Chase is a working print shop, not a design studio that outsources production — every job that leaves here was composed, locked up, and pulled on one of our own presses, by the same small crew, on our own shop floor. We take bespoke commissions (wedding suites, business cards, broadsides, menus, invitations) and we also sell the paper and ink stock we've spent years vetting to other print shops through our Stock Program, because a good sheet is hard to source reliably and we'd rather share what works than keep it to ourselves.
Every edition we list states the paper stock, the ink colors and run count, the edition size, and the press it was pulled on — because those facts explain more about a finished piece than a paragraph of craft-adjectives ever will.
How a job actually moves through the shop:
- Compose — the layout is set, either digitally and output to a photopolymer plate, or by hand from our own case of metal and wood type, depending on what the job calls for.
- Lock-up — the type or plate, plus furniture and reglets, is wedged tight into a steel chase so nothing shifts under the press.
- Impression — the locked chase runs on a Vandercook proof press for short, controlled runs or a Heidelberg Windmill for longer commercial runs, with impression depth dialed in on a test sheet before the real stock ever goes through.
- Bindery — folding, scoring, duplexing, and hand assembly for anything beyond a single flat sheet, finished and packed by hand.
We quote every commission against this actual process, not a flat day-rate, because the compose and lock-up steps vary enormously by job even when the press time itself doesn't.