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
Treated properly, your fountain blades should last the lifetime of the press. Setting them improperly will destroy the blade. This in turn will never allow you to get an even setting across the length of the blade. I would like to explore a couple of principles that will help you to set this properly. Here is the order that our press room follows when calibrating the fountain blades on our press. 1. Fill the fountain with black ink. The reason for this is that it is the easiest to see the distinction between a blade that scrapes against the metal and a solid ink pattern. 2. Electronically zero all the ink keys. If you have a remote inking system, all your ink keys should now show zero. 3. Open all the keys wide open. Start with the keys on each end of the blade and slowly work your way to the center of the blade. Your last keys to open will be the ones in the center. 4. Starting from the middle, bring your blade to the point just before it scrapes