Diyan Achjadi / Printing Intaglio

Materials: Plate Paper – good quality rag paper is important to absorb the ink. Paper should be cut or torn to size beforehand and soaked for at least 10 minutes. Mylar or acetate – for registration template Tarletan Inks Ink spreader Palette knife Phone book pages Rags PPE: thin nitrile gloves (for printing), regular nitrile gloves (for clean up)

1. Set the pressure on the press. Choose one of the intaglio presses Select the appropriate set of blankets (presses are color coded, as are the blankets. Match the press to the blanket set. Look at diagrams on wall to see what the order of the blankets should be.) Place acetate/clear mylar on press bed Place clean plate on center of press bed Place a sheet of newsprint on the plate Place blankets on top of plate, center on press bed Roll press bed so it is centered to the press rollers (that provide pressure) Turn the pressure gauge – turn both the left and right ones simultaneously, to the right, until the press is tight. Roll the press bed through until the plate is disengaged from the roller Turn the pressure gauge again ¼ turn

* To test the pressure: Place a sheet of blank, clean newsprint or scrap printing paper on top of your plate, and run it through the press with the blankets on. There should be a slight debossment of the plate on to the paper. If there is not, then tighten the press another ¼ turn, and test again. The debossment should be even all around; if not, check and make sure that both the left and right side of the press are even.

2. Put your registration template on the press bed The registration template should have an outline of your paper and an outline of your plate, allowing you to see where to place both elements. Trace your plate on a sheet of newsprint, trace an outline of your paper outside of the plate. Place this newsprint under your acetate.

3. Ink up your plate (PPE: use disposable thin nitrile gloves, or a barrier cream) Skim some ink from a can, use a palette knife and put ink on glass top table. DO NOT GOUGE FROM THE CAN Exercise the ink (or mix with other inks as needed) Grab an ink spreader (square of matboard) and spread ink over the surface of your plate When the plate is covered with ink, take a large tarletan square, roll it into a ball (making sure that you have a surface to work on that has no creases or threads hanging out) Gently wipe the surface of the plate with the tarletan ball. The point is to start removing ink from the surface while leaving ink in the grooves. You only need to do this very briefly. Get some phone-book pages, and continue to wipe the plate. Keep the paper flat and even to polish off the ink from the surface of the plate. Wipe as evenly as possible. The goal is to remove ink from the surface (which will be the white areas of your print) without removing ink from the grooves. Be careful of making streaks in dense tonal areas.

* Do not overwipe. It will take some practice to get a good sense of when enough wiping has taken place.

4. Put your paper on the registration template and trap the paper Make sure your paper is larger than your plate, and that you give yourself at least a 2” margin all around Run the press just enough so that the edge of the paper is caught under the roller and is trapped.

5. Lift your paper, and place your plate under the paper Pay attention to your registration template, line up your plate to the template. Be careful not to touch the surface of the plate.

6. Run your paper and plate through Donʼt drop the paper. Ideally, the first contact the paper should have with the plate is under the roller.

7. Place paper in between blotters / weights so that it will remain flat while the ink dries.

*To continue printing, repeat steps 3-6

*If your print is too light, it may be because of: - overwiping your plate. Try to wipe a little less the second time - too little pressure. If it looks like there is still a lot of ink on your plate after you have run it through the press, you probably could add more pressure * If your print has too much ink / ink is gloppy - you may have not wiped the plate enough. * If your print is uneven - you need to wipe more systematically and consistently - your paper may not be evenly blotted

8. When you are finished printing: (PPE: thick nitrile gloves) - clean plate with mineral spirits, degrease with vinegar. Store plate on shelf. - scrape up and discard excess ink. Clean table with oil, degrease with vinegar - wipe any ink off of your registration template with a dry rag. Put template away. - wipe down the press bed with a small amount of mineral spirits and a rag. - disengage blankets, and hang at appropriate spot. Never leave blankets trapped in the press overnight. - clean palette knives (oil and vinegar), return tarletan to drawer, throw out used phone book pages, etc.