Multicolor Registration November 29, 2007
Until today, the hardest thing about letterpress printing in my opinion is registration. But fortunately, I came across some advice on Letpress which I found extremely helpful.
When doing multicolor registration, use transparencies. Yes, the same transparencies they use to use back in the day when overhead projectors were in use. I suggest you get the transparencies you can write on because they seem to be the cheapest and work perfectly. I purchased mine at Office Depot for $21 for 100 transparencies. Oh and the best part, they are reusable.
So, how does it work? First you tape your transparency to your tympan and take an impression right on your transparency. Once thats done, you slide your paper underneath the transparency and set your gauge pins accordingly. Once you have finished your run of the first color and ready to do the second color, you tape a new piece of tansparency to the tympan (you can reuse your first transparency by cleaning the ink off with a little press wash). Now take an impression with the second color right on the transparency. Next Slide your paper with the first color already on it underneath the transparency and line up the first color to the second color. Once that is complete, set your gauge pins accordingly. Repeat as necessary. This method should give you almost precise if not exact, registration.
Please leave a comment if you would like me to explain further. Pictures will be added later.
Brilliant!
Comment by Amy — November 30, 2007 at 9:32 am
See and all this time I had my paper on top of my transparency! I swear, it’s discovery moments like these that make me so excited about what I’m doing. Thanks for posting Alex!
Comment by Tanya — November 30, 2007 at 10:26 am
I’m so glad that these posts are helping other letterpress printers. Happy Letterpressing!
Comment by Alexandra — November 30, 2007 at 1:33 pm
i never register. the only time i did was for a friend’s wedding invitation. it was sheer agony. my MO is to set up the type, and then slip in bits of paper and see what happens. it drives the studio manager crazy. i believe in happenstance. my desk is a managed clutter, like my artwor.
and i love your blog! :O) ophelia
Comment by ophelia chong — December 1, 2007 at 3:10 am
[...] drill). The closest way I found was using transparencies which I wrote about in an earlier post Multicolor Registration, but we have something in the works that might be alot easier when using photopolymer [...]
Pingback by Precision Makes Perfect :: Dolce Press — February 28, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Did you ever get some pictures taken of the process? If so, where are they posted
Comment by Rebecca — January 11, 2009 at 9:53 pm
I had a question with this method. I have a Victor press and I find it difficult to visually align my gauge pins when I am looking at it upside down and at an angle on my platen. Do you have the same problem or a way around it?
Comment by matt — July 14, 2009 at 10:48 am
Alignment with a tabletop press is a little more difficult because of the way the platen tilts when it opens. On a floor model press, the platen opens up almost flat making registration much easier.
The only way to get good register is to take it slow, make sure you have enough overage, and always: measure the distance you need to move the gauge pins, then measure again to double check, and then move the gauge pin in small increments.
Oh and if your registration isn’t dead-on with the first color, you’re going to have increasing trouble with each additional color.
Comment by Alexandra — July 15, 2009 at 9:13 pm