Postcards, flyers & mailers
The flat pieces. Mailed, handed, pinned up.
Postcards, flyers, rack cards and folded mailers — printed on the same papers and the same presses as our cards. Letterpress, hot foil, duplex and painted edges, on a piece that has to survive a mail stream or a counter.
Free proof · Free shipping
Six flat pieces
- PostcardsFlat, two-sided, mailed at postcard rate up to 6×4¼. Letterpress or offset.4×65×76×9
- FlyersThe piece someone takes from a counter. 8.5×11 and 5.5×8.5, flat or folded.5.5×8.58.5×11
- Rack cardsTall and narrow, built to stand in a holder. 16pt and up so it doesn't slump.4×9
- Folded mailersBi-fold and tri-fold, scored on press. Self-mailer sizes that pass USPS.BiTriGate
- Menus & insertsHeavy stock that survives a table. Uncoated takes a pen; soft-touch doesn't.5×78.5×11
- Small postersUp to 12×18 on cover weight. Letterpress runs at this size; foil does with a big die.11×1712×18
What we can do to them
- LetterpressInk pushed deep into cotton. You feel every line.
- Hot foil30 house films. Any Pantone by order.
- Double thick32pt duplex — hides the impression on side two.
- Painted edgesBy hand, in a vise. Matched to the face.
- Die cutAny shape. Rounded corners are the cheap version.
- Spot UVGloss on matte. Coated stock only — cotton won't cure.
Or just order the classic
Four stocked papers, fixed sizes, full colour both sides. No tooling, no Studio step — upload and order. Everything with a plate, a die or a hand finish goes through the specialty lane instead.
- Silk16pt · matte laminate · CMYKSatin surface, low sheen, laminated both sides so it survives handling.
- Soft touch16pt · velvet laminate · CMYKVelvet laminate. Matte to the eye, suede to the hand.
- Uncoated14pt · bright white · writableBare stock. Ink sits in the fibre and a pen works on it.
- Recycled100% PCW · natural whitePost-consumer waste, natural white, visible fibre.
What goes with what
Where a pairing doesn't work, the reason is in the cell. Nothing here is a sales restriction — it's the physics of the sheet.
| Stock | Letterpress | Hot foil | Double thick | Painted edges | Die cut | Spot UV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cotton (heavy) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Won't cure on cotton — the varnish soaks in and dries dull. |
| Duplex | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Only if the outer ply is coated. |
| Uncoated cover | Light bite only — a deep impression reads through single ply. | Yes | Yes | Needs a heavier caliper than standard cover. | Yes | Uncoated will not cure a gloss varnish. |
| Coated / silk | The coating cracks under an impression. | Yes | Yes | Possible, but the edge shows the coated core as a line. | Yes | Yes |
| Soft touch | The laminate resists the bite and shows a halo. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Text weight | Too light — the impression punches through. | Accent only; the film needs a body to sit on. | Not applicable — duplex is a cover build. | No edge to paint. | Yes | Yes |
Sizes, with the numbers
Build to the bleed dimension, keep live copy inside the safe area.
| Size | Trim | With bleed | Safe area | Minimum stock |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4" × 6" | 4" × 6" | 4.25" × 6.25" | 3.75" × 5.75" | 14pt cover |
| 5" × 7" | 5" × 7" | 5.25" × 7.25" | 4.75" × 6.75" | 14pt cover |
| 6" × 9" | 6" × 9" | 6.25" × 9.25" | 5.75" × 8.75" | 14pt cover |
| 5.5" × 8.5" | 5.5" × 8.5" | 5.75" × 8.75" | 5.25" × 8.25" | 100lb text |
| 8.5" × 11" | 8.5" × 11" | 8.75" × 11.25" | 8.25" × 10.75" | 100lb text |
| 4" × 9" | 4" × 9" | 4.25" × 9.25" | 3.75" × 8.75" | 16pt cover |
| 11" × 17" | 11" × 17" | 11.25" × 17.25" | 10.5" × 16.5" | 80lb cover |
| 12" × 18" | 12" × 18" | 12.25" × 18.25" | 11.5" × 17.5" | 80lb cover |
Questions we get
- Can you letterpress a postcard, or is it too thin?
- Yes, on cotton heavy enough to take the bite. The real constraint is the second side: a deep impression on a single-ply sheet reads through on the reverse. A duplex build — two sheets bonded into one — absorbs it entirely, and a lighter impression is the alternative when the piece has to stay single ply.
- What's the largest piece you can foil stamp?
- Foil runs across the whole flat-piece range, up to small-poster format. The limit is the die, not the paper, and the exact maximum is confirmed per job before tooling is cut. Coverage matters more than dimension — an accent stamps evenly at any size, a large solid field is the hardest thing to hold flat.
- Will a letterpress impression show through on the mailing side?
- On a single-ply sheet, yes — that is physics, not a defect. The two fixes are a duplex stock, where the impression stops in the first ply, or a shallower bite that reads as ink and texture rather than a deep debossed line. We decide which before the plate is made.
- What sizes mail at the USPS postcard rate?
- The postcard rate covers a narrow band of dimensions and thicknesses, and going over on any one of them moves the piece into a letter or flat rate. We confirm the class against your final trim size and caliper before the job goes on press, so the mailing cost is known before the paper is ordered.
- How fast can I get flyers, really?
- The classic lane is offset CMYK on stocked paper, so it moves on a fixed schedule. The specialty lane involves plates, dies and hand finishing, and it is proofed before it runs — that is a matter of weeks rather than days. If a date is fixed, tell us up front and we will say honestly which lane can hit it.
- Can I get a painted edge on a postcard?
- Yes, on duplex or heavy cotton. Edge paint is applied by hand to the trimmed stack, so the stock has to be thick enough for the edge to be a real surface. On a standard 14pt sheet there is nothing to paint.
- What file setup do you need — bleed, resolution, colour?
- Trim size plus 0.125 inch bleed on all four sides, live copy at least 0.1875 inch inside trim, 300dpi on raster art, and CMYK for offset with any spot colours named as Pantone swatches. Foil, letterpress and die layers come as vector, 100% black, each on its own layer.
- What's the difference between your classic lane and your specialty lane?
- Classic is offset CMYK on four stocked papers at fixed sizes, priced on the page and ordered without talking to anyone. Specialty is everything with tooling or hand work — letterpress, foil, duplex, painted edges, custom dies — which is quoted, proofed and produced to the piece. Same studio, same papers, different route through it.