Specialty Printing NYC

Letterpress is a traditional printing technique that presses inked type or plates into paper, creating a distinctive debossed impression. Perfect for invitations and stationery.

Foil stamping applies metallic or colored foil to paper using heat and pressure. Embossing creates a raised impression without ink or foil. They can be combined for maximum impact.

Die cutting uses custom steel dies to cut paper or card into specific shapes. Perfect for unique business cards, packaging, and promotional pieces.

Yes, many projects combine techniques like letterpress with foil, or embossing with die cutting. We can help you design pieces using multiple techniques.

Thicker, uncoated papers generally work best for letterpress and embossing. We offer premium cotton, textured, and specialty papers designed for these techniques. For letterpress we typically recommend 100% cotton stocks in the 110 lb to 220 lb cover range (roughly 300 to 600 gsm), since the soft, compressible fiber takes a deep, clean bite from the plate. Duplexing two sheets together produces an extra-thick card that holds a dramatic impression and allows for painted edges.

Engraving is the most formal of the raised-ink methods. Ink is forced into a recessed copper or steel die and the paper is pressed into it under high pressure, producing crisp raised type with a faint bruise on the reverse and the ability to print opaque inks like white or metallic on dark stock. Letterpress is the opposite of engraving: the image is pressed down into the sheet rather than raised above it.

Each tooled effect needs its own vector layer built as a 100% spot color and clearly named, for example FOIL, EMBOSS, or DIE. Keep foil and emboss artwork as clean vector shapes; fine serifs and hairlines below about 0.5 pt can fill in or break. Die lines should be a single continuous path on their own layer with bleed accounted for. Supply press-ready PDFs with fonts outlined, 0.125 inch bleed, and a separate marked-up proof showing which elements get which treatment. We review every file before tooling and flag anything that will not hold.

Because letterpress, foil, embossing, and die cutting require custom plates, dies, and hand setup, specialty work typically runs longer than standard offset or digital, and plate and die fabrication adds time before the press run begins. That said, all production is handled in-house, so we can compress schedules and offer rush service on many pieces when timing is tight. Sharing final art early and approving a press proof quickly are the biggest factors in hitting an aggressive deadline.

Specialty techniques carry one-time setup costs for plates and dies, so very small runs have a higher per-unit cost, but there is no hard minimum. We produce everything from a few dozen letterpress cards to large foil-stamped folder and packaging runs. For short runs we can often combine techniques on a single setup or use digital printing for the base image and reserve the tooled effect for the elements that matter most.