Letterpress is a printing technique that’s been around for quite a long time. The best way I can explain it is it’s a combination of stamping and embossing, actually more like reverse embossing or impressing into the paper. You ink up a plate with an oil based ink, applying it with a brayer or an ink pad, then rolling the plate and paper on a platform through the machine that will impresses the image onto cotton paper along with the ink. In other words it stamps and presses into the paper at the same time. You can then treat that image like you would a stamp and color it in if desired.

Spellbinders has just released the brand new Betterpress system with a magnetic platform that works with your manual die cutting machine, plates, ink pads, ink refills and papers. Check it out if you’re looking for something fun and new to try in cardmaking.

Check out this blog post on Spellbinders for some some handy tips and tricks for doing letterpress.

-Heather

And you can shop these products at SpellbindersPaperArts.com