Haywire Letterpress is Open for Business!

by Matthew | Nov 17, 2014 | Our Work | 0 comments

Hello, friends. We are extremely exited to let you know that, after nearly a year of scheming and preparations, Haywire Letterpress is officially open for business.

Here is the 1,200 pounds of forged steel at the heart of it all.

And here is your humble Haywire team. An illustrator, a printer, and a writer. That’s Robbi, Jodi, and Matthew, if we’re just getting acquainted.

If you are the sort that likes to cut straight to the quick, here is the link to the Haywire store.

If, however, you prefer a little romancing, let me lead you on a little guided tour of our products and services.

If you have been paying a lick of attention, you know that we have various cards.

Combining endearing silhouettes of cute little animals with the unguarded sentiment of good old fashioned pirate language, our Animals Uncensored collection is available in a set of six, as individual cards, or as part of our pick-and-choose card set.

The designs in our Chestertown card series are available as a set of four or as individual cards.

And here is our set of six cards inspired by the illustrations from our Idiots’Books title The Baby is Disappointing. Buy a set to add a hint of irony to the next set of adorable receiving blankets you take to a shower.

The baby cards are available in a set of six, individually, or as part of a pick-and-choose set.

And then there are various other cards, not necessarily part of a set, but adorned with Robbi’s illustrated animals beautifully printed by Jodi in two colors.

Take a close look at the exquisite registration, by which I mean the uncanny precision of the alignment between the two colors, which were printed on two separate passes through the press. Getting the plates to line up this perfectly is incredibly difficult, and yet Jodi does it in her sleep. Just look at those parachute straps!

I ask you also to pause and enjoy the pleasures of a deep impression, in this case, the patterns on the giraffe’s neck. While your desktop printer may be able to capture the color of his spots, it will never be able to create the delicious contours and textures of letterpress.

And what is this pick-and-choose card set all about? Simple: you just pick any six of our cards, and we’ll bundle them up for you.

And because the holiday season is upon us, we have a holiday card that flaunts another fun printing technique that is possible with letterpress.

A “blind emboss” is printing without ink, creating a shape with impression only—the perfect way to create the snowy forest for our “White Christmas” card, which is available blank in sets of six or with a custom message in increments of 25.

There are more cards, I could show you them all, but I want to preserve some mystery for when you visit the store.

The thing about Haywire that excites me the most is our anonymous greeting card service called Anonygrams.

Basically, you send us someone’s address, and we’ll send them an anonymous art print in a design of your choosing. For example, if someone you know has just gotten a new job, you might send them this one:

Or, if they have just survived a successful appendectomy, you might opt for:

Alternately, if you want to luxuriate in the secret thrill of letting that cute fellow from your bowling league know that you have a thing for him without letting him know that it’s YOU that has the thing for him, you might have us send this one:

Or, if your colleague makes a spirited stand in staff meeting, and you want to let her know that she is appreciated (without taking personal credit for it—because, as you know unattributed good will feels three times as good), this might be the Anonygram for you.

Anonygrams are 5″ x 7″, printed on 600lb (in other words, deliciously thick) cotton stock and are sent in a sumptuous blue envelope (downright velvety).

They are classy. They are beautiful. And they will make the people in your life feel good. We think of Anonygrams as emotional philanthropy. Now you have an instant, easy way to send goodwill with a few simple clicks of your mouse.

To give the person who receives your Anonygram a chance to reply, each Anonygram comes with a secret code that allows the recipient to send an email back to you without ever learning your identity.

Another big part of Haywire will be lightly customized items that let you put your personal mark upon our designs. For example, we offer various stationery sets.

You pick a design.

And a name.

And a font. And we’ll take care of the rest.

There’s one more design in the stationery section of the store.

Also, we have three (so far) custom family tree designs. You tell us which style of tree you like, the names of the people in your family, and we send you five custom prints and an inkpad.

Robbi will create wings, eyes, beaks, and feet for each of your family members. Each of you adds your thumb print to create the ultimate personalized, framable keepsake.

Here is another option, this one with two-color printing.

Please indulge me again as I pause to admire Jodi’s handiwork.

On the not-too-distant horizon, we plan on offering a variety of pre-designed wedding invitations and baby announcements available for light customization. In the mean time, if you are getting hitched or are in the gestational way, we are available to create a custom design for you from scratch. This type of work is not inexpensive, but we can promise you something that combines the best of my writing, Robbi’s illustration, and Jodi’s aforementioned letterpress badassery.

This post would not be complete without a nod to the first of many broadsides and handbills that we plan to print in days to come. This spirited piece is a love song to Chestertown, our quaint colonial home.