Edge Painting?

In our studio we’ve used artist’s quality tempera out of the tube to colour the edges. It’s a bit like watercolour but opaque. We’ve have varying degrees of success, nothing I’d like to post here. We’ve never tried it on an actual job, the fear of printing an entire job and then messing it up with bad edge painting is a bit daunting. However we’re meeting with a client and discussing a custom colour edge painting on their wedding stationery. I’ll report back.

Heaps of ideas here thanks so much. 

I used good old craft stamp pads – for card-making and scrap booking etc. If u get the small stamp pads that you can pinch between your thumb and forefinger, then you can just dab it along the sides of a stack of cards. (similar to the method in a previous part of this thread using acrylics)  The stamp pads are nice and hard and if you press lightly there isn’t much bleed.  Admittedly, when I tried it was on very small quantities but it worked ok.

Hi Bev. This was really helpful. I’ve been experimenting with it and I’ve got the clamping and the airbrush but my ink is smearing off a little. I haven’t been coating it with anything afterwards. Would you suggest finishing it with matte medium? A varnish? or I’ve read wax? Am I just not letting it dry long enough (I let it dry for a few hours)? When you say hot air gun would a blow dryer work? Is the purpose of that just to speed things up?

 

I feel like I’m so close and at my wits end. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!! 

Slightly thinned down matte medium first works great!  that is the crucial step.  it prevents any ink or paint from bleeding into the paper or stack.

~Emily

http://www.scribblesketchpress.com

Hi Bev,

 

Is there any reason why you don’t use letterpress ink instead of acrylics?

What I’ve been doing is jogging my stack to the edge of a padding press, making sure it’s perfectly smooth, clamping down tight in the press, then applying a very small amount of ink with a palette knife, and then wiping off any excess, and then rubbing the surface with wax. The wax seems to help keep the ink from smearing. 

 

Hi Sarah, 

 

Do you use any kind of matte medium first? Also, do you use a specific kind of wax?

Thank you so much for posting this. I’m going to give it a shot…

 

xo, 

Dee

 

PS. The invitations that you’ve shown are just beautiful… 🙂

 

 

Hi Dee! Thank you!!

I don’t use a matte medium first. I apply the ink with a palette knife very carefully, with the sheets nice and flush in the padding press. And then I wipe off any excess ink with a paper towel.

 

As for the wax – it was nothing special. I actually just used a white candle and rubbed it against the edges. The letterpress ink does take a while to dry – so avoid touching for about 24 hours.

 

I also tried acrylic paint – but it dries REALLY fast. Too fast, if you ask me. I had to quickly get the sheets out of the padding press and fan them to make sure they didn’t stick together. If you don’t do it quick enough, they stick and then it’s not pretty.

 

It’s extremely important that the edges are flush and that the stack is squeezed down with lots of pressure in the padding press. If ink seeps in between the sheets, then it gets on the front (or back) of the sheets, and you don’t want it there – you only want it on the edges. Be sure to put several sheets of scrap above and below your stack.

 

There are other ways of painting edges – everyone has a different way of doing it, I think. Some people use an airbrush. I’m considering trying it that way to see if I like the results better. No matter what method you use, it’s pretty tricky to do, because the job is printed and trimmed at that point and you risk messing up the whole thing 🙂 but it looks soooo beautiful when it’s done. My advice is to practice on stacks of scraps. Try it with a matte medium, try it with acrylic, try it with letterpress ink – and see what you like best. Trial and error is a good thing.

 

Good luck!!

 

Sarah Smith

Smith Letterpress

Sarah! Thank you for such a nice response! I so much appreciate it as I am I’m working up the nerve to color the edges of my latest job this weekend.

 

I experimented over last weekend and so far, I like your method best. I have considered using an airbrush, which I think would work well, but I like the idea of using the same mixed ink for the edges that I’ve used for the project (as opposed to matching air brush paints to the ink — that will be another learning curve).

 

Thank you!! Fingers crossed…

xo, Dee

I agree – trying to match the color using different ink is almost impossible. It’s best to use the inks already used for the job. Good luck to you!!

 

-Sarah

Well, here I am adding commentary a year later, but after reading these posts, I wonder where you folks are with edge coating now, a year later?  Have any of y’all gotten the technique down to where you are comfortable with it?  Another thought: probably would be good to do the edge coating first, then print the face of the cards.  That way you won’t risk messing up a job.  Just a thought.

I’m with Gary, if your running a job wouldn’t it be a better idea to paint it first, that way if its messed up your not out of everything? I know you couldn’t do all sides on something that is multiple up but at least it has some covered. Let me know if I’m completely off my rocker here.

Gary and Dustin – You’re not off your rockers, but a lot of us (most?) are printing jobs with designs that bleed off the edges, so trimming the paper to size comes after printing. If your design doesn’t have bleed nor cropmarks, then sure you can paint the edges first, then print. 

Where do you buy stamp pads like this?

I wonder if you slip sheeted if you would get rid of the bleeding problems?

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