Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Coaster Makeready: the Video


I received a request to explain how I set up my Job Press to run pre-cut round coaster stock. I thought that probably the best way to explain it is by video, with soundtrack courtesy Iron & Wine.

The video is about seven and a half minutes long. What you will see is the preparation which consists of one sheet of hardboard, one sheet of bond paper for padding, another sheet serving as the Tympan sheet, and a wax paper overlay. The wax paper came from the kitchen. Any transparent sheet - or one that comes close to transparent - will do. We use this to help center the coaster stock to where the printed image falls on the Tympan, after an imprint is made on the wax paper. Once centered, the coaster is held in place, the wax paper removed, a circle is drawn around the coaster, gauge pins are set, and in our case the impression was spot on!




The video was shot on the second day of printing. The impression is taken from the black "key" die for the front side, or 'obverse' of the Balloon coaster. There will be more photos to come as I manage to squeeze time to post them. Stay tuned.

Good Providence in all your Letterpress endeavours!

-gary


3 comments:

  1. Wow Gary, I've reading your posts on letpress and wondering how on earth you print on a round object (I'm a beginner of course). Your video was awesome, what a creative and easy way to get the registration right, and it could work for a variety of odd shapes. Thanks for taking the time to show this technique!

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  2. Thanks for both this and the next video! Very helpful, and "just what I wanted." My birthday is five days after Christmas, so usually I have to wait a whole year to get what I want. Lucky me!

    I'll watch it at least one more time, and link to it as well. I like the wax paper technique. LOVELY!

    Jody

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  3. nice post man, you always come up with really interesting and informative post.

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