Build a working letterpress

Instructables user j schultz built this awesome letterpress at home to make wedding stationery. Anyone who's priced out professionally-printed wedding invitations knows that letterpress stuff is spendy, usually at least as expensive as engraving... and that's before you consider that you need more than just invitations. RSVP cards, thank you notes, maps, and so on: they really start to add up!

However, letterpress printing itself is medieval technology, and not too difficult to do at home, particularly if you don't have to set the type yourself. There are companies which will make printing plates for you; one is mentioned in the article. The inked letters and motifs are pressed deeply into the paper, giving you something that feels as beautiful as it looks: it's not cheap, but it's far less expensive than paying someone else to do the printing.

Gutenberg never had it so good. (He, after all, had to set his own type.)

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