Snap + Tumble: gorgeous in green

It was great to get on the press this morning. I tested out my new Geisha plate and couldn''t be happier with the results.

This is about the fourth time I've gotten to work the press up and I'm getting better in terms of organization and clean up. Practice and the workshops both helped in setting up my tiny printery. For one, I've put vegetable oil in a plastic mustard/ketchup bottle for easy dispensing when it comes to clean up time. Two, I'm using old t-shirts now to clean off the plate and rollers. Not sure what I was thinking using paper towels the first time around. And third, I got the idea from Akemi in the Kozo workshop to use a laminate or plastic sheet over my tympan paper. It's much easier wiping ink off plastic than tympan.

I've got to get better at registration. It's a bit challenging on the Adana because the platen is attached to the press and I'm not able to take it off (as far as I know). So I'm getting ink on my hands sometimes when I'm assembling the gauge pins. And that's another thing - I've got to find something better to use other than gauge pins. They sometimes scratch the paper or leave indentations. Really annoying that is when you've got a perfect print.

Other than that - the magnesium plate is all good. I was a bit concerned at first because they are a little bit over type high. But it didn't seem to effect the outcome. So this means more orders from Owosso.