[5539] in APO Printshop
Re: Wedding invitations - ink; brown, location, thinning, etc.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Leonard H Tower Jr.)
Sun Jan 18 17:51:31 2009
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2009 17:51:18 -0500 (EST)
From: "Leonard H Tower Jr." <tower@alum.MIT.EDU>
To: apo-printshop@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: <200901180616.n0I6GTdQ020875@byte-me.mit.edu>
* the big can of brown ink that Cat found can now be opened
the shop has a one lb can of brown ink, a one lb can of orange brown
ink, as well as several tubes of brown ink.
there might be others - i'm not good at finding things
they are in the drawer trays in the lower half of the stack just to
the right of the light switch in the back APOffice
when hunting for a color of ink,
it's wise to look through all the trays
there are some empty film canisters in one or two of the trays.
if you mix up a special color, you can put the left-overs in one of
them.
attach a white label on the outside of the canister.
and smear the mixed ink on the label
* if high quality is wanted, spread the job out on the empty gallery
trays
e.g. wedding invites
* lori mentioned using linseed oil to thin out dried rubber-based
inks.
(these is a small film canister of linseed oil in one of the ink
trays, as well as part of a plastic pint jar in the solvent cabinet
(the pint had been moved away from the small tray box of press
solvents. it's back there now. both are drier than optimal for
thinning)
linseed oil works even better for non rubber-based inks
it's also possible to thin out most of the inks we have in the shop
with the blanket and roller wash used to clean the press
i do thinning on the platen.
spread some of the dry ink on the platen.
start the press running.
add a few drops of solvent.
let it mix a minute or two.
repeat until the ink is useable
* printing is a craft.
fair easier to show, then describe in words.
if needed, ask a friendly local neighborhood journeyman,
or experienced press op to show you
* lori mentioned that it's easiest to print on relatively smooth
non-glossy paper
it's hard, but possible, to print on stock that is very rough
it's harder, but possible, to print on glossy stock.
for glossy stock, it's wise to test the ink a few days before the
run and make sure it will dry ok.
you also want to spread it out on gallery trays as you take it out of
the press
yiLFS -len
