Inking the Beast

Remember that huge plate that I drypointed and dreaded inking, re: printmaking class? 

http://dielikeadisneyvillain.blogspot.com/2016/09/random-posts-and-inking-plates.html

Finally inked it and printed it today. Had a honey of a go of it.

The first step in inking a plate is having a plate, and ink. The first part of that equation had already been solved for, but the ink comes in cans, and cans need to be opened. Which is the devil, when the last person to use the ink can forgot to wipe the lip of the lid off, and the ink just dried sticking the lid to the tin. I managed to get the ink can open... a couple of blisters later.

Next, you add the ink to the plate. She was an absolute beast to ink, just like I'd predicted. The inking process on a plate, for those of you who haven't done it before, is, 1) squeegee ink all over the plate 2) squeegee the ink off the plate 3) use a tarlatane (cheesecloth-like towel wad) to buff the plate and the ink still on it to achieve a nice even "plate tone." Do each of those three steps, getting every square inch of the plate evenly. There was a lot of ink involved, and it got into a lot of places. This is why you wear gloves and a smock/apron/work shirt, kids.

Ink gets everywhere.

I have a photo of the print, the cleaned-off plate (it was a joyous picnic to clean the ink off the plate when I was done, as well) and the newsprint used against the back of the plate to keep the ink that had gotten back there from getting onto the blankets of the press bed (see how inky the back was?) all posing in a row next to each other:

note the tiny square inch marks in the background.

The final step (aside from cleanup) is inked plate+paper*pressure. Get someone with non-inky hands to handle your paper (which has been soaked in water and patted dry, and is think enough not to fall apart under press bed pressure) and for cranky-cranky-cranking the press. Check the print. This is your test print: note the ink job, anything you'll have to pay attention to in inking or wiping the plate. If you're satisfied that you can get a consistent print, you may reink the plate, print more prints in your print run. Clean your workstation, and your plate, and stuff. That's how you ink and print.