Best strategy for printing multiple items with bleeds on 1 press sheet.

Hello Letterpress Gurus!
We are designing our own wedding invitations.
Hopefully these will be printed using letterpress in 2 colors on 300 gram paper.
We would like to fit the following in a 10” x 13” press sheet:
- Invite 5.50” x 5.50” card (to fit a 5.75” x 5.75” envelope)
- Thank-you 3.25” x 5.00” card (to fit a 3.63” x 5.13” A-1 envelope)
- Stationery 5.85” x 8.27” card (ISO 216 A5-148 by 210 mm)
- Favor tag 5.8 by 0.8 inch
The idea is to print everything on one 10” x 13” press sheet and then cut along the crop marks to economize.
The design includes a bleed. We came up with a sort of template to see if this can work, and need your kind input and suggestions.
[Please see attached images]
The shaded magenta areas in the images are the areas where the bleed is needed.
The design is not solid as show, but is made up of a series of curves.
Which of the two templates will work best, if any?
The first one leaves a space of ¼” between each component.
The second one does not, meaning there will be less trimming. Since the design that bleeds is continuous with no sudden abruptions, there should be no problem in the final product if the trimming moves a few millimeters.
What is the minimum distance I have to allow from the margins of the 10” x 13” press sheet; is using the central 9” x 12” area safe enough?
Is a bleed of 1/8” on each side of the trim good enough?
Do you have any more clues for safe trimming, registration marks and bleeds?
Are there any other areas of the 10” x 13” press sheet that have to be free for the letterpress process and thus cannot be used for printing?
Thanks a lot!
Mario and Danni

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By my count you could trim the second layout in 10 cuts, whereas the first would need 11.

What kind of press is this designed for? If you’re using a platen then I might worry about the impression strength across such a large area, especially if this would be the size of your chase.

If you’re just doing a two color with the background and text on top then you’re just overprinting and registration shouldn’t be too tough. Just keep the bottom level so that your text doesn’t come out crooked.

My 2 cents.

I get 13 cuts on #1.

Are you using a guillotine cutter to cut these? If so, on that heavy stock, you may find the you get a bit of forming on the bevel side of the knife which could give you a different-looking edge on one side of the common cut edges of the #2 layout. If, however, you are cutting these sheets with a knife or razor-cutter one sheet at a time, the 2nd layout would save you many cuts.

It would appear that you have plenty of space at the edge of both these layouts for any presses with which I am familiar.

n/a

It just prooves that there are more ways than one to skin a … tomato, or cut pieces apart.

Good advice Devils Tail. Top should be front lay and left side should be side guide. If this layout works well for you and you use it a lot and depending on volume I would consider diecutting as it gives a consistant edge.Also make readies can be used for set up then only one cut per sheet. Have to say die option as that’s how I got into this. Another way to skin….
Mike

If your printing on a platen press then you should use a rider roller for the big pink solid areas other wise it will look distressed or starved of ink and inconsistent.

If you’re printing a one color job this looks great. If you’re printing a 2 color job do you need registration marks or trim marks for registration of the second color?

You’ll have better ink coverage on a flatbed press.

Trying to manage consistent printing on a platen press would work, however, if your printing large solids and type in the same form then you’ll have a challenge. It only takes a small amount of ink for type but much more ink for solids, when printing them together the counters in the type will plug up and it will result will be poor printing quality.

It was mentioned that if you trim the paper on the second layout you will find a rougher edge on the paper closest to you, which will need to be trimmed. I would cut these like layout 1, independently. A bit more time but more successful.

Thank you all for your tips, you’re all very helpful! We don’t not have a letterpress ourselves and were hoping to find a letterpress printer that would take this job, print it (possibly with a Original Heidelberg 10″ x 15″) and die-cut the items.

Any ideas of a printer that would be up for the job, preferably in the UK, but also in US/Canada? (Till now we were not lucky in finding someone that was able to do it.)

I have revised the plan (as attached).