Press Du Nord

Hey friend,
I'm Reggie, a letterpress printer here in the beautiful Duluth Minnesota on the southwesternern tip of Lake Superior. Yes that's a scruffy me at the top of Half Dome. That's about as glamorous as my selfies get.

Three years ago I acquired my first press and reasembled it in our basement, after some tinkering and instruction from a local print studio it was up and running. Over the past few years a press became a small studio and an interest became a love of craftmanship. I now produce a small line of handmade journals and greeting cards as well as bespoke wedding and business stationary. Hopefully, with this new space I can share my love of paper, type, and printing with the rest of the Twin Ports community. 


The plan to move into a larger studio was always an eventual dream,  I had also acquired a few new presses from a closing printing studio here in the state. The aim was to store them for a while and build into a new space slowly, but our rental home was put on the market and my current studio needed to promptly move. Thus, all the equipment is now in a new space, one significantly larger and full of amazing potential.

The Dream
Three presses, a new space, tons of ideas... now what?

We've sheetrocked the space in and moved the equipment in and I've begun printing on my old press but there's plenty more to be done. With your help I aim to create a space we can all enjoy, classes, meeting space, and hopefully some rentable studio time in the future. In order to get there, the following has to be done:

-Finish the buildout, as it needs a few things like lighting installed and some maintinance work.

-Create classroom space, there will hopefully soon be printing and linocut workshops available!

-Restore the presses, both the new presses need some new rollers, cealning and a bit of tuning, including a handful of replacement parts.  This is the most costly of the work to be done. I also aim to hire a mechanic to tune the Heidelberg and formerly train me on it. 

-Build some furniture, no not the letterpress kind, my old basement didn't allow for an inking or packaging station, a drying rack will also be built as well as a big table for workshops. 

-Print all the things! Most importantly this is a print shop, seriously I want everyone to be able to enjoy this space as much as I will be it through classes, spending time in the studio, or sending you some awesome northland inspired printed goods.
Speaking of which, let's talk about the perks!

Perks!

$10 Snail mail awesomeness
 Skip that triple latte and get a card in the mail. Seriously, thank you for being here, I'll send ya a thank you card, and if you want, you can send one back... and then... we'll be pen pals. Seriously, let's fill each other's mail full of awesomeness. 

$25 Pen Pal Ammo -or- Notebook Bundles!
I make cards and journals, take a pick of your 4 favorite and I'll send ya a pack of 'em, along with a thank you card and most likely some random printed goods too. 




$50 The Printer's Dozen
Chose a dozen of the cards and journals, I'll also add in a few bonus goods. 

$80 Legos. Letterpress. Lunch. 
Or dinner, but the alliteration didn't work out. Get a ticket to a swell workshop in the studio where we'll spend a good 6-8 hours printing posters with some legos (yeah seriously) and I'll make sure to have some swanky local food and drink to keep us fueled.  We'll talk about color use, layering, and of course, play with legos and send you home with nice limited run of very own prints. 6 people per class please, available dates are:

Saturday 9/24 [6 seats remain]
Saturday 9/30 [6 seats remain]
Saturday 10/7 [6 Seats remain]
Sunday 10/8 [6 seats remain]


$95-$135 Business card madness.
250 letterpress business cards on thick cotton stock. One color, but both sides for double the trouble, or ya know, design work. Send in press ready art and I'll send ya some cards that'll make sure they call you back.  Add an extra $40 for a 2nd color or double thick paper, heck, or swap it out for some amazing handmade paper! 
$95 for Lettra 110 Cotton paper or French Kraft
$135 for Lettra 220, 2 color printing, or handmade paper from Porridge Papers




$145-$200 Even more business cards!
Same deal as above, just 500 cards for good measure. 
$145 for Lettra 110 or French Kraft
$200 for Lettra 220, Porridge Papers, or 2 color printing

$240 The letterpress addict. 
Six mad bundles of joy. Starting in November you'll be treated to a bi-monthly stack of awesomeness, be it a set of winter/holiday greeting cards or a linocut print, I'll keep that print addiction at bay. Or fuel it? Either way, it'll be good. 

$1000 The Wedding Suite
150 Wedding invitations, Reception and RSVP cards with matching envelopes. Let's chat before you donate this one, I want to make sure we jump on the fast-track to make sure we hit your special date! Not getting married? I'll print you an armada of custom stationary for your business. 


$1500 I'll name my press after you. 
Seriously. The heidelberg needs a name. 
On a more practical side, the studio is yours for a weekend. Come on by and we'll print your project, or I'll teach a private class, either way, it's all yours, including access to any paper, type, ink, and plates. 



Timeline
The studio is indeed active, unlike other crowdfunding platforms we can work as we go, including your projects! During this month, work will continue on getting the shop up and running, as well as repair work on the presses. I aim to be fully up and running by the end of October. In the mean time, starting at the end of September, workshop rewards will begin and card/journal orders will be sent out as well. Custom projects will begin in October and November with delivery within 4-6 weeks of starting. We'll chat plenty beforehand to make sure you get exactly what you're looking for!