So Speedy!

So I went in to print on my 8x12 last week, and I decided that with 300 prints at 3 passes each I absolutely HAD to get brave enough to use the motor. Pushing the wheel with every print for all 300 of the Empty Boxes teaser cards (and sometimes an extra push in between for more ink) nearly killed me - but really wouldn't have been possible to use the motor with. I had to firmly slide the inside fluting of the cardboard onto several gauge pins to keep them in place - something that took more time than a quick switching out would have allowed. So anyway, here are a few things I learned:

1. Ye who spends good time on makeready will be greatly rewarded.
I took my time measuring out sheet placement, gauge pin placement, and packing so that when it came time to actually run the (very nice & very expensive) paper through the press, the prints came out really nicely. That was pretty exciting.

2. Kort Adjustable Quad Guides are my friends.
Gauge pins and me, thus far, haven't really gotten along. I finally decided to try some of the ones that Boxcar Press recommends, and they really are pretty sweet. Expensive, and they take a little extra time to get into the tympan, but you really feel like they're going to stay put. Also, it's much easier to adjust them a little without having to unstick and restick little clampy feet that tear up your tympan. Hooray for Kort!

(image from NA Graphics, where I bought the pins)

3. Printing with the motor on, even at speed 3 out of 15, is way faster.
Once I was happy with the quad guides, feeding the paper in and out was a cinch. Occasionally I'd have to push the throwoff lever, whether for more inking or to just give myself a little more time to get the paper in, but I think in all those prints I did I only managed to accidentally print on the tympan once. Not bad. This really makes me feel like an order someday for 1000 of something would be totally doable.

(now available for purchase on Tweedle Press and Etsy)

4. With heavy coverage, even a powerful 8x12 can't get much impression.
Although the red bits of these cards created a good punch, the black printing area was just too heavy to really get into the paper. I suppose this is one of the limitations of a platen press. Maybe someday I'll have a bigger studio and can find myself a nice Vandercook for jobs with heavy coverage.

5. Yes, I use sweater drying racks to dry my prints. What? It works.


And now for few miscellaneous notes:

• Remember the cardboard postcards I printed the other week? Well, the website for Empty Boxes is finally up and you should check it out. This is a new company I'm part of that is trying to help companies reuse as many shipping boxes as possible before recycling or trashing. It's totally eco, and totally neat.
• Next week I'm participating in No Impact Week, which is a shortened version of Colin Beavan's "No Impact Man" experiment. During this week, participants will take a hard look at everything they do in their daily lives the negatively affects the environment, and try to curb as much of it as possible. Hopefully some of the things we learn will turn into habits. Check it out!
• I know I mention them frequently, but The Evanston Print and Paper Shop rocks! They routinely save my butt with last minute plates, paper cutting, and other things. In fact, I'm heading over there today to cut down the aforementioned Cheshire holiday cards.
• Yesterday I added a new product to the Tweedle Press Shop and Etsy Shop: Dead Things / Birdo Coasters. Cute and creepy, makes a great gift!
  
  

Pulp & Press Soundtrack 11/6/09 (when I was printing): "I Was Wrong" (Social Distortion). Mike Ness makes killer music to print by.

I Think I'm Starting To Get The Hang...

...of platen presses. I'm learning the ins and out of jiggering with taping the rails, moving the gauge pins, adjusting the packing, and ink distribution. I'm sure there are still many more tricks to discover, but for now I'm happy that things are getting easier instead of harder. Today I did a custom run of a bunch of "Yay!" Peggins cards for Beth, who as a teacher has many graduates to whom to send congratulatory cards this summer.

Registration for this 2 color run was a little tricky, as you can see the filling for the Peggins' bodies can't be the slightest bit off or you can see it sticking out of the blue line. Luckily, I tend to make what seems at the time to be an absurd amount of extras for makeready. With one color jobs or two color jobs with crop marks for registration, the makeready to product ratio is a bit better, but with this one I ended up with about 70 good cards out of the 110 I started with. This means I've got a few extra that I've put up for sale in my Etsy shop - hop to it if you want one! The cards are a bright blossom color with white and blue printing, and they come paired with a chartreuse envelope. Adorable, if I do say so myself.

I had planned on stopping there with the Pilot for today, and going into work on my 8 x 12 for some really cute custom note cards for Page. They're #10 size, just like the Tea Menus from last week, so I need the 8 x 12 bed and base size. However, it has been insanely thunderstorming all day and I didn't fancy wading out to the car with all my inks and paper. So, those cards will have to wait until tomorrow (sorry Page!), but I can't wait to see them printed. The colors are going to rock. So, instead I opted to stay home and print another job on the Pilot - some coasters from my "Dead Things" series. Since I had already printed up some of the prehistoric beast stationery, I decided to continue with him on the coasters.

I wasn't able to get a very deep impression on these, but I think that's OK. I get afraid when I have to pull down too hard on the Pilot's arm that it's going to crack, plus this coaster stock is really thick and stiff. I think the black print on the surface with just a touch of impression looks mighty dandy, and as soon as I take pictures in their final packaging I'll put those up for sale too. Now that I'm out of things to procrastinate with, I guess I'll clean my press. AGAIN. I'm seriously considering videoing a "Get Great Arms With Letterpress" exercise series - left arm does the arm pulling/wheel turning, and right arm does the scrubbing.

Pulp & Press Soundtrack 6/19/09: "Do You Feel Loved" (U2).

The Benefit Of Working At Home

I'll just let these photos speak for themselves:

Today I worked on cleaning up the images for the gift tags, coasters, stationery, and envelopes in my "Dead Things" series. I need to have 3 sets of film/plates made, so I filled in the extra space with 2 cards I'm working on for the "In A Word" series. Here's what it all looks like squished up together for the film:



After the plates get made, I'll cut it up and stick the polymer to my lovely new Boxcar base. Then it's into the Pilot for printing! I sent in my old rollers with cores and one set of trucks each (both Pilot and 8 x 12) to Roll Crafters to have new rubber rollers made, which should take about a week. Now all I've got left to do before printing is buy some of the Akua water based inks to try out!

My First Project

I've been working on the designs for a new collection of letterpressed items called "Dead Things" for my shop, Tweedle Press. The sets will hopefully include gift tags, coasters, stationery, and file folders:

I'll be printing several of the items on chipboard, because I love the way it feels and looks. Here are the 2" x 2" gift tags:

My ultimate goal would be to print to stationery on some of my hand made recycled paper:

But I'll have to see how much of that I can actually produce. The junk mail is piling up, but each sheet just takes so long to make! Here are the stationery designs:

First, though, I need to see about getting new rollers for my presses and some ink. I may just go ahead and buy the starter pack from Boxcar Press since I'll need a base anyway for my polymer plates, but I do want to do a little looking into other types of ink first. If I end up choosing a different kind of ink, I may need a different kind of roller. So much to do!