Two Tone Press

TWO TONE PRESS
[Owner & Operator: Michelle Dreher] & [Cohort: Angie Bayman]

Founded in 2005, Two Tone Press began in a spacious bohemian loft among the industrial brick warehouses and train-yards of Kansas City’s West Bottoms district. We are a letterpress studio that specializes in a colorful aesthetic focusing on designs that incorporate bold typography and custom illustrations layered upon intricately patterned backgrounds. We use this vision to create all manner of printed products from wedding invitations and business cards for clientele to posters and fine art prints for consumers by means of a centuries-old technique of relief printing. We aspire to innovate beyond the traditional look commonly found in letterpress printing through the use of hand-carved elements and unconventional materials such as textured wallpaper, fabrics, and other found objects. These printed surfaces create a rich backdrop for every piece individually crafted by the studio. Over the years, we have grown from a modest studio in the corner of that rented warehouse apartment to a full-service letterpress print shop that houses two SP-15 Vandercooks, Bowie and Lennox; a SP-20 Vandercook, appropriately named the Boss; an 1898 Chandler & Price platen press, Lauper [if you don’t respect her, she’s liable to lop off a finger or two!]; round that out with an assortment of vintage type and a cast iron guillotine cutter. Our end goal is to have a fantastic store front and offer hands-on workshops to the public in addition to all of our current offerings (e.g. business cards, wedding invitations, posters, greeting cards, postcards, etc). We also offer (for credit) internships to students looking for experience.