Skylab Letterpress Internship: Week 4

Day 10
I made a few photo polymer plates in the morning and managed to spray myself down the front with a hose :) In the afternoon I printed out the "get well" cards for my mom. I found the best way to ink this up was to roll the yellow on the daisy with a brayer first and then dab the blue onto the words with my finger. They turned out nicely. Bob shared another book with me which is a compilation of small drawing tutorials from various Hallmark artists.

Day 11
I knocked out a bunch of my own printing on day 11. I used several colors to print up the sheets with "enjoy" and "cheers" which turned out to be pretty fun. Again, I used my finger as well as a brayer to ink up the type. Last week, Bob had me separate a big tub of yellow ink into four smaller containers and he wanted me to print up a few labels for the smaller ones. I quickly threw the type together and got the labels printed in no time. Very little tweaking was involved, they printed great! I then cleaned up the press as it would be used for a job the next day. 

Day 12
First thing I changed the water in the photo polymer processor (without drenching my front with the hose) and mixed up two different ink colors. I got the "get well" cards cut to size by using a guide that I made to ensure the image was oriented correctly. Then scored and folded them and picked out matching envelopes. The final hour was spent getting the holes popped out of a job that was die-cut and packing it up for delivery.

Day 13
I cleaned up the Vandercook press that I have been using to print on this week as it was used the night before by Bob and a former employee to finish up a clients job. I mixed up several inks and set up the two Heidelberg presses with ink and paper. I then got the plate and paper oriented and ready for printing on one of them. Bob had a student come in for a quick tour as she will be another intern for the remainder of the summer. It looks as though she will come with a different skill-set and interests than what I have, it will be a great learning opportunity for the both of us! I look forward to it.

My internship will be continued after a short hiatus...