The Petite Press is the work of illustrator and designer Christine Schneider. Her handmade items are created using letterpress and gocco techniques, combining interesting colors, textures and materials with unique ideas. They are printed in small, limited-edition runs, and most are hand-initialed and numbered by the artist.
To print her letterpress items, Christy uses an antique Craftsman Machinery Co. 6" x 10" tabletop press with a hand lever, circa 1950. It's a relatively "petite" press, but made of iron and quite hefty, weighing in at about 200 pounds. It's powered entirely by hand – no electricity!
Type is either set by hand, using old-fashioned individual metal letters from a growing collection of different fonts and sizes, or it's custom-created in the form of a metal die. Each ink color is another run through the press, meaning the piece of paper has to be inserted and pressed each time a different color is added. One card may be inserted five or six times in the press before it's complete.
Christy is best known for her work as a children's illustrator and author. She also works as a designer, and art directs a magazine in the health care industry. You can see more of her work at her Yellow Pencil Studio, Inc. website.
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