Back At It

You know you're you're done with your website if...a) you can spend all day printing and b) you can write 2 blog posts in 2 days. Woohoo! So, I think I realized that the last time I actually ran a big print job really was several months ago. I was trying to improve upon some business cards I had printed on the Pilot, but the big C&P was giving me quite a bit of inking agida. Many of you, loyal readers, wrote in with suggestions for how I could fix the mysterious inking issues. Even though before I had time to adequately respond to you I was sucked into the time vortex that was my website, I truly appreciated all your ideas. The truth is, I was so frustrated almost to the point of tears that I think part of what I needed was a big break.

When I went back in yesterday to print the corrugated postcards, I initially had some of the same problems I did a few months ago. Mysterious uneven vertical inking, sometimes even leaving out whole spots in the middle of the plate:


Weird, right? The only thing I've been able to determine so far is that how the base is sitting in the chase seems to be affecting inking. I'm not sure if my Chase is a little uneven (as I'm pretty sure is the case with my Pilot) or the surface I'm using to lockup isn't completely flat, but I seem to be able to achieve some success by gently knocking various corners around once locked up, to compensate for the uneven inking. Whatever I did seemed to work for the moment, which THRILLED me. I mixed up a nice deep orange color for the cards (appropriate, given the date), using some of my Van Son VS Zero Ink for the first time. I was disappointed to find out, earlier this year, that the VS Zero (zero volitle organic compounds) ink would only be released in CMYK colors instead of Pantone mixing colors. I went ahead and ordered some anyway, though, figuring I would eventually get up the courage to put my preschool color mixing knowledge to the test.

So, these tubs I have are HUGE. I think 10 pounds each. When I finally cracked them open today, the ink looked a little runny. I was concerned that I'd have a similar spoogy effect that the Braden Sutphin Earth Pride ink was giving me a few months back, but actually once it was on press it was a little on the tacky side. It printed very nicely on the corrugated, and eventually came off the press with just vegetable oil. Overall, I'm really pleased with how the VS Zero performed. The only thing that's vexing me a bit is that now, 24 hours later, the ink still isn't dry. I'm not exactly sure why this would be the case, but when I touch one of the cards it's still tacky and comes off on my fingers. This isn't a good sign - particularly since I need to go back in on Sunday to print some more cards and they have to be ready to mail out on Monday. If the cards aren't completely dry by tomorrow I'm pretty screwed - because I already printed about 150 cards using this ink and don't have any extra. :: sigh :: I guess I'll see what happens. At least they look nice:


And now to show a little love for my big press, some artsy images:


Sure is a beauty. Now I just have to get up the courage to start using it with the motor on so I don't have to turn the wheel with my left arm the whole time - I woke up in the middle of last night with my wrists throbbing. Hopefully I'll be able to get the hang of it using regular paper - the cardboard was tricky because I had to actually secure it pushing the gauge pins through the middle of the fluting. I wonder how much it would cost to "downgrade" to a foot treadle instead of a motor. I get nervous when the thing is at speed 2 - and it goes all the way up to 15!

Maybe I would feel more comfortable if I had more secure gauge pins. The ones I have are a bit old and rusty, so perhaps I should just get some new ones. Yeah, I'm off to order some right now. Word.

Pulp & Press Soundtrack 10/31/09 (Happy Halloween!): Starblood (Cranes).

must. kill.

OK, this blog entry is being posted a bit late - I wrote most of it, then went on vacation, yadda yadda. So I'm actually referring here to some printing I did a few weeks back:

I've had a frustrating couple of days in letterpress world. You might remember these calling cards I printed a few weeks ago, which came out decently but overall I wasn't thrilled with the level of impression the paper took. So, I decided to order in some 134# Aqua Cranes Palette paper, since the 100% cotton is supposed to do really nicely with letterpress. It really is tasty paper, and I was excited to try it out. So on Friday I prepped my Pilot with the same calling card plate and mixed a nice deep green color. I pretty much ran into every problem across the board: not enough impression, uneven inking, un-crisp printing, too much ink, not enough ink, etc. It was just one of those days. So, I decided to just pretend it didn't happen and instead try again on my big 8 x 12 tonight.

Unfortunately, things didn't go much better. I'll start with Problem #1: Uneven Print, and excuse the crap photo but I'm too tired to do any better:

See how the print is heavier on either side, like the "www" and "m"s in "com"? It gets lighter/crisper in the middle, but the edges just look really...squishy. I thought maybe it was just an uneven impression problem, so I spent a long time doing some serious makeready - cutting out individual letters from packing to try and compensate. The weird thing is, this exact same problem was happening in the exact same places on the plate when I tried the print on my Pilot at home.
Question: Could this mean that the plate itself is uneven?

As soon as it started to look okay, I ran into Problem #2: Uneven Inking. Basically it seemed like a lot more ink was being laid down on one side of the plate than the other. There's a circular graphic at the top of the card, and it was really apparent that one side of the circle was printing more heavily than the other. Looking at the back of the cards, it didn't seem like the impression itself was uneven (indicating uneven platen pressure), so I thought it must have been the roller just laying down more ink on one side. I tried taping up the rails to raise the rollers on just the bottom of the chase, which only sort of worked. Since I don't have a picture, I'll do my best approximation via Illustrator:


Question: Is it common for uneven inking to occur vertically like this? How can I compensate for this?

This brings me to Problem #3: Un-Crisp Printing. Once again, I'll do my best to illustrate this problem without a photo. The left side is what the graphic should look like, and the right side is how it has been coming out:


As you can see, there are some fine details in the flowers that should remain unprinted. Instead, the flowers are completely filling in with ink. I noticed that the problem got worse the longer I printed, so I'm wondering if maybe the ink was heating up and getting too squishy. I thought maybe the problem was simply too much ink, but when I removed some from the press all I got was a mottled print - incomplete coverage indicating too little ink but the lines were STILL filling in. The only thing I can think here is that I need to dry up the ink a little. I ordered some drier from Braden Sutphin the other day and will give it a try - but does anyone know if I'm on the right track here? I'm pretty out of ideas, and I know that a crisp print CAN happen along with a deep impression.
Question: Is ink consistency to blame when ink amount has been ruled out and fine details are still filling in?

::sigh::

Lessons From The First Day of (Attempted) Printing

Wearing my trusty Friday overalls and acceptably indie/chic This American Life tee, I set about my first real day of letterpress troubleshooting on the Pilot.

Lesson #1: Me and gauge pins? Not friends. I'm assuming that since we don't know each other very well our relationship can only improve. But right now we're not really speaking to each other.

I'm super paranoid about denting my Boxcar base, and I'm not really sure which parts of the pins should absolutely NOT contact the base. I'm also not 100% sure about which parts are supposed to hold the paper, and they just never seem particularly secure to me. I'll probably do a whole post specifically about these little fuckers, but right now we need some space.

Lesson #2: Taping the rails is fairly painless, and has fast results.

When I first started inking the plate for my "shit / i'm sorry" notecard, ink was getting all over the place. In the Boxcar video on taping the rails, the guy uses some fancy nylon strapping tape, which I don't have at the moment but may look into. Instead I added about 4 layers of scotch tape to the rails to raise the rollers a bit. This improved things dramatically, but there were still some places being inked that shouldn't have been. Another layer or two, and the plate was inking perfectly.


Lesson #3: I have a lot to learn about packing a platen press.

The first couple of prints I pulled, there seemed to be good ink coverage around the edges but not in the middle. So, I kept adding more and more packing thinking it must be the problem. However, the more packing I added the less even the print was. After a few hours, only about the bottom half of the print was coming through clearly. What the hell? I even tried using makeready buried under the tympan just under the top half of the print, but then things got even screwier. Finally, I thought "this can't be right" as my packing bulged and there was barely any OOMPH when I pulled the arm to print.

So, I went backwards about 11 steps and left only a small amount of packing. This did the trick for the most part, and I didn't even have to use any additional sheeting under a specific section of the print. I'm sure all of this has some very technical explanation to do with pressue distribution, but I'm just not used to such things yet having mainly worked on flatbed presses. Exhausted but somewhat accomplished, I finally produced a mostly acceptable print:


Lesson #4: The jury is still out on print quality and smudginess, but water-based ink cleanup sure is a breeze.

Seriously, 90% of the ink came off using no solvent whatsoever. I used a small amount of vegetable oil towards the end just to make sure everything was ship shape, and no stinky mineral spirits (which I'd like to avoid in the interest of preventing future flipper babies). I'll have to wait for the test prints to dry before I can really speak to the smudginess factor, and I'm not 100% thrilled with the ink coverage. However, the colors are nice and I think it's worth continued testing.

Lesson #5: My neck hurts.

Pulp & Press Soundtrack 3/20/09: Take Back The City (Snow Patrol), Don't Drag Me Down (Social Distortion). Yeah, Mike Ness rocks balls. I wonder if he needs anything letterpressed.

A Quick Note

My new base from Boxcar arrived! Man, they did it fast too. I went with the size they recommended for Pilot presses - 8.5" x 5". However, now that I'm looking at it with my press I realize I probably should have measured the distance between my grippers because it's only 8". Maybe there's something I'm missing here and it will work out - but I do NOT want to dent my base. Oh well...I suppose if it doesn't fit in the Pilot I can always use it with the big C&P.

Actually, now that I'm looking more closely at the grippers it looks like they're probably adjustable - just held on by bolts. Hopefully I can move them so I can use this size base! It would be just perfect for a flattened out A2 size card (4-1/4" x 11"), provided I don't do a full vertical bleed on both sides at once. Most of my cards just have the Tweedle Press logo centered on the back anyway.

Tomorrow I'm planning to call Roll Crafters to see about getting some new rollers for both the Pilot and the 8 x 12. I've pretty much decided on rubber, on advice both from some folks at Briar Press and Akua Water Based Inks . These inks are supposedly non toxic, and can apparently be cleaned off using vegetable oil (instead of water which could rust the press). I'm going to give them a try to see if they work well. This Friday will be my first official day that I begin taking off from my "real job" (aka the one that pays me) to work on Tweedle Press and Chicago Locavores, so I'm psyched!

What To Buy Before Printing With A C&P Pilot

OK, I've been doing research into the additional items I'll need to purchase along with my new presses in order to actually print on them. I'm hoping some of the smaller items will come included, but it's possible I may have to hunt down everything myself. I'll start with the C&P Pilot, because that's the one I'll likely have first since it won't require any special shipping arrangements (it "only" weighs about 200 pounds). If everything goes well I could be bringing it home this weekend!

I found this awesome Operating Instructions and Parts List for Chandler & Price Pilot Press on the Dolce Press website (thanks guys!) which has helped a lot.

Needs For The C&P Pilot Letterpress

1. I've been told that it needs new rollers. I've done a little research, and come up with these options for where to buy them:

NA Graphics (Colorado) C&P Pilot 6 1/2x10 Form Roller, new core, rubber, $101.20 C&P Pilot 6 1/2x10 Form Roller, new core, vinylith, $87.30 So, I guess I'll need to find out if the rollers need new cores as well - I'm inclined to just buy new everything, but I suppose I should try to save money where I can. The prices on the NA Graphics website are "estimated," so I'd probably have to call them to get actual pricing.

American Printing Equipment (New York) 6-1/2 x 10 Pilot Press Letterpress Rubber Rollers Set/2 with Steel Core, $145 Definitely seems more expensive than NA Graphics, but I guess I may not have the real NA Graphics price yet.

Republic Roller Corporation (Michigan)
These guys are listed on Briar Press, and it's always good to find suppliers in the next state over. I'll probably give them a call to see if they have what I need and how much it would cost.

There also 10+ other listings on Briar Press for people supposedly selling rollers, so if I don't have any luck with the ones I've listed I can always check for more there. There's a good guide on rollers too.

2. Tympan Paper: according to this discussion on Briar Press, there are a lot of alternatives. However, due to my love of rules I may opt to at least start out with the real thing before I start experimenting. It looks like I can get the correct size from American Printing Equipment.

3. Gauge Pins: these little buggers are one of the main reasons I've been reluctant to buy a platen press at all. I'm sure my relationship with them will evolve, as I really haven't done too much platen printing compared to the amount I've done on Vandercooks. I just feel like there's no possible way gauge pins can reliably hold the paper in place for proper registration because they're just so tiny, yet I know it must be possible. So, I suppose I'll just have to get over it. I'm hoping to acquire a few of these with the purchase of the presses. If not, it appears they're readily available and not too expensive.

4. Furniture: even though I'll likely be doing most or all of my printing using polymer plates, I'll still need some furniture to lock up the Boxcar base in the chase. Probably only a few pieces - but I do really like the big furniture cabinets so I'll probably just go ahead and get one. Plus, I can see myself buying some type eventually, and you never know when you might find a perfect woodcut you want to print with.

5. Speaking of Boxcar bases, I'll be needing one (or several) of those. I dealt with Boxcar one before when I had them make some plates for me, which were kind of expensive but they were really nice and helpful. Dang these things are expensive! Looks like they recommend a 5 x 8.5 for a Pilot ($175) and a 6 x 9 for an 8 x 12 C&P. That page I just linked to also has a lot of good general information about using Boxcar bases with platen presses. I'll definitely be poring over that. The Boxcar Printing Manual also has a lot of good tips.

6. Roller gauge(s): I hadn't really thought of these, mainly because up until now I have pretty much judged roller height based on how prints look. I suppose it would probably be a good idea to grab one, though, plus they're pretty cool looking and not that expensive. Also, the Boxcar base letterpress starter packs come with one anyway, which sounds like a good deal.

7. Ink: I'll probably go with rubber based ink to start off with, but will likely end up experimenting at some point. These starter ink packs from Boxcar sound pretty cool, so I'll probably end up getting one of them. There is an interesting (and at times unnecessary aggressive, as internet discussions tend to be) thread over on Briar Press about ink alternatives and possible effects of various toxic letterpress substances. This is definitely of interest to me, as I will likely be having my own minis in the not too distant future. Someone mentions that water based inks work well for them on their Pilot, so maybe I'll investigate even though I'm not sure they're meant for use with polymer plates.

8. Cleaning supplies: another area in which to consider possible non-toxic-ness, and one in which I'll certainly have to experiment based on the types of ink I end up using. I'll also need to procure some of those nifty rags all letterpress studios seem to have, as well as figure out how to get them cleaned. I'll probably be asking my friends over at The Evanston Print And Paper Shop for suggestions on this one.

OK - that's all I've got for now. Is there anything else I'll need to start printing on my Pilot? I'm assuming, of course, that all the parts will be working and I won't have to do any major repairs or replacements. I'd like to clean and restore the press to it's best possible working condition, so I suppose there may be a few other things I'll need to get (oil?) to keep it happily maintained.