By ruin your printer, I mean that the fibers will begin clogging the ink head and start spurting out black ink dots on your prints halfway through the run. Lettra is too cottony and it is uncoated meaning the digital prints will be dull and soft. 

Go the simplest route you can.Also I should note, Lettra is HORRIBLE for watercoloring in, it will bleed, warp, stretch, and then dry super dull and ugly. If you insist on hand applying the watercolor you need to buy a watercolor paper (they all lettrepress well) which will cost you double per card what Lettra does at least. I was an illustrator…[Read more]

I did this exact thing once. Here is the thing – you will ruin your printer if you put regular lettra in in for a long run and digital printers do NOT print evenly as the grippers which pull in the paper to the printer shift, on the same part of the page, so you wouldn’t have hairline line up if you needed it. I really liked Hahnmule paper for…[Read more]

For a job like this I charge 40 an hour. A one color job of 100-200 would take maybe 2 – 3 including cleanup, so I would round up to 100 probably. I charge per print if I have to do all the incidentals like ordering paper, cutting paper, prepping files, getting plates made, setting up, ink mixing, printing, re-trimming to crop marks, and shipping.…[Read more]

Yeah their website is down, they are in the process of re-doing it, you can call though or email. They do any type of photopolymer plate for 50 cents a square inch. Its a nice deal. 

Hey all,I updated the blog and did some new experiments with more success, you can read my findings there. Casey – Thank you, however I don’t have an issue making the screens, the plate makers do that for me and even if I wanted to I could use Vectoraster or just photoshop it into a bitmap. It is more in choosing the proper settings to get a nice…[Read more]

No news yet, I still need to order plates to test, I want to try some different linescreen levels. I will update with a new photo filled blogpost and mention it here when I get the chance though!

Thanks for the input! I’m more curious than anything. I’m going to try some more experiments and I’ll get back with any questions should I discover anything new. 

Absolutely, Barbara is right. We do consider the proof presses to be the be all and end of cylinders now a days because they are the more commonly acquired for small shops. I worked for two years in the Minneapolis College of Art and Design print shop we had a Vandercook 219 and I studied the year before on a SP15. I’ve never run any of the larger…[Read more]

I’ve printed on both for years. They have advantages and disadvantages. Here is what I think:C&P:- Far more dangerous, you can lose a finger or badly damage your hand if you ‘chase’ a fallen print- Smaller print area, you can’t print all the way to the edges of the platen- Probably best to use deep relief plates which cost more and curl a lot over…[Read more]

A lot it feels like. Though to be honest, I lose more mid run than at the beginning. It may take me about 10 prints per color to get it all ready (sometimes less, as few as 2-3), but inevitably midway through the inking gets off (a light or dark spot forms and packing needs adjusting or more ink is needed) or I misfeed every once and while (not…[Read more]