Introduction Printing ink is so much more than just the black stuff that you put on a page. It has been around for thousands of years, and it's been used in everything from newspaper presses to digital printers. As you can see, we're not talking about offset printing ink which is oil based. I want to have a little fun and talk about how you can make your own ink for your printer. At home! Ready? Ingredients You will need the following ingredients: Soot (5 tbsp) : This is as purest as it gest. You can make the soot yourself by holding a glass up to a flame. This will allow you to slowly accumulate the soot. Water (2 tbsp): For the base of your ink, use distilled water so that you don't introduce any impurities into the mix. Distilled water is also easier to clean up than tap water because there are no minerals or residue left behind from tap water. Alcohol (2 tbsp) (grain alcohol): This ingredient works as a preservative for your ink and allows it to last for several mo
Most offset printing presses differ in the way they balance ink and water, but there's a simple way to measure your window in your pressroom . In my printing experience, the ink and water balance measurement has always been a feel thing . It wasn't hard to tell if an ink was behaving properly just based on my experience and instinct . I was soon introduced to a method of actually measuring the window that gave me a tangible number. This allowed our pressroom in a number of ways: comparing different ink brands keeping historical accounts of the same brand tracking quality It also allowed us to also compare the window at different speeds and different press temperatures, not based on a feeling, but a solid number . This method, I can assure you will work for any press, web or sheetfed. So here it is: 1. At a specific running speed, get a water reading at the bottom of the window. This means, run the absolute minimum amount of water until the product is ab