Saturday, April 17, 2021

Open Press Project


 My newest toy.

I am in love with my new Tiny Press.
 The Open Press Project has been a huge success. Many 
artists I know & admire have jumped onboard. 
 After much reflection I got my own. It is so much fun!
 
The body is made on a 3D printer. The founders made the pattern open source. Hence the name.
Then metal parts are added. Needed for the pressure to get prints.
 

 
 


Gives you an idea of the scale. 
 
 
Lots of folks on Instagram posting their little
works of art.
 
Make a "plate", ink it up, put on the "bed" of the press,
lay damp paper over top, run through the press & voila!
Lots of trial & error like all art endeavors. 


Tetra Packs make nice little plates.  It's what the "owners manual" ebook suggests.

It's readily available & is easy to etch into for a design. You can peel off bits of the metalic
layer to get darker spots on the print.

 






I've been using water soluble block printing ink so far since it's what I have. 
 

It's working but I may need to invest in some
better printers ink. It's all about the art supplies!  

Went to the hardware store & got some little plexiglass plates cut. 
They will make better plates when scratched into that will last longer than the tetra packs. 
I'll let you know what I do with those. 

Any questions? I'm happy to tell you what I know. 


3 comments:

  1. What a cool little printing press. I am fascinated by print making although have not tried it myself. I might have to add it to my list of future craft projects. Weekends In Maine

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  2. Cool idea. I have an old mangle / wringer. I wonder if that would do the job? I can't seem to find the manual and these sites are a rabbit's hole of mega-size. I dare not go in too deep. In short, please provide a link to the manual.

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