Print & Duck Studio

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Saranac, MI
Print & Duck Studio

Custom letterpress and digital printing right here in our community. Family-run since 1958, part of a 150+ year local printing tradition.
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06/01/2026

What tone is your voice?

The words we choose matter, but so do the fonts we use.

A font can make your message feel elegant, playful, professional, bold, friendly, nostalgic, or even a little dramatic. Before anyone reads the words, they're already getting a first impression.

That's why choosing the right font is an important part of any print project. Whether it's invitations, business cards, brochures, signs, or something completely unique, the right typography helps your message sound exactly the way you want it to.

Need help finding the perfect voice for your next project? I'd love to help.

So tell me... if your voice were a font, which one would it be?

05/25/2026

🇺🇸 Memorial Day 🇺🇸

Today we remember and honor the men and women who gave their lives in service to our country.

This 1960s postcard, features my grandpa (a WWII Marine) and the Historic Color Guard, a group that portrayed soldiers from battles throughout American history. The group became well known throughout the region and even marched in the 1965 Presidential Inauguration Parade in Washington, DC.

The “No Parking” sign in the photo was saved from that parade. Little pieces of history tucked into one image.

As a family print shop rooted in history and tradition, it feels especially meaningful to share this piece of our past today.

Wishing everyone a safe and reflective Memorial Day.

05/22/2026

Some things are worth preserving: marriages, family businesses, and old printing presses.

Feeling extra grateful today for 27 years together and for the family legacy that led us here.

05/20/2026

September 2, 2025: Grandpa’s 100th birthday.

Dad and I spent the day tearing out the old drop ceiling grid, uncovering decades of “we’ll deal with that later” hidden above the tiles. Dust everywhere. Bent grid stacked to the ceiling. Probably a few lost printing jobs from before I was born up there too.

Looking back at this photo now, the shop has already come a long way... but there’s still a LOT of remodeling left to do. One project seems to introduce three more.

Still, every wall patched, every brick exposed, and every old piece of the building cleaned up gets us a little closer. Bringing an old print shop back to life isn’t exactly a weekend project... it’s more like a full-contact conversation with 100 years of history.

I think Grandpa would’ve gotten a kick out of seeing the old place buzzing again.

05/18/2026

“OMG! OMG! I forgot to print the graduation invitations!”

Deep breaths. Toss the panic confetti back in the cannon and give Print & Duck Studio a call to see what we can do to help.

From graduation invites to the finishing touch… matching thank you cards… we’ve got your back faster than a tassel in a windstorm.

Want to save even more time? Have us address your envelopes too. Because handwriting 87 addresses the night before graduation parties begin is a special kind of character-building exercise.

📸: Robin K Photography

05/15/2026

What happens when a couple of teenagers are left alone in a print shop in 1968? (Vote for your favorite answer!)

😂 Fake newspapers

😮 Questionable decisions

👍🏻 Lifetime printing career

❤️ All of the above

OSHA would’ve had concerns...
Grandpa probably just handed them more paper.

05/13/2026

Y'all have asked, "What's with the name?" Here it is...

Back in my dad and uncles’ days working for my grandpa, the shop had a very specific relationship with time… and it wasn’t exactly a respectful one.

Jobs were always almost late, proofs were always almost checked thoroughly, and someone was always shouting that it “looked fine” while squinting at something they absolutely had not actually read.

That’s where the joke came from.

In those moments of controlled chaos, when a job was about to fly to press a little too quickly, "someone" (any one of the Brown boys) would crack the same line every time:

“Yeah yeah, just print it… and duck.”

Because everyone knew what came next. If something was off, it wasn’t going to be a quiet correction. It was going to be spread across the county. Then come Monday, someone in the office inquiring why their home was listed as appalling instead of appealing in 17,000 papers.

So of course, they joked the whole operation should just be renamed:

The Shopper’s Guide → The Print & Duck

No proofreading. No hesitation. Just pure adrenaline and blind optimism.

Print it… and immediately prepare to duck whatever comes flying back.

It stuck because it was funny. It stuck because it was true. And it stuck because anyone who has ever worked in print knows that magical split second between “send it” and “oh no…” where faith and panic briefly shake hands.

When I started my own shop, the name came right along with it. Not as a warning exactly… more like a tradition.

A reminder that print is fast, family is faster, and humor is sometimes the only thing keeping the pressroom from fully combusting.

So yeah—Print & Duck Studio.

Proof it twice… and duck anyway.

05/11/2026

This photo is from last July, when the shop floor was still in full shuffle mode—equipment moving, space being reimagined, and every corner mid-decision. (Quiet shout out to the two printers in the photo... my dad and uncle doing a ton of heavy lifting on this project.)

We’re still in that renovation chapter now. Not quite finished, not quite settled, but steadily shaping into what it’s meant to be. The building is very much a work in progress, even as I’m already able to run jobs and keep ink on paper.

It’s a strange and satisfying place to be: building the shop while the shop is already working. Presses are running, projects are moving through, and at the same time the space itself is still being carved out and refined.

More updates as things keep evolving. For now, it’s a mix of history, renewing, and a lot of forward motion.

05/08/2026

This line gauge wasn’t going anywhere—and my grandpa made sure of it.

I’m working through a Chandler & Price Craftsman press from the late 1920s, bringing it back into daily use, and it’s been a bit like opening drawers in a memory you didn’t know you inherited.

Tools keep turning up that belonged to my grandpa. Real working pieces from a print shop that lived a long life before mine ever entered the trade.

One of them is this line gauge. Simple, essential… and very clearly claimed.

Engraved in his own penmanship it reads:
“D. Brown Dammit.”

It’s funny, but it also makes perfect sense. In a print shop, tools have a habit of walking off when no one’s looking. And he was absolutely not interested in negotiating their return.

Now it’s sitting here in my shop, still doing its job, still marked with his voice—half warning, half personality, fully present.

It makes me wonder what other hands have passed through the things we keep. What stories are still etched into the tools, the paper, the work itself.

So I’ll ask you the same question I’ve been thinking about while I clean ink off old steel:

What’s something you’ve kept because it was made by hand—and still carries its story with it?

05/06/2026

There’s something about ink on paper that just feels like a celebration to me.

These custom popcorn bags for Ryan Hesche at Greenridge Realty were printed the slow, beautiful way—on a late-1920s Chandler & Price Craftsman 12×18. Nearly a century old, and still keeping perfect time with that steady thunk-clink rhythm.

Each bag was hand-fed, one impression at a time. No shortcuts, no rush—just ink, pressure, and a press that’s been doing this dance since before any of us were around.

Now they’re ready to be filled, shared, and enjoyed—proof that even something as simple as a popcorn bag can carry a story (and maybe a little nostalgia with it).

Want something like this for your business or next event? Let’s make it happen.

Address

17 N Bridge
Saranac, MI
48881

Website

https://printandduck.com/

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