Letterpress Labels, Earth Tones Edition

Today we’ve got two different takes on letterpress labels.

First off, for Yay For Earth, a 6-color (!!) label on Savoy cotton paper with custom adhesive, finished with a die cut. These require super tight registration and steady inking so all the details line up and come out crisp. Thanks to @fioikeue for the wonderful artwork, and to Stevie at @yayforearth for working with us over the past couple years.

Next up, some teeny-tiny client-designed labels with gold satin foil on Gmund Dark Teal paper that we printed last summer for @solpothecary. As with the YFE labels above, these have custom-applied adhesive and a kiss-die-cut.

letterpress labelsTravis Friedrichadhesive, die cut, gold satin foil, gmund, savoy, dark tealComment
Tonal Letterpress Bonanza!

Tonal letterpress! Think of it as the sophisticated cousin to blind letterpress. Rather than use no ink at all, with a tonal letterpress impression we ink the plate with a little bit of color — usually a mix of transparent white ink plus a dab of the paper color. Sometimes it’s barely noticeable (see the Cedarly card below) and sometimes it’s got quite a bit of pop (more like the Harvest wedding invite). Take a look…

roundupTravis Friedrichtinted, tonal, tone-on-toneComment
Botanical Green & Gold Wedding Invites
Wedding invitation with letterpress and gold foil on green paper

We worked closely with Samantha and Devon to come up with this invitation design for their New York Botanical Garden wedding. The color scheme and primary typeface are nice and bold, but the tonal letterpress details are super delicate. We printed on thick custom duplexed Colorplan stock so that it would hold up nicely to the heavy impression.

PAPER Custom duplexed 700g Colorplan Forest
INK Tonal letterpress
FOIL Gold Satin

wedding invitationsTravis Friedrichcolorplan, gold, foil, green, tonal, forest, gold satinComment
20 Years of Parklife Press

I almost missed the anniversary! It was September 28, 2005 when I was 25 years old that I bought a 5x8 Kelsey tabletop press, having zero training or experience with letterpress. And it was just six weeks later on November 14 that I was apparently confident enough in my abilities to go ahead and claim the domain name for my new “business”. Not a whole lot of thought given to the name! Parklife Press — I liked the album and the alliteration sounded punchy.

Two months after that, on February 3, 2006, I bought the 10x15 Chandler & Price press that I still use today for the majority of jobs that I ship.

Below I’ll post some images from the past two decades that started in Davis, California, then to Carrboro, North Carolina, and then to Portland where I’ve been for the past 11 years.

Davis, California 2005-2006

Carrboro, North carolina 2006-2014

Portland, Oregon 2014-2020

Portland, Oregon 2020 and beyond

PARKLIFE PRESS BUSINESS CARDS OVER THE YEARS

See you in 2045!

studioTravis Friedrich Comments
10 Years of Letterpress Halloween Cards

In 2025 we’re celebrating 20 years of Parklife Press and 10 years of letterpress Halloween cards! This year’s design is an homage to the original card that started the tradition back in 2015, but this time with an even longer (!!) lamp cord.

FRONT: Black, Opaque White, and Pantone 1655U letterpress on 270g Colorplan Mist
BACK: Gloss Ecru and Gloss Orange foils on 300g Gmund Dark Teal
FINISHING: Triplex with 350g Colorplan Mandarin, trim

Take a look at the 2015 card below as well as every spooky step along the journey…

2015: Dead Printer

OUTSIDE: Slate Gray and semi-opaque letterpress on 170g Astrobrights Cosmic Orange
INSIDE: Slate Gray and Tangerine orange letterpress on 245g Lettra Pearl White
FINISHING: Duplex, trim, score, fold

A dramatically long lamp cord, an eerie look from a dead pressman, and an immaculately drawn C&P Old Style just like the one we used to print the card.

2016: Shiny Pumpkin

FRONT: Black letterpress, Antique Gold and Silver Shine foils on 380g French Paper Speckletone Kraft
BACK: Black and Pantone 7500U tan letterpress on 270g French Paper Kraft-Tone Ledger Green
FINISHING: Duplex, trim

This one came with a coupon!… which I’m afraid is now expired (booo) (Halloween pun).

2017: Cat Scratch Fever

PAPER: 350g Colorplan Lockwood Green
PROCESS: Pantone 356U green letterpress, Green and Gold Shine foils
FINISHING: Trim, score, fold

As frightened cats tend to do, this card has been hiding from us! It’s the only one we can’t seem to find a copy of, but luckily we found a photo. We adapted the artwork for this design from an illustration by T.W. Wood from Charles Darwin’s The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals.

2018: Treat, please.

PAPER: 600g Lettra Fluorescent White
INK: Black and Pantone 109U yellow letterpress
EDGE PAINT: Pantone 109U yellow

This one might be my favorite. It’s so simple! But it’s visually clever (if I do say so myself), I like the idea that cats are too smart to give you the option of a trick, and I love the deep saturated yellow and black inks.

2019: Hooooo goes there?

FRONT: Matte White and Gold Shine foils on 350g Colorplan Mist
BACK: Black and Pantone 149U orange letterpress on 300g Keaykolour Pumpkin
FINISHING: Duplex, trim

Maybe my second favorite?? An owl in a ghost costume with another genius(?) Halloween/animal pun.

2020: Happy halloween

PAPER: 700g Colorplan Ebony Black
PROCESS: Gloss Black and Copper foils

At this point we’ve firmly established an animal theme. Mostly cats, one owl. But this one’s dark (it was 2020 after all) and the cat has decided to remove happiness from Halloween. The black foil on black paper is dramatic as hell and the copper cat eyes might be capable of piercing your soul.

2021: Aracnophobia

PAPER: 350g Colorplan Rust
PROCESS: Pantone Warm Gray 2U letterpress, Gloss Black and Copper foils, raised emboss

It’s never fun to pick a least favorite, but if you held a sack of spiders to my head and made me choose, maybe it would be this one? It’s kinda clever, (making the Parklife logo look scared with just a tiny tweak of the eyes) and the raised foil emboss is cool, but it somehow doesn’t feel as visually cohesive as I’d like. Stiff competition though!

2022: Will you be my valloween?

OUTSIDE: Pantone 2337U pink letterpress on 170g French Paper Bubblegum
INSIDE: Gloss Black and Copper foils on 270g French Paper Blacktop
FINISHING: Duplex, trim, score, fold

Now this one is sneaky! In the fall of 2022 we were about as busy as we’ve ever been and we couldn’t manage to put a Halloween card together. But fear not. A few months later in early 2023 we snuck a belated Halloween greeting into the husk of a Valentine’s Day card. Oh, and there’s a cat again.

2023: Halftone Hopper

FRONT: Pantone 565U blue and Orange 021U letterpress, Holographic foil on 300g Somerset Velvet Soft White
BACK: Pantone 565U blue and Orange 021U letterpress on 300g Lettra Fluorescent White
FINISHING: Duplex, die-cut

Meet Hopper! (and her big brother, Spritz). Our tabby maine coon mix can go from gentle to ferocious in the blink of an eye. Starting with two photos of her, we created coarse halftone screens of each and printed them on top of each other with blue and orange inks. More on letterpress halftones here.

2024: You’re being watched

FRONT: Black letterpress and Copper foil on 300g Wild Brown
BACK: Black letterpress and Cracked Ice Clear Holographic foil on 24pt Neenah Folding Board PC100 White
FINISHING: Duplex, trim

More piercing cat eyes! The deep impression into the fluffy Wild paper really adds depth and drama to this simple design. And on the back of the card, the sparkly holographic logo is super crisp on the 100% post-consumer board.

parklife projectsTravis Friedrichholiday, halloween, duplex, foil stamping, triplex, gmund, colorplan, cats, emboss, holographicComment
Foil Hang Tags and Letterpress Business Cards for Quesada
Foil Hang Tag & Letterpress Business Card

Nice simple but bold hang tags and business cards for Quesada. The business card is thick 600g Lettra paper with black letterpress. For the tag, we printed gold shine foil on 350g Colorplan Mid Green and finished with a brass eyelet.

PAPER 600g Lettra Fluorescent White, 350g Colorplan Mid Green
INK Black
FOIL Gold Shine
FINISHING Eyelet

Photos by Gritchelle
product tagsTravis Friedrichgold, foil stamping, black, fluorescent white, 600g, 350g, Colorplan, mid green, eyeletComment