Ever print a diploma?

We at Lead Graffiti would love to print a high school diploma via letterpress. Look at this entry on our blog about a diploma we found yesterday (printed offset) that would make a good project.

http://blog.leadgraffiti.com/2010/08/02/187/

Anyone out there print a a diploma or certificate they would share with the group?

Easily our best (and most difficult printing project to date) was a certificate for the Art Directors Club of New York which required nine runs (six on the image alone).

You can see a link to our blog about that project at http://blog.leadgraffiti.com/2008/10/29/adc-grandmasters-certificate/

image: ADC-certificate.gif

ADC-certificate.gif

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I used to print names on diplomas that were printed offset, there is a jig used in the chase that allows you to insert a ludlow slug with the name on it without unlocking the chase or even taking it out of the press. Dick G.

Lead— the Fraktur, Penna. German style diploma is very nifty! Looks like a real challenge!

Dick — wish we had had one of those fancy jigs back when we were printing the names on diplomas on the college’s old Heidelberg. We had to set each name by hand, yank the chase, loosen the quoins, reset, hope the registration didn’t go off, etc., etc. The blank diplomas came to us from the offset provider.

The biggest problem was with the “morning of” diplomas. Every year we had to get to the shop at 9 a.m to wait for word from the members of the board as to whether the dozen or so students who were on the fence (not sure of whether they were going to graduate or not) were indeed going to get diplomas that day; then we had to scurry about printing their names. Invariably the wet ink would offset onto the diploma folder, or smear on the draw sheet. We usually wound up reprinting them and sending them a good copy later in the mail!

Best,
Denis