the letterpress training video

When we were children, we often wondered what we’d become in our adult lives. There were two obvious choices: turn into a movie star or a letterpress printer. Movie star? Printer? Movie star. Printer. But why couldn’t we become both?

Enter the Boxcar Institute Training Series (BITS), starring the dashing Pearl Press, the debonair Vandercook Universal III, the sidekicking polymer plates, the sultry Boxcar Base, and Harold. This will be an ongoing series focusing on printing well with photopolymer plates. Topics covered included:

• Base lockup and cleaning
  
• Adjusting roller height
  
• Setting gauge pins and registering your plate
  
• Makeready
  
• Mixing ink from a Pantone formula guide
  
• Printing two colors from one photopolymer plate
  
• Heidelberg Windmill tips
  
• And a heart-thumping letterpress music video that’ll make you want to get down and dance to the beat of your platens

If you prefer watching these videos online, the Boxcar Institute Training Series is available for viewing on our web site.