Press check
Monday 30 August 2004
Another milestone passed. Tonight I saw the first sheets of the book cover come off the press. I went out to the printing works and watched the press operators run a series of test sheets through the press, measure the density of the colour control patches and tune the ink flow to different parts of the plates.
The book cover includes nine photographs. Except for one digital camera file, they are all reproduced from scans that I made of prints, transparencies and negatives. I had to learn some new tricks, and I was apprehensive about the result. It was a relief to see accurate colour reproductions coming off the press, and a pleasure to sign the approved stamp on the sample sheet.
Nathan, the printer, looking through a loupe to check the registration of the plates. The four-colour press behind him is about the size of a railway loco.
Printing work in progress. Each of these stacks contains 3,000 sheets. 5,000 copies of the book are being printed.