Crane Stationery, A Tour – Part 2

After the introduction to engraving, we moved out onto the Crane printing floor.  Most of the presses, including engraving presses, letterpresses, and thermography printers, are all located in a large common area – it was difficult to get the full perspective in a single image, but hopefully these two photos will give you a sense of the general size and scale:

Crane Stationery Tour

Crane Stationery Tour

Engraving!  The printing presses are huge – I’m always amazed that these heavy machines are able to produce such delicate and beautiful stationery.

Crane Stationery Tour

Crane Stationery Tour

{going through the press}

Crane Stationery Tour

{a quick run under the heater to make sure the ink is dry}

Crane Stationery Tour

{and then coming off the press}

Crane Stationery Tour

{ink fountain behind the press}

Crane Stationery Tour Crane Stationery Tour

Crane Stationery Tour

{so much ink!}

Crane Stationery Tour

I couldn’t help but take a photo of each project that we passed during the tour.  This little dragonfly makes four total passes through the press – one for each blue color, then one for the gold ink, then one final burnishing run that gives the gold its shine – and it all has to line up perfectly.  It’s hard to tell in this photo, but the blue inks also have a bit of shimmer:

Crane Stationery Tour

Custom gold stationery – most likely for a newlywed couple:

Crane Stationery Tour

These sailboats were also a custom order – the printers were working on aligning the little red flags so that they lined up perfectly with the thin blue sailboat mast:

Crane Stationery Tour

Traditional invitations for a debutante ball, with black script text and a beautiful blind emboss monogram at the top:

Crane Stationery Tour

Crane Stationery Tour

Engraved business cards with white text on black paper:

Crane Stationery Tour

With the holiday season approaching, we came upon a few Kluge presses putting some gold foil on Christmas cards and gift wrap.  I’d never seen foil stamping in person before, but the printers were kind enough to walk me through the process:

Crane Stationery Tour

{gold foil on Kate Spade gift wrap sheets}

Crane Stationery Tour

Crane Stationery Tour

{that’s the gold foil above}

Crane Stationery Tour

Crane Stationery Tour Crane Stationery Tour

{a negative image on the gold foil after it passes through the press}

Crane Stationery Tour

Crane Stationery Tour

{the final product!}

I hope you’re all enjoying the tour as much as I am!  I’ll be back a bit later with a bit more from the trip!

{all photos by me}

*Disclaimer – Crane & Co. provided my accommodations during this visit; but this is not a sponsored post.  For more on my editorial policies, please click here.

  1. Hi Paige! These are the working and professional facilities of Crane, so I’m afraid this tour was by invitation only. However, Crane does have a museum located near its headquarters (I’ll be sharing a few photos a bit later on) and that museum is open to the public!

  2. It is amazing to think that all these machines produce such beautiful and delicate stationery – that dragonfly is stunning too!

  3. How Cool!!!! its so amazing to see the craft behind the final product.

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