind this quirky and creative casino set out with the aim to create an online casino that is suited to all players, both the young and the old. Together with their highly- motivated and passionate team they managed to create an online casino packed with beautiful graphics, missions, awards and games. Everything was simplified so that players find their favourite games easily and be able to participate in their fun and thrilling promotions without any problems.

Cashmio is not just another online casino, it features a gorgeous fresh design that goes against repetitive templates. We can’t help but be impressed by the brilliantly designed Cashmio casino, which is by far one of the most attractive and user-friendly site that we have came across in a long time. Everything at Cashmio has been designed with ease of use in mind.

If we had to pick just one word to describe Cashmio we would pick fun. The design of the website is colourful, fresh and distinctive- bingo! The graphics are outstanding, professional and playful which is a huge plus. Here you can also find a number of animated characters that represent the Cashmio team in the most innovative way possible. Benny, the Bonus Manager, is the King of bonuses and is always working hard to come up with generous and huge bonuses while Alfred the Inventor creates new technologies to keep the website top- notch. These lively characters interact with players throughout their whole gaming experience to add a unique vibe to the casino. Totally different kind of design can be noticed at latestcasinofreespins.com

What makes this online casino very popular is the fresh and colourful theme as opposed to the majority of other casinos who adopt a dark and mysterious theme. And to continue to reinforce the belief that online casinos should be simple and straightforward, they provide an excellent customer support service. The diligent customer support team works endlessly to make sure their players have a plain-sailing experience and keep coming back for more. Available in English, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian and German, Cashmio’s staff are always on hand to give players the support they need.

Extremely important for the new players is responsive design. Cashmio also give their players the chance to take their gaming experience wherever they are. Players can opt to play their favorite slots or casino games anywhere, anytime thanks to their mobile app for iOS or Android mobile devices. Their mobile games have high- definition graphics with smooth gameplay on any size.

And to liven up their casino the people behind Cashmio prepared unique offers and massive welcome bonus packages. In order to give their esteemed players infinite reasons to play with them, Cashmio runs a daily set of missions for players to complete apart from an epic welcome bonus package. Completing missions gives players the opportunity to earn extra bonuses, free spins, cash coins, lottery coins as well as mystery coins. Pretty cool right? What’s more, newly-registered players are treated to 20 free spins on Aloha: Cluster Pays- without any deposit demands. It doesn’t end there, with every first deposit players are treated to a 100% up to £100 plus 50 free spins on Warlords: Crystals of Power.

In our humble opinion Cashmio joins the ranks of some of the most established online casinos. It lives up to the expectations of any new or experience online players looking for a secure gaming environment with a user- friendly design, making navigation through the site feel like second nature. Cashmio came onto the scene quite recently and quickly worked its way up to become one of the most sought after online casino in the industry.

letterpress printing process hot foil business cards

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About letterpress printing process, products and services. Tips and tricks

February 22, 2017 Andreea

Letterpress is a printing technique dating back to the mid XVth century. Even though nowadays digital printing is commonly used as the main method for printing, letterpress is seeing a rebirth because of its unique feel, texture and visual effects. However, this revival, as opposed to letterpress’ use back in the day, is seen in fine arts, stationery, special events etc.

How does letterpress work?

The process back in the day followed a very strict, detailed, meticulous and precise routine: individual metal letters of various fonts and sizes were carefully arranged and put together to form the text to be printed; after that, ink was applied thoroughly over the letters and then they’d be ready to be printed by applying pressure. As an alternative to the individual metal letters, nowadays photopolymer plates are used, though there still are artisans using the old ways. At the same time, as an alternative to the hand-operated letterpress machines, automated letterpress printing machines are used.

Tips for creating a letterpress-friendly design:

avoid using fonts that are too thin or have fine details. During the printing process such details can be lost, so it is best to consider not using them.
avoid using more than 2 or 3 ink colors. Adding another color actually means starting the whole printing process all over again; each color gets its own plate and printing time, therefore, the price is surely influenced by the number of colors to be printed. Also, avoid overlapping the colors.
avoid using transparency, shadows, gradients etc. These can not be reproduced in letterpress printing. It’s either the color evenly spread or no color at all.
image files can not be used in letterpress and hot foil printing. So no, Photoshop files are not ok as they are image files. The designs used in letterpress and hot foil have to be vector files, grouped and converted to curves. That means you must use a program that creates vector files and the most common ones are Corel Draw and Adobe Illustrator (.cdr and .ai files).
NO: .psd, .jpeg, .png etc. The design file has to be either .cdr or .ai or vector based .pdf.

Why is letterpress printing more expensive than digital printing?

Despite the use of polymer plates and automated printing machines, letterpress is still a highly complex and time consuming process. Setting up the machine alone takes a lot of attention and patience. Each color in a design gets its own plate and each plate requires a new machine set-up, washing and inking. The thick card stock used for letterpress printing is also not your regular card as well.

Why choose letterpress?

Letterpress printed products are high quality and luxurious; they are special, they provide an exquisite visual and tactile experience that will make it difficult for the receiver to throw them away. In this era of technology when all you need to get contact information is a mobile phone and we even started sending wedding invitations through emails, paper is indeed losing ground. However, letterpress printing came to show that a tangible, physical object will surely leave a lasting impression that will definitely be beneficial on the long term.

What does Funky Print Studio offer?

Funky Print Studio is a family-owned and operated letterpress and hot foil atelier based in Bucharest, Romania. Our services include:

letterpress printing (we print on an Original Heidelberg Platen windmill from circa 1960) – edge painting, rounded corners, blind impression, emboss (as opposed to deboss = letterpress printing); we also make our own polymer plates in house
hot foil printing – various foil colors
die cutting – cutting card stock in whatever shape and size using custom dies
finishing processes – cutting, folding, perforating, drilling

We do our very best to revive antique machinery and printing processes in order to create impressive details that will be treasured for a long time.

letterpress

Appreciating Letterpress Art and Other Traditional Printing Methods

October 10, 2016October 10, 2016 Andreea

Although the modern era led publications to shift to digital mediums, traditional printing is still kept alive in many parts of the world. Letterpress remains an effective channel to spread news or information and an instrument in making crafts like packaging material and business cards.

There are people though, who are truly passionate in letterpress printing that they have turned it into a form of art. There are exhibits and museums around the world dedicated to the printing press and everything that’s connected to it.

The Museum of Printing is one, which recently settled into its new and improved venue in Haverhill, Massachusetts. What They Think specified that the museum currently displays more than 50 tons of printing equipment and over 6,000 books on display.

It’s just a portion of the grandeur of the printing age, and yet it’s already hard to grasp what you can see and experience in this single museum. Among the most notable items are printing equipment from the Civil War period as well as vintage printers and scanners.

Elsewhere, the Virgil Getto Hall Art Gallery in Western Nevada College (WNC) at Fallon City is more focused on letterpress art as it acknowledges the works of people who enjoy letterpress printing. The WNC website mentioned that the exhibit, titled “Words + Images: Broadsides from the Black Rock Press,” will be on display until October 26.

More than 30 broadsides made using letterpress processes and tools such as handset type and relief plates are lined up along the halls of the gallery. There’s no admission fee to encourage more visitors and spread the dedication of writers and printers.

One of Nevada’s respected writers, Robert Laxalt, is featured through quotations included on the broadsides. Book artists, printmakers, and students also assisted in making the exhibit happen.

Truly, letterpress and printing were, and still are, significant instruments in the progress of society. Without them, reading your broadsheet while having your coffee in the morning wouldn’t be possible, and that’s just among the simplest forms of their value. Everyone, from the average person to the greatest historical figures should know their importance.

Even the great Renaissance man was keen on letterpress work. It’s a fact that Leonardo da Vinci is now immortalised through his artworks, numerous films such as Leonardo da Vinci: The Genius in Milan and games like Da Vinci Diamonds which incorporates the artist’s artworks as slot symbols. Aside from his paintings, however, the man was also a prolific inventor, and one of his creations was a letterpress machine which Trib Live described as a favourite in exhibits that recognise his brilliant inventions.

In short, all the books you’ve read, posters you’ve seen, and other printed material you’ve encountered can trace their origins to the traditional methods of printing. You might’ve not known the meaning of the word appreciation without books like dictionaries that you or your teachers have read. Thus, it only seems fair to direct at least a little appreciation to the art of printing.