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. 

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

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

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. 

 

maybe! do you have a space heater? try it!also – you might want to consider a treadle. when i bought my C&P, it didn’t have a treadle or a motor. but my friend rich polinski of frontroompress.com made me a very beautiful treadle. he’s a cabinetmaker. it came out so lovely. anyway, a treadle is good to have just in case your motor dies and you have a deadline.

Hi Katrina,I use 3-in-1 oil. Works great. And it’s strange, but it actually smells nice too.http://www.3inone.com/Happy Printing!Sarah Smith

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