I second Lanie''s suggestion that you search for and call local print shops to see if they offer thermography.
Letterpress and Engraving are a bit harder to do if you already have a design you are a set on. Traditionally letterpress is done by using lead type and placing individual letters next to each other until you spell out everything. (Yes, this process takes a
long time!) Because you need to have the letters made out of metal, and you need lots and lots of each letter, typefaces are very expensive and usually letterpress shops only have a few fonts - and they are older ones. Now, since Crane and Papersource both offer this option they probably aren''t using this method. You can have plates made of designs, so maybe a service like this would be helpful for you:
Letterpress Blocks They make the plate that can then be run through a letterpress. So if you have a letterpress studio near you I would ask what they could do for you.
**Totally random type geek fact: back when all printing was letterpress based, the print shops would keep "upper-case" and "lower-case" letters in separate drawers (called cases
) with the "upper-case" letters
above the "lower-case" letters - thus the continuing term we use today!**
I had a very difficult time finding a custom engraving place, but apparently if you have vector based art (like an Illustrator file) they can engrave it for you. I am only using that to do my custom logo above the invite text, but it might be doable for the whole plate.
Reaves Engraving is who said they could do this, I would check them out since they also do thermography and letterpress.