What's so special about letterpress printing?

Letterpress printing is a craft - lovingly practiced by artisans. At Pickett’s Press, each piece of paper is hand-fed through an antique letterpress printer, which allows for the unique look and character of our products. It is a meticulous, finicky, and at times, pain-staking process, but the result is a thing of beauty. And this is why even though letterpress is the oldest form of printing available; we are thrilled to continue the tradition for people who value paper and printing.

What makes Pickett’s Press special as a letterpress printer?

Kate Pickett, the owner and artist, personally designs each piece of stationery and draws every monogram and motif herself.  We love working with people on unique designs and motifs in unusual colors.  Pickett’s Press also offers a full line of customizable tissue liners, and over 200 pantone colors of ink in stock.  We print letterpress borders on social stationery in any of our pantone colors to coordinate with the color printing of your name and design.  We offer many types of cotton papers- 5 shades of white/cream and 3 thicknesses of each for our letterpress.

What kind of papers do you use?

We use many different papers from commercial papers made in the US to cotton/linen papers that come from the oldest paper mills in Europe.  While we work with customers to find the paper that they want to use, we recommend a shade of white as letterpress loves to be printed on lighter paper than ink colors.

Where can I buy Pickett’s Press products?

We sell our products online and by appointment at our office in New York City.  If you can’t make it to New York, we can usually proof in color over email.  Please call us (917-716-7611) or email us info@pickettspress.com to discuss a custom order.

How do I place a custom order?

We have broken the process into four easy steps outlined below.

step 1:  Contact us for an estimate
If you need to place an order more customized than the options on the website, please call us directly at 917-716-7611, or email us at info@pickettspress.com with the details of your order, and quantities.

Step 2: Fax back our custom printing contract, and 50% deposit
Click here for a copy of our custom printing contract. (PDF of contract)

Once you have returned your signed contract and 50% non-refundable deposit the proof process can begin. 

Step 3: Proof approval process.
We will contact you by phone or email for your wording, and font and color and motif choices, and will provide you with an emailed color pdf proof of your order. Check your proofs carefully and email back with changes/edits.
The initial proof and one round of corrections are free of charge. Each round thereafter is a $30 fee. When you are ready to approve, please print out each page of your proof, initial each page and fax back to us at (212) 861-7740. We will email you to let you know we received the approval and give you an approximate ship date.

Remember, we print directly from the approved proof. Pickett’s Press is not responsible for typographical, date related or design errors that you have approved. Pickett’s Press will not incur the cost of reprinting and shipping orders due to these errors, nor will a refund be issued. Once an order is approved, changes cannot be made without incurring additional fees, and cancellations cannot be accepted.

**Final payment of your invoice must be made at this time in order to proceed to the printing stage.

step 4: printing and shipping From proof approval and receipt of final payment, we need 10-15 business days to print your order.
We ship UPS ground unless specified otherwise.
Exact shipping fee + $5. handling fee will be added to your order.

What is the turnaround time for a custom order?
Generally, it takes us about 10-15 business days from proof approval to complete a custom order. Keep in mind, that does not include shipping or proofing time.

How much are your custom products?
Since we have a very broad range of papers, pricing can vary greatly. But, just to give you a general idea, see prices below. For more specific pricing; please email us at info@pickettspress.com with the specific of your order for an estimate request.
Social Stationery, 1 color printing: 100 qty of each
invitations $390, invitation envs (printed) $300, rsvp $288, rsvp envs $247

Baby announcements, 1 color printing: jack (baby) 100 qty of each
announcements with unprinted envs $363

How much can I customize? What if I would like a custom motif?
Pickett’s Press has font, ink, motif and envelope liner libraries that you can choose from for any printed product.   We offer over 200 ink colors in stock, over 100 motifs, and over 50 fonts, and 15 tissue liners, but if you are looking for something very specific - maybe you want the ink color on your invitations to match the color of your bridesmaids dresses, or you want a flower motif that looks like the flowers you'll be carrying in your bouquet, or you want the tissue liner to match your custom ink color - we can do that too, but it'll cost you a little extra. See prices below.

custom motifs
The design fee for this service is $100 per hour.  Please email us for an estimate of how long it will take to draw your design.
 
custom ink
Custom ink colors are available at an additional charge of $120.
You must supply pantone™ number or provide a swatch for us to match.

custom borders, pocketfolders and liners
We inventory 5 shades of white paper stock and 2 thicknesses of each, but we can custom order many others. Please email us with your request and we will send an estimate.  We will not accept supplied paper stocks.

How do you ship custom orders?
We ship UPS ground unless specified otherwise. Exact shipping fee + $5. handling fee will be added to your order. Expedited shipping is also available. We cannot guarantee delivery dates. We are not responsible for lost shipments. Please see UPS site for information regarding holiday shipments. ups.com

Can I place a rush on a custom order?
Rush orders are available for an additional 50% of costs.
Rush orders ship within 3-5 business days of proof approval.
Please call 866-540-7243 if you would like to place a rush order.

Can I have my custom order envelopes pre-shipped?
We can pre-ship unprinted envelopes for an additional $10. fee + shipping.

What forms of payment do you accept?
We accept all major credit cards and personal checks. If paying by check, please keep in mind, that we will wait for payment to clear before proceeding with your order.