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:
Engraving!  The printing presses are huge – I’m always amazed that these heavy machines are able to produce such delicate and beautiful stationery.
{going through the press}
{a quick run under the heater to make sure the ink is dry}
{and then coming off the press}
{ink fountain behind the press}
{so much ink!}
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:
Custom gold stationery – most likely for a newlywed couple:
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:
Traditional invitations for a debutante ball, with black script text and a beautiful blind emboss monogram at the top:
Engraved business cards with white text on black paper:
With the holiday season approaching, we came upon a few Kluge presses putting some gold foil on Christmas cards and gift wrap. Â I’d never seen foil stamping in person before, but the printers were kind enough to walk me through the process:
{gold foil on Kate Spade gift wrap sheets}
{that’s the gold foil above}
{a negative image on the gold foil after it passes through the press}
{the final product!}
I hope you’re all enjoying the tour as much as I am! Â 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.
