I’m excited to announce that I’m resurrecting Papillon Press letterpress workshops this Fall 2021! Come to our studio in Westport and learn how to set type and print your own notecards using all our old printing equipment.
Dates are available through weekends until mid-November (except for Thanksgiving weekend because we have plans). Book through AirbBnB Experiences.Book your spot on AirBnB Experiences
Guests will be introduced to our 70-yr-old letterpress in our studio, learn the basics of setting type and will ink and print their own personalized note cards (qty. 50, value of $100) by hand on the press. They will create their own stationery choosing from a selection of over 50 typefaces from our vintage typecases and etched graphics.
Day of workshop schedule
10am-11am The first hour of the workshop is spent discussing the history of letterpress printing, basic typography, types of papers and each participant’s project over coffee and Chantal’s homemade muffins. Each participant is given a handout for their own personal reference that they can keep
11am-12pm The rest of the morning is devoted to learning how to compose type in a composing stick, choosing from over 110 cases of type including lead type and wood type and from our dozens of cuts (pictorial etching
12pm-1pm Break for lunch.
1pm-3pm– Work on composing your type, then learn how to mount the type in the chase using furniture, leading & slugs. Each participant will proof their project on our proofing press to ensure there are no errors before printing on the big press.
3pm-5pm Each participant will learn how to mount the chase containing their type on our floor model 10×15 Chandler & Price letterpress and take their turn printing 50 pieces of their own
In April last year, I wrote that Papillon Press was on hiatus while I explored another direction with my career. For the last 8 months I’ve switched gears and have dived into freelance illustration. I ended the year on a positive note and am encouraged to persevere with freelance illustration as my new career choice in 2017. I had fun with Papillon Press while it lasted, but I’m no longer interested in continuing in the stationery industry. There are many factors involved in this decision and, while I may feel like ranting about it, I won’t bore you with the details. Suffice to say that I am thrilled to no longer have to attend god-forsaken industry trade shows 😉
I’ve decided to close down Papillon Press and clear out my remaining inventory at low, low discounted prices…up to 75% off everything! It pains me to do it, knowing how much work goes into one single letterpress card, but there it is. Help me clear out space in my studio and replenish your card stashes for the coming year at the same time!
Joel and I again want to thank those of you who supported us over the years by buying our products, coming to see us at craft fairs…and even just laying down $6 for one single card. You know who you are! Happy 2017!
P.S. I’m keeping my equipment for personal use, so I won’t be selling any right now.
That time of year is coming up; the time when you start thinking about which card your business will be sending out for the holidays. Is your business looking for a fun alternative to boring corporate Holiday cards? Look no further. Any of our Papillon Press holiday cards are available to be customized with an inside greeting of your choice. We’ll even design it for you!
Below is a card we did last year for Dent Craft. They chose our Festive Reindeer card and requested that the string lights be printed in their company colours, with an inside greeting printed in one colour.
Interested? Go ahead and fill out the Get An Estimate form and we’ll get back to you with a quote.
Our customized Festive Reindeer card
A one-colour greeting is printed inside the customized Festive Reindeer card.
Much to my pleasure, my brother and sister-in-law gave me carte blanche when designing the invitation suite for their Cape Cod wedding. They didn’t have any specifications other than the colour palette and that they didn’t want a typical nautical “Cape” style. I knew I wanted to create a design that was very much focused on illustration, so came up with this toile pattern that included a gristmill and a windmill (the venue had a water wheel outside), with some fall foliage thrown in because it was a fall wedding and fully illustrated type. Everything in this suite was hand drawn, including every letter. All pieces were then letterpress printed (also by me) except for the envelope, which was digitally-printed.
I’m so happy with how this invitation turned out. It’s great when clients let you do your thing and have fun with a job. Fun wedding too!
People often ask us if we can print in languages other than English. The answer is a resounding “YES”, as you can see with this English/Arabic wedding invitation. I love the choice of colour and the lovely artwork on this letterpress invitation. We don’t print many folded wedding announcements any more, but this is a fantastic example of what it can look like.
Specs: DesignSam Weber | Paper Crane Lettra, 300 gsm, pearl white | Size 5×7″ (folded) | Ink Colour custom mixed PMS swatches
You know what one of the perks is to owning your own letterpress business? Being able to print sweet, over the top business cards for yourself, that’s what! The other half of the Papillon Press team, illustrator Joel Kimmel, needed a business card to attend a conference so of course he designed and printed a fancy one, featuring his own illustrations and big, bold type.
Specs: DesignJoel Kimmel | Paper Crane Lettra, 600 gsm, flo white | Size 3.5×2″ | Ink Colour Turquoise & PMS Black
Did you know you can customize Papillon Press cards? If you find one of our greeting cards would make a great birth announcement, party invitation, family Christmas card, business thank you card, etc. we can absolutely print an inside greeting in our cards to personalize it just for you (minimum quantities apply, obviously).
Westport parents Megan and Seamus thought our Baby Triceratops card would make a great birth announcement for their son Sam, so we printed a one colour greeting inside the card in a matching style.
If you’re interested in personalizing on of our letterpress greeting cards,go ahead and get an estimate.
Specs: Paper Legion Bamboo, 265 gsm, soft white | Size A6 folded (4.5×6.25″ | Ink Colour Turquoise & Blue
Here is a fun letterpress wedding suite we printed for Brooklyn couple Matthew and Krista. This is a pretty full suite, including thank you card and favour tag, all in a coordinating red and rust ink.
Specs: Paper Crane Lettra, 300 gsm, pearl white | Size A7 announcement and envelope (5×7″) 4 bar (3.5×5″) reply card & envelope, 4 bar Thank you card & envelope, 1.5×3″ favour tag with coordinating baker’s twine | Ink Colours custom Pantone swatches | Vintage stampssendmoremail.com
Here is an elegant wedding invitation we printed for Melissa and Richard. The calligraphy was created by Allison at Allison R. Banks Designs. If you love the look of calligraphy, a great idea is to hire a calligrapher to design your invitation suite and then convert it to a digital format so it can be printed in whatever method you want. In this case, Melissa wanted calligraphy AND letterpress printing, so we worked with Allison to convert the calligraphy artwork to a letterpress-ready format. The result is the best of both worlds!
Specs: Paper Crane Lettra, 300 gsm, pearl white | Size Oversize announcement and envelope (6×9″) and 4 bar reply card & envelope | CalligraphyAllison R. Banks Design | Ink Colour Gunmetal Grey
This has to be one of our favourite customizations of our invitations yet. Working with our Regency invitation, Leslie choose to have it printed in Pewter and Overcast Blue and also took advantage of the cameo customization that comes with this invitation. We work from photos of the bride and groom and illustrated their cameos, fitting them into the invitation. The result is absolutely fabulous.
Specs: Regency invitation printed in Pewter & Overcast Blue on Crane Lettra, 300 gsm pearl white with customized cameos.
Papillon Press 