A bit of a belated post but still highly relevant. We came across Starshaped press during an art walk in Ravenswood. I did a secret project / present for my 1 year anniversary, "the paper anniversary " . I wanted to give a surprise Christmas present to my wife and had the idea for a concept. Reached out to Jen and she got back very quick, and we had a call to price out . I was able to give her a proof of concept to develop the unique paper print and she turned it into a forever treasure that is hung up in our home . A very cool unique thing but we gave our Chinese characters of our last names and she made it into a press and we got to keep it as a keepsake. Please consider her for projects like that but also cards and invitations . Wonderful experience read more

I love small letterpresses. I love the creativity; the history; the art; the passion of those who make this their craft. Every once in a while I do a search online to see if there's one I should follow on Instagram, because I love buying cards, and I like to support small businesses, so that works out pretty well, right? I've searched for letterpresses in Chicago more than once. More than once in the last couple months, even, when I was trying to decide where I wanted to purchase my holiday cards. Somehow I've only come up with one or two, and Starshaped Press was not one of them--though I live less than half a mile from where it's located. I lucked out and found Starshaped two days before their annual open house. Perfect timing. The studio is in this really awesome Art Deco building that of course I've seen in the neighborhood but have never had reason to enter. We got there right at noon so we could beat the crowd, and Jen was a gracious host. She had samples of her work out, consisting of pieces decorating the studio as well as prints and cards for purchase. (I ended up spending... way too much money). She also had delicious cookies for us too! She was so open to any question we had, and showed us how the press worked. She had set up many examples of the letterpress dies set in various designs, and they are so incredibly intricate. There may be hundreds in a single print of all sizes. I loved seeing those set up with an example of the pressed item next to it. Starshaped Press also has a print club, which is a subscription service where you get printed goodies from the press on a monthly basis. There are a few different options so you can choose based upon your budget. I signed up for the print club and will get my first this month (January 2022), and can't wait! It was suggested that I might want to get my own holiday cards printed at a letterpress--perhaps Starshaped Letterpress--and I find that idea quite intriguing. Review 641 - January 23, 2022 22/2022 read more

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Jen at Starshaped did our invites and CD covers for our wedding. We had an idea of what we wanted and she helped us make it happen. We wanted a specific feel and the old fashioned letterpress was exactly what was called for. Even the people that we didn't like, but still invited mentioned how absloutely awesome our materials were. And we don't even like them. For any party requiring an invite, poster, or thank you, go for Starshaped. You won't regret it. read more

Jen Farrell is amazing! We went to her with several wedding printing needs, and she executed them all flawlessly, creatively, pleasantly, and in a timely fashion. From my very vague idea, Jen designed a tri-fold invitation that was simple, unique but very lovely. In the end, it was exactly what I wanted. Jen also designed and printed the escort cards for our wedding, based on a 1930's World Series ticket, and they came out better than I could have dreamed. I also enjoyed the process. We initially met with Jen in her shop, which allowe us to see her process and her materials. (She uses several old-fashioned presses to make her creations, and she handsets all of the type.) She was great about communicating with us in a timely fashion regarding design, printing, etc. She was very receptive to comments during the design process, and all-around a pleasure to work with. A note about price: is letterpress expensive? Yes, but Jen's prices were the most reasonable that I could find in the Chicago area, and I did do a good bit of research on the matter. I felt that it was worth every penny. read more

I was so happy with the final product Jen produced. We received many compliments on the invitations and that would not have been possible without the design and execution of Jen. Jen was extremely good with being responsive both on the phone and email, and was accommodating when I had to make some changes to the design. For brides looking for letterpress (custom designed letterpress) for a non-letterpress price, please consider Starshaped Press! read more

I noticed folks are here reviewing Starshaped as a wedding vendor, but I want to put in a plug for Jen as maker of great cards and prints - my apartment and office (and my mother's house) have quickly filled up with letterpress prints and posters from Starshaped, and I love Jen's eye for cool type and interesting and topical inspiration--from urban gardens to biking, even women's health. Jen's Etsy site (www.starshapedpress.etsy.com) and newsletter often feature discount codes too, great for the struggling grad student who wants to buy local as much as possible. Now I'm moving out of Chicago, but you can bet I'll still be buying Starshaped! [In fact, as I was packing, I was counting how many of her prints I had collected over the years...lots!] If you're in town, though, there are often events at the Ravenswood studio, which are lots of fun (I once struggled through printing my own 11x14 poster!) read more

Jen printed our wedding invitations in the spring of 2010. I used a design template from her extensive and beautiful portfolio, with a few minor modifications. Jen was amazing to work with - very responsive, helpful and spot-on with her deadlines. I also really enjoyed the chance to meet in her studio, talk through paper and ink options, see the presses and learn about her process. She is keeping the art of letterpress alive in its original form - there's no plastic-type and modern technology fakery going on at Sharshaped! I received lots of compliments on my original, highly personal invites. They were one of my favorite "projects" of our wedding. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to work with Jen again soon. read more

Starshaped Press you are my hero. I unfortunately was not able to attend your open house. When I lamented this to you, you sent me the most beautiful, well-put-together most awesome mailer containing samples of your work. I am a letterpress printer (who uses illustrator/photopolymer plates) and was weepy with aesthetic bliss to see what your printing up over there on Ravenswood. You rock. I'm in the business of showing people what the heck letterpress is whenever they come to my house. Now I get to show them what OG letterpress is too. ;-) Can folks visit your shop? Thanks again! read more

Jen designed and printed a poster for my wife and I of our vows for our seventh anniversary. Jen was AMAZING. Working with her on the design was fun and easy. She gave us two possible designs that we revised and narrowed down to the final print. We couldn't have been happier with the final piece. It is something we will love and enjoy for a very long time, and I can't thank Jen enough for the amazing work. read more

We hired Jen at Starshaped Press to do save the dates and wedding invitations for our April 2013 wedding. Jen was absolutely amazing to work with. She was always extremely nice and professional, and she captured our ideas perfectly. Everyone raved about our paper products, and we even used the skyline image Jen created for us as our wedding logo (with Jen's permission). The price for the save the dates and invitations was also extremely reasonable. We will definitely work with Jen again, and we cannot recommend her highly enough. read more

Starshaped Press made our invitations in June of 2012, and people have not stopped complimenting us. I'd just begun to despair of being able to afford letterpress when I came across their info on Offbeat Bride. Jen was timely and responsive, listened well, and gave us what we wanted. We used the City of Big Ornaments template, which she re-did for Seattle. She sent us the proofs and happily made the adjustments we asked for (moving trees and buildings around so the Space Needle stood out more). Jen totally worked with us: we wanted a digital file for our reply cards with a font that corresponded with the invitations AND was common enough that the friend designing our maps also had it -- and she came through. Awesome experience. read more

If you are looking for something truly unique and interesting, you must use Starshaped Press for your wedding stationary. We spent hours upon hours scrolling through the boring, standard wedding invites on the mega superstores online and thought we would never find something we loved. When we stumbled upon Jen's work on her site, we were so amazed, we knew we to have Jen design our wedding invitations and envelopes. All of our guests were raving about our one-of-a-kind stationary; no one had EVER seen anything like it arrive in their mailbox. Jen was a GEM to work with-- was super helpful, offered amazing advice and expertise, and so available/responsive. We were also really excited to support a local small business in Ravenswood area of Chicago-- even though we were lucky enough to be able to stop into her incredible studio, we were amazed to see that she even does custom work for people around the country. I would 100% absolutely encourage everyone to look into Starshaped Press, even just for thank you cards on her Etsy page :-) read more

We were extremely pleased with Starshaped Press, who we hired to handle our wedding invites and some signs for the day of. Jen is very responsive and well-organized. She uses the true old fashioned letterpress machines, and the results were noticeable. We didn't really know what we wanted, as we didn't really have a traditional "theme" but Jen took it upon herself to basically set a theme for us, albeit unintentionally. The result was that our venue and invites were closely intertwined and it flowed together nicely. Jen also made some signs for us, and they were so good we actually got them framed and hung them on our wall! Our invites were very unique and we loved them! Many of our guests commented on how much they loved the invites. Starshaped was also very reasonably priced, which counts big time in this business. There are some obvious design limitations because of the letterpress, but if this is the design you are looking for then I highly recommend Starshaped press. In fact, forget about whatever design you thought you wanted, check out some of Jen's work - it speaks for itself. A+ read more