As promised, here are images for the second ink pass of the Dept of Energy Promo poster I’ve been working on. Shown above is the second split fountain done in light green to medium green to a dark brown color. The illustration on the block is my polymer plate for the second image. More photos showing the process behind this set-up is behind the link that follows….

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I printed the first & second runs of the Dept of Energy Promo Poster I’ve been working on. Being a tease, I’m only going to showcase the first ink pass today. You’ll have to wait until Monday to get the pictures from the second ink pass.

Shown above is how the split fountain looks on press and on the large block I used. (It should also be noted it was * gasp * sunny out!) If interested in more photos continue on into the post.

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Today I was in the letterpress studio mixing ink for an upcoming Dept of Energy promo poster I’m working on. I promised teasers last week of this work-in-progress, and here is the first one. This poster will need 7 inks total (which took me 6 hours to mix all of ‘em!), 3 press set-up’s & 3 print passes total on two different presses (an electric Vandercook and a C & P manual). Those of you wondering how 7 ink colors end up being only 3 passes-well, that’s because 2 of the passes will be a 3 color split fountain(*). (Ooooo, a hint to how it’ll look!) There will also be some unique details to this poster that extend outside of paper to make it complete. Curious? You should be! But I’m not telling what those are….yet.I haven’t been this excited to print a poster to see how it’ll turn out since….well, ever. If I get it all dead on, this will be simply put, gorgeous. Artful. Keep checking back for more status reports on this project as it progresses….

(*) Split Fountain - Technique of putting ink colors next to each other in the same ink fountain or roller and printing them off the same plate.

For a lot of my letterpress printing I have polymer plates made through Boxcar Press so I can use modern day typefaces & custom illustration. This past week I just finished designing an upcoming Dept. of Energy promo poster in which I needed a pretty big plate made. On my invoice, I found notes for something new they are doing this year for orders over $100. I have to say, I really like this idea by a company as a way to make a greener world. By knowing I am using earth friendly inks, all natural cleaning solvents, all cotton paper, and having a tree planted in her name while making posters on an old steel press, it sure makes a designer gal feel real good.

Oh, and keep an eye on the Skip Report for a future glimpse of the poster being made & as a final in the upcoming weeks.

This year, our New Year’s cards for our Utility & DOE friends have been made by hand via the old school method of letterpress printing. Many of us designers here have creative talents outside of the screen. This is one of my (many) others. The above image is a teaser of how they look by hand, so hopefully you’ll get one in the next few weeks. If not, make friends with us this coming year to get in our address book for next year (or drop me a line at jynn@deptofenergy.com to get one of these this year)!

To see & read more on what I did, keep reading on (more…)