I know someone who bought this and she brought it into the studio for us to look at. There is absolutely nothing "letterpress" about this machine. Unlike the Gocco they have decided to not come up with a new name for this type of product.

On to the machine. It comes with a small set of these hard plastic plates that are much thicker than traditional printing plates. I assume this is because you don't have the natural force of the press to create a deep impression. Having a thicker plate helps compensate? I compared them to some of my polymer plates and they are at least 3 times the thickness, so sadly you wouldn't be able to substitute using polymer plates. According to the company they only sell pre-designed plates with generic messages such as 'happy birthday' etc. Since the designs are created by the company, I think anyone wanting to use this to make cards to sell, might have some copyright issues to deal with? You also have to hand ink the plate before each print so it certainly cuts down on production time if you are looking to do big sets of cards. Good for doing a single card or two (which my big press is not) From what my friend said when she purchased it, the company had claimed they were looking into the option of offering custom plates in the future that you would order directly from them but it sounded like that was all talk at this point.

I think if you want another fun tool in the craft room, it wouldn't hurt to have. Great if you have kids too and want to teach them a really simplified printmaking technique. But as someone who has a 1200 lb printing press and several years of training (with much more to go), I would really hope that anyone using this machine would not refer to the product as "letterpress". But that is just me. ;)

Thanks Kelly for the insight. Of course it could never take place of the traditional letterpress, nor one's several years of training - but like you say maybe as a fun piece to have in the craft room for personal card making (if you're not too interested in customizing something yourself). Maybe you're right. The name is what is off-putting.

I also called them (which, it took major hunting to find a phone number!) and according to them, you can use photopolymer plates on it... but like the first commenter, I am skeptical... but wouldn't that be great!? And I agree, this can never take away the greatness of an old press, but if you could use your own plates, it would be a great alternative for those who can't afford the real thing...

jan, i agree... it is just the name that irks me. otherwise i would probably go get one for the studio.

casey, that is interesting that they said that. i am sure technically you could use polymer but just comparing it to their plates, they are much much thinner. i gave my friend an old plate to play with so we will see what she says. it did seem like you could use an old printers trick and raise the area under the plate by putting scrap paper under the surface. it is basically a tray with a piece of plexi that sits on top. then you stick the plate to the plexi. pretty simple machine so i am sure you can rig something up.

i just think the quality is what will be the issue. but for fun, why not. ;)

I actually went to a scrapbooking store that was having free demos of the product. I was very interested in it. I would love love love a traditional letterpress machine, but I am sure they are so expensive. I thought this might be a good alternative. When I found out that the designs couldn't be customized, I was bummed. Has anyone out there found a way to customize it?

we were also really excited about the possibility of this to replace our gocco system - but we quickly returned the machine and all it's accessories. the great packaging of the inks and plates really fooled us but the plastic components immediately made us nervous. also be warned that the pressure is too light for other papers... the sets they sell are very thick and soft. others papers just crack from the plate - not emboss.

a side note: truly well done letterpress has a very slight "kiss" into the paper - not a deep emboss. this machine is more of an embosser with ink.

i've seen this thing in action. personally, i don't like it.
its pretty much a cheap little plastic machine that's a waaay simpler version of an authentic letterpress.

there have been manufacturing problems with it... the plastic plates break way too easily. and so does the clear plastic part that holds down the plates.

you can get custom plates at letterpressplates.com, and am sure you can find more resources online.

the quality is not that great. i'm sure with time and practice they'll look better. it just seems a lil to "gimmicky". and i can see the infomercials for it, along with the cricket.

Since this post, Quickutz (manufacturer of L Letterpress) has put on their website that they will be doing custom plates. You can upload a 6x8 PDF or use their online tool. They don't have a date set yet; the website says sometime in the next few months.

Also, the machine you use is actually a die cutting machine. Die cutting machines that aren't electronic typically use plastic plates for cutting and embossing.

What I gather from reading Quickutz's policies on using their images commercially, you can do so as long as you notify them in writing. If your product contains a considerable amount of the product, then somewhere it is supposed to say something about Quickutz. I know this is the policy concerning their dies, but I'm not sure if that includes the new letterpress line. Here's their current policies: http://www.quickutz.com/qk2/about/policies.aspx

I haven't used this yet, so I'm curious to see a final result. I imagine it wouldn't be stellar results for the professional...probably just designed with the everyday crafter in mind.

Harold from Boxcar Press posted a really helpful tutorial using the L Letterpress. Boxcar Press allows you to make custom plates (I'm having some made for my wedding invitations), and as long as you specify that they are KF152 Photopolymer Plates, they work like a charm. Good luck!