Faux Faux Faux

I printed a few holiday cards this season. Two of them utilize techniques that may be of interest.

The first shows the creation of a fake deckle at the fore-edge of a card. By printing two cards as a work and turn, then folding, and tearing the long sheet in half, it is possible to fake a deckle.

Although the card shown here does not illustrate the possibility, one could print right up to the “deckle,” then tear. This is especially advantageous to those who print on the Vandercook.

The other card mixes laser printing with letterpress. Displayed is a compass rose that was printed on a Xerox Phaser 8560 laser printer, then blind embossed to give a faux “letterpress effect.”

As the Xerox 8560 holds very good register, I did not lose too many with the blind emboss. And I might say the same of the Epson Stylus Photo 2200 inkjet printer, which I have found also holds very good register.

(As for why I embossed the compass rose in the first place: anyone who has mixed inkjet printing with letterpress has noticed—and probably has been disappointed by—the flatness of inkjet against letterpress. The embossing goes a long ways toward meliorating this problem. And if you are still unhappy with the result, you might try adding a varnish to the embossing plate.)

Happy Holidays!
Philip Gallo at the Hermetic Press