Cascade & Rule

Printing press mid-run
The Heidelberg windmill, mid-run.

Letterpress · Portland, Oregon

Ink pressed into paper, one sheet at a time.

We are a two-person shop off SE Ankeny, running a 1962 Heidelberg Windmill and a Vandercook proof press. Everything is set, locked up, and printed here — no brokering, no outsourcing.

Most of what we make is small: two hundred invitations, a thousand cards, a short run of prints for a gallery down the street. Small runs are where letterpress still earns its keep.

Studio

Presses
Heidelberg 10×15, Vandercook SP-15
Stock
Crane Lettra, Colorplan, French
Plates
Photopolymer, in-house
Lead time
10–14 business days
Minimum
100 pieces

What we print

01

Wedding suites

Invitation, response card, envelopes. Edge painting and blind deboss on request. Two proofs included before the plate is made.

02

Identity

Business cards, letterhead, compliment slips. Duplexed stock up to 600gsm if you want the bite to show.

03

Editions

Broadsides, posters and numbered prints for galleries and small presses. We keep the polymer for reruns.

“They talked us out of the fancier stock and the job came out better for it. That is worth more than a discount.”
— Marguerite Oyelaran, Foxglove Studio

This season

RunDetailTurnaround
Wedding suite, 2 coloursLettra 300gsm, painted edges3 weeks
Business cards, 1 colourDuplex 600gsm, blind deboss2 weeks
Broadside, 3 coloursVandercook, numbered4 weeks
Case of lead type
Lead type in the case, ready for a wedding suite.
Stack of cotton paper
Dampened cotton stock waiting for the second pass.