How a job goes

Stages

1. Conversation

   What the thing is, how many, and what it is for. We are candid about when letterpress is the wrong answer; a great deal of work is better and more cheaply done offset.

2. Setting

   Metal for text under about 400 words, polymer above that. Metal is set by hand from the case, which is slow and is the reason the quote says what it says.

3. Proofing

   A pull on the proof press, corrected, then a second. Proofs go out on the same stock as the edition wherever we have it.

4. Make-ready

   The longest stage and the invisible one. Packing is adjusted sheet by sheet until impression is even across the forme. A difficult make-ready can take a full day before a single good sheet.

5. Printing

   One colour at a time, with drying between. Damp paper adds days and is worth it for deep impression on heavy cotton.

6. Finishing

   Trimming, folding, sewing, and casing as required. Binding beyond simple sewn wrappers goes out to people better at it.

Files, if you are sending artwork

Vector outlines are ideal. Bitmap originals want 1200 dots per inch at final size, pure black on white with no anti-aliasing. Keep the finest line above about half a point — thinner strokes fill in under impression, and no amount of make-ready recovers them.

Send a note of the finished size, the number of colours, and whether the piece will be folded. Those three facts settle most of the quote.