Welcome to the weekend friends! I’m so excited to be back today to share a couple of projects made with the new BetterPress System from Spellbinders. (Check out the entire June release here…so much good stuff!) The BetterPress is a letterpress system that works with your manual diecutting machine to create the look of beautiful stationery with detailed impressions that you can actually touch. Spellbinders is releasing the system today along with a collection of beautiful new BetterPress plates, inks, and cotton papers that all work together to produce truly gorgeous and professional-level results.
Check out this video to see the unboxing as well as my first impressions (pun intended!), a couple of experiments, and even some card projects. (If the video does not show up, please click HERE!)
SIMPLE WATERCOLORED LETTERPRESS CARD
I spent a bit of time experimenting with different ink and papers, but went right back to my very first pressed panel to create this card. I pressed the image and sentiment plates included in the BetterPress System kit onto a Porcelain Cotton Paper panel using BetterPress Black Ink, then colored the image quickly with Tombow Dual Brush Pens.
I didn’t spend a ton of time coloring…there is so much detail in the plate that I felt it almost detracted from the image to try to achieve perfect blends. Although I chose Tombow Dual Brush Pens because they’re my tried and true favorite, the ink and cotton panels would be compatible to most watercolor paints and markers (Copic markers would likely feather though).
Once colored, I cut the panel down using one of the dies from the Precision Layering A2 Die Set, matted it with Onyx Cardstock, and adhered it to a top-folding A2-sized white card base with tape runner. A couple of Crystal Mix Gems finish off this simple and elegant card perfectly.
EXPERIMENTING WITH DIFFERENT INKS AND CARDSTOCK
Here’s a closer look at some of the other inks and cardstocks I tested in the video. Above is some navy dye ink pressed onto Pebble BettterPress Cotton Cardstock…you can see how beautifully crisp the image is (although maybe not quite as good as the BetterPress Inks)! I will definitely be using more dye inks from my stash with the BetterPress in the future…think of all the colorful possibilities!
I thought Versafine Clair ink did not perform as well…it pooled a bit on top of the plate when I applied it and you can see that it gave splotchier results than the other inks I tried. I would recommend against using these inks with the system (and Spellbinders also recommends not using pigment inks).
When BetterPress Ink is applied to my go-to white cardstock (Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110lb) with the system, the result is beautiful and crisp, however the image is not quite pressed into the paper like it is on BetterPress cotton paper. It’s a great way to “stamp” the image…just not so much a letterpress result!
To see what I mean, above is a photo of the impression you get with no ink on the cotton cardstock. That’s a ton of fun texture that you miss out on when you use regular cardstock!
FOILING WITH BETTERPRESS PLATES
Another cool thing you can do is foil with BetterPress Plates! You can’t use Glimmer Plates in the BetterPress System because they are too thick, but you can foil any of the beautiful images available in BetterPress Plates. Here I applied Matte Gold Hot Foil to white cardstock twice using the plate included in the BetterPress kit and cut it out with one of the dies from the Stylish Ovals Die Set.
I added a little color to the images with Wilted Violet and Mowed Lawn Distress Ink using a sponge dauber and one of the Mini Blending Brushes and popped it up on top of a piece of Royal Amethyst Cardstock that I had pressed with purple ink using the same plate for a tone-on tone textured background. A few Gold Mix Gems and a sentiment foiled with another BetterPress Plate finish off this card.
I hope you enjoyed this look at the brand new BetterPress System and thanks so much for stopping by today. You can shop the BetterPress Collection now and create your own gorgeous letterpress projects for any occasion!
Here are two more cards I made using a fun faux-bleaching technique with the BetterPress Kit…you can find all of the details for these over on the Spellbinders blog today!
And don’t forget that if you shop in the Spellbinders store between now and Monday, June 19th, you can receive $25 off of any order of $125 or more! That’s a nice chunk of savings off of new BetterPress goodies…I’m off to shop! 😁
Supplies Used:
Note: This post contains affiliate links. This means that I receive a small commission if you purchase a product through some of the links in this post or below at no additional cost to you. Thank you for helping to support this blog!
 BetterPress System Shop at: SB | SPL |
 BetterPress Stationery Shop at: SB | SPL |
 BetterPress Ink Shop at: SB | SPL |
 BetterPress Plate Collection Shop at: SB | SPL |
 Tombow Dual Brush Pens Shop at: DB |
 Precision Layering A2 A Die Set Shop at: SB | SBP | SPL |
 Precision Layering A2 B Die Set Shop at: SB | SBP | SPL |
 Essential Stylish Ovals Die Set Shop at: SB | SBP | SPL |
 Matte Gold Hot Foil Shop at: SB | SPL |
 Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil System Shop at: SB | SBP | SPL |
 Universal Plate System Shop at: SB | SBP | SPL |
 Spellbinders Platinum Diecutting Machine Shop at: SB | SPL |
 Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Shop at: SB | CCS |
 Royal Amethyst Cardstock Shop at: SB | SPL |
 Onyx Cardstock Shop at: SB | SPL |
 Wilted Violet Distress Ink Shop at: SB | SBP |
 Mowed Lawn Distress Ink Shop at: SB | SBP |
 Mini Blending Brushes Shop at: SB | SPL |
 Crystal Mix Gems Shop at: SB | SBP | SPL |
 Gold Mix Gems Shop at: SB | SBP | SPL |
 Sponge Daubers Shop at: SB |
 Domed Ink Blending Tools Shop at: SB |
 Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue Shop at: SBP | SPL |
 Tombow Mono Adhesive Runner Shop at: SB |
 Foam Squares Shop at: SB |
 Cutterbee Scissors Shop at: SB | SBP |