Coasters

We worked with Rose and Sara at SOL Marketing Concepts to print and die cut this sunny end of year gift for their clients.  The saturated orange referenced the "o" in the SOL logo, and the same color was used on the calendar side.  When the month is up, attach these to your view, be it wall or window, for everlasting pops of color and cheer.

Holiday Letterpress 2011

It's rainy and grey in Austin today.  I'll take it!  Some bright, new client projects we're working on this season.  

Tribeza Mag

It was nice to find a little post about our shop on the Tribeza Magazine blog this morning.  

Paper Flowers

We designed this invite for a wedding in Dripping Springs. The space was tactile: muted colors, weathered wood, and that Texas landscape that is endless and wild. We found inspiration for the breezy paper flower illustration in this image.

West Elm and Etsy

We are 1 of 13 vendors participating in the Etsy pop-up event at West Elm this Saturday from 1-6 pm. We're rolling out a new collection just in time for this event. And we're pretty excited to be part of an event that also includes both cured meat and beautiful patterns.

Handmade in Austin

This bright little bag is perfect for handmade holiday gift wrapping; a sturdy and reusable muslin bag cheerfully declares "I'm from Austin!"

Available in our etsy shop.

Long Live Print!

Did you know we are windmill powered? Heidelberg Windmill powered, that is. This limited edition print is an ode to our German letterpress and this year's East Austin Studio Tour. Long Live Print!

Available in our etsy shop.

E.A.S.T. 2010

We're back at it - EASTing our way through the weekend. The East Austin Studio Tour begins this weekend, runs through the week and next weekend (though we will be open only the first weekend). Weekend hours are 11am - 6pm.

We are #85 on the tour, page 87 in the catalog, and 100% geared up to make this year shine. We will have a new holiday collection (currently on press) and some other new this and thats, plus a print-your-own card demo featuring some smashing wood type.

But first, race over to : http://2010east.com/ to plan your tour.

Rare Feature

Nice feature in Rare Magazine. Very noir - like if Morrissey had observed our space. Quite appropriate. And, proof that Brad is why we moved to Austin.

(photo by Jake Holt)

E.A.S.T

We are #83 on the East Austin Studio Tour this weekend and next. Tour runs 11/14 - 22 and we'll be open both weekends. If you're in Austin, stop by..

www.eastaustinstudiotour.com

Letterpress + Offset

This job is a fine example of using letterpress in combination with another print medium better suited to the task - in this case, printing a large solid. Designed by Christian from locals The Decoder Ring for the delicious sounding Maine farm/farmers' collective Farmers Fare.



The large color blocks were offset printed and we followed up with black letterpress. Letterpress generally does not produce great results with large solids - especially on a platen press (such as the Heidelberg) because the platen, or location of the paper, is raised with force to the plate and this force creates the impression. Full, crisp coverage on a large solid requires lots of force per square inch of the solid (I know there is a math problem in here) and there is only so much force possible within 15 square inches (size of the platen). Plus we love the rough edges of the bright solids, it looks a lot like a screen print and nicely complements the block font and handmade, sustainable qualities of the Fare itself. A great design complete with appropriate and excellent production.

You found us!

We are Vertallee Letterpress, full-service letterpress and design from Austin, TX. After many years spent doing print and design in grand Chicago, we've come south for great projects, warmth and the charm and enthusiasm that is Austin.

We'll post about printing and good resources. From the humble tabletop Hohner to our monstrous friend Heidelberg (Germans, always) we love letterpress. We love it so much we've dragged thousands of pounds of it across the country, and more than once. Please keep in touch and check in often.

Your friends at Vertallee.