crane’s lettra price
The last time I bought crane’s lettra was a few month ago from paper.com. I think I paid about $130/100 sheets.
Today I browsed crane.com and found out that their price had jumped to $193/100 sheet (23x35), and the price for their A7 and 4bar size envleope had jump up too.
Does anybody know where I can by crane’s lettra more economically? Or if anybody could suggest me some alternative paper for letterpress invitations, it would be very helpful.
Thanks!
I’ve heard the price is better through you local paper house at least it is through mine here in Dallas.
Casey
www.inkylipspress.com
Clampitt in Garland, Texas. Talk with Frank, he’s the manager. 972 487 4005. They carry 26 x 40 parent sheets, 12.5 x 19, 8.5 x 11, A7, A6, A2, 4 Bar in White and Pearl of the Lettra. They ship all over the US.
I have recently printed on Fox River/Neenah Blotter paper 158#. It’s really nice for a heavy stock and an alternative to high priced paper. No envelopes or anything. I’ve printed postcards and business cards and also invitations when the bride wanted heavy weight paper but didn’t have much money.
Clampitt stocks the Blotter also.
Casey
www.inkylipspress.com
I just went over the price increases with my paper salesman. Here is the back story.
A couple months ago, Dow Chemical, who makes the (petroleum based) ingredients involved with paper making increased their prices by 20% across the boards. This eventually translated into a 7%ish increase to Cranes and others. Just last week Dow announced that it is increasing their prices another 25%. This increase hasn’t trickled down yet, but it will, and to the tune of another 7-8% added to all stocks across the board.
Just thought I’d share the happy news.
Bill
Yikes. They really jacked the prices. At this rate, it’s really out of most paper budgets I’ve encountered.
With a stock marketed as being for letterpress, it’s a strange move, considering it’s a market of small businesses. Surely many order stock direct from Crane.
Possibly they want to send the biz to their resellers, but most resellers don’t even want to deal with the quantities I order.
Oh well, there are plenty of other great socks, just not with such great envelope options.
By the way, my current favorite is Arches Rives BFK. It’s about the same shade as Pearl White Lettra, and takes a similar impression. It’s is slightly less weighty, but its supple texture makes up for that.
Lettra prices, like those of every other manufactured item, are indeed going up dramatically right now. Those of us who have been doing this for any length of time have seen this phenomenon several times before. It’s a cyclical thing that we at ground level can do very little about.
But…. there are many other types of paper out there. Contrary to what many of the folks here seem to think, Lettra is not the only paper that works well with letterpress. It’s only real advantage is that it’s soft enough to compensate for poor makeready, and thus it makes it easier for an untrained person to get a good impression. Other than that, it’s just another paper and has always seemed overpriced and over-hyped to me.
There is a WORLD of paper out there. If the high price of Lettra is too much for you to pay, then learn to use other papers.
Contrary to popular belief, Lettra is one of the most affordable of the cotton stocks. And what I believe makes it popular is that it is affordable, available, and has matching envelopes. This takes a lot of the leg work out of matching sets together and ultimately making a profit. That, my friend, is smart business and Cranes knows it. I’ll admit, I was skeptical at first too, because I’m not one to chase after the trends, but now it is my house stock for letterpress.
Winking Cat, you are not going to make many friends here if you degrade all those that use Lettra.
I have done this for a long time, and have used and inventoried thousands of differents stocks, and Lettra is far more than a crutch that novices use to cover up their poor workmanship. But lets keep perspective, it certainly isn’t the only sheet out there, but don’t look down on it just because it is popular.
Bill
(no, I don’t work for Cranes)
Bill, my intent is not to put down those folks who like Lettra. It does print well and comes in nice colors with envelopes. For invitations, it’s a good paper. If that’s all one does, then my comments may not be fully applicable.
However, a good printer should be able print on a wide variety of stocks to meet a wide variety of end uses, costs, and availability. This is something we are not seeing in many of the shops nowadays. Many of the newer printers entering the field have become so dependent upon Lettra that when the availablity and or cost fluctuates, they are suddenly unable to continue producing good work. This is not a wise strategy from either a business or aesthetic point of view.
I too have my own “house stock” which is Canson Edition. For my work it has proven to be the best choice. But if it were to suddenly rise in price or become unavailable I would not be seriously impacted since I’ve taken the time to develop alternatives to it. This is what I would encourage all printers, especially newcomers to the field to do. By becoming dependent on a single source supplier they are actually limiting themselves in the long run.
Try Arch Paper’s 8.5”x11” Vintage Rag. It’s $0.20 per sheet! Go to archpaper.net.
K
Can anyone tell me, if I wanted to order a pretty large supply of Lettra—is the crane.com website the cheapest place? I called Crane and they gave me the number to Neenah, saying they manufacture the paper for them. I called Neenah and they said I would have to talk to a distributor. I called my local distributor and……his prices for 100 sheets of 23x35 lettra 110lb. paper were about $65 higher than the crane website. Thanks!
P.S. I’m going to post this on Letpress also, so don’t scream at me if you read it both places. ;)
I looked at paper.com and saw the price hasn’t gone up so much. You didn’t say what size sheet and which weight. Could you have been comparing two different weights?
Try Keldon Paper in Los Angeles for all Crane Lettra items.
www.keldonpaper.com
323-584-7788
Re: Arch Paper’s 8.5”x11” Vintage Rag. It’s $0.20 per sheet!
I wanted to try the Vintage Rag, but they only mail UPS and it would have cost me $51 for shipping to Hawaii for 1 package of 100 sheets.
Does anyone have a package of Arch’s Vintage Rag
(100 sheets/ 8.5 x 11 for $20) that they could sell to me
and mail USPS?
Crane’s pricing might be higher, but their shipping fees are reasonable for those not living in continental U.S.
Re : Kraft Veda’s 100% Cotton paper
I have ordered Kraft Veda’s Cotton paper, the quality & the price they offer is very much economical.
I ordered for 100 sheets with a door delivery option and got my papers delivered within 7 days at my door step.
check their tree free paper sheets at http://www.kraftveda.com
Regards,
Kevin
We have Lettra (and many other papers including Bamboo) available at http://www.letterpresspaper.com . I think you’ll find the prices reasonable. (There’s also an extensive sample department if you want to try other papers as well.)
I hope this helps.
Joshua
Kevinjohn - how do you find it? I’ve been receiving emails from their sales people telling me it’s the best thing out there (of course), but the way it was written made me think it was just spam.
I have tried the 300/400 gsm papers, the quality is good.