The spirit of Fiercely Curious is celebrating creative hand-made local art. So when it came time to make business cards we decided to not follow the traditional path and instead do something a little different - we decided to hand print our own business cards at The Arm Letterpress studios in Williamsburg... What follows is both a documentation and also how-to for anyone who's interested in following in our footsteps!

Step 1: Take a quick and easy one day course at the Arm Letterpress

The arm is a beautiful space in Williamsburg and taking a day course is the best way to get started. But what this really means is you get to hang out with Dan, his cool dog and play with his kick ass old fashioned heavy duty presses - they are beautiful! Book a class here: http://thearmnyc.com/classes-workshops/entry/letterpress-on-the-vandercook-cp-pilot

Step 2: Design your plate

One way to letterpress print is to use a plate that you've personally designed. We sent our graphics off to Boxcar Press (Rebecca was so helpful)!

Step 3: Order Paper

We went with Reich Paper in Bay Ridge (keeping it local!). They were great and they even wrote us a little note on their paper samples packet which made us very happy. Pro tip: go with nice thick paper to give your business cards a crisp, sturdy feel.

Step 4: Buy some ink

The Arm is a cooperative so you buy just a pound of rubber based ink and you print away with everyone else's donated colors! It's a system that benefits everyone. We ordered online from here.

Step 5: Book your press

Between the two of us on a sunny afternoon we printed 800 cards in 2 hours - if you have more colors book more time! Check out the schedule for the Arm here: http://www.thearmnyc.com/calendar.

Printing the cards is a lovely manual process involving some elbow grease and patience.

Step 6: Hand number your cards

Why not go the extra mile and turn your business cards into limited edition works of art by hand numbering them? We did. Maybe it'll make you think twice before throwing our card away!

Step 7: Cut your cards

Got a shaky hand? Leave this part to the experts across the street: amaxprinting.com.

Fini

And there you have it - our step by step process for hand printing and numbering our very own Fiercely Curious business cards. Grab us in person to steal one of these beauties off us!