Bravoforté Business Cards

My brand-spanking-new business cards have arrived! Woot!

I just love them. Check out the little bit of debossing on the front. I’ve got the forte symbol on the back, which is appropriate since I am a musician too (it means loud or strong in musical terms).

The cards were printed on a letterpress, thanks to my friend, the super-talented Jon Arvizu (Trapdoor Studio). We printed them at his studio on his antique treadle letterpress…that’s right, human-powered printing. Now that’s green. I chose a 2 inch circle for a few reasons: First, it’s small and doesn’t use much paper. Second, it’s distinctive but still fits in a business card sleeve, in case someone wants to keep it. Third, it’s just darn cute.

The card prints 2/1 (that’s two colors on one side and one color on the other for not printing folk). It’s a one-color press, so we did three press runs, on three separate days. Once they were printed, I had my friends at Southwest Foil and Embossing handle the die-cutting for me and voila, cards.

I have heard comparisons to a coaster for a shot glass, a poker chip, Pogs and even pasties (which caused my mind to wander about a possible promotional photo…but I digress). Of course, those pasties are not to be confused with one of my favorite snacks, the delicious pasty, which looks nothing like my card. If you are interested in the edible type, I recommend the Cornish Pasty Company in Tempe and Mesa, AZ but once again, I digress.

Here’s some video of Jon and I running the letterpress. Some of the clips were shot on my iPhone and some on my Flip.

Letterpress Printing of Bravoforté Business Cards from Marvin Forte on Vimeo.

Let me know your thoughts. Are you a letterpress fan? Do you hate odd-shaped cards? Do you like pasties?