Deep Impressions

I’ve been doing a bit of research and trying to find out if this is possible. I’m trying to get deep impressions on business cards and I’m wondering if this is possible to obtain on a 3x5 kelsey press? If not then can i achieve this on a 9x13 press?

If anyone can guide me on this I would appreciate it I tried and searched but couldn’t find anything

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It depends on what stock you are using, and your packing has a lot to do with it, sometimes a harder packing or a softer packing might work better. Kelsey presses aren’t the strongest in the world but the larger the press the more impression you can get. The 3x5 will give you a good impression on a business card but much larger than that or a lot of type on the card could result in a broken press. I’m not an expert on deep impression, but trying to get a deep impression can wear your lead type down very fast, polymer of ludlow type doesn’t matter, but some of the older foundry type could not be replaced. Good Luck Dick G.

Thanks for the response Dick! I’m going to be using more of the boxcar base and photo-polymer plates. Here is a link to from bocar of what i’m trying to achieve in respect to “deep impression” :

http://www.boxcarpress.com/letterpress/invitations/fashion-walk.html

No the size will be lets say 2x3 business card is it realistic to achieve such an impression from the 3x5 kelsey press?

I think you could do it on the 3x5, you will need to use a thick stock like what that sample from boxcar is. Watch your gauge pins with the base, you will harm the base or at least smash the pins if they hit the base, you can make pins out of a card stock very easily that won’t hurt the base. Good Luck Dick G.

It also depends on the amount of surface area that you are trying to print—even within that 2x3.5” card. If you’re just going for a few lines of type you’ll be fine. If you start to fill up the card with information you may find that you quickly run into problems with uneven impression.

Try not to overextend your presses.

Hope this helps,
Brad.

Stage 2:

You should, as Brad indicates, have no problems if using a very soft stock, getting some good impression with the little press. If you don’t get the results you wish, try dampening the stock very slightly (I’m certain this has been covered before) a few hours before printing. This can make a great difference in the ink receptivity and impression you can get in these quite rough, soft papers.

John H.

Thanks everyone for the timely response. Now I know its possible. I’m trying to get our two color logo on these cards and just your standard contact information at the bottom

Dick i’m going to come to you for some guidance on printing using guage pins (if you dont’ mind)

Don’t mind at all, just call me and we can get together, i think i’m pretty far from you, if you need help with gauge pins i can probably help you over the phone, but a visit would be ok too, we could play with some of my stuff. Dick G.