We were thrilled when Candykiller aka Brian Taylor called on Blush to produce his latest ‘Beast’ print. We have worked with Candykiller before, printing the 5th Anniversary limited edition prints. Candykiller’s illustrations print beautifully on the press and Brian’s attention to detail and technical ability when it comes to artwork is first class.

We printed the Beast on 300gsm cotton paper on a Heidelberg platen press, tweeting live at each stage of the production, from platemaking to trimming. The first stage of the job was to prepare Brian’s artwork for print. The artwork was supplied digitally and we check the file before creating the separations. Each colour is a separate pass through the press, so once through for the red and through again for the black. This means we would need two plates.

We mix the ink to a Pantone ref supplied by the artist and ink up the press. We decided to add the rider roller to give an even and consistent spread of ink across the image and to prevent ‘ghosting’.

The plate is attached to a base to bring it up to type height (.918″) and locked up in the chase then locked into the press.

We ink up the press and pull some initial prints to check for registration, ink coverage and impression. We also check the print for any defects in the plate.

Once we are happy with we run the sheets through the press.

After the first colour run we wash-up the press and prepare for the second colour. Change plates, ink up for black pass and reload the paper on the press.

We pull some prints and check once again for impression, ink coverage and registration.

Then run the sheets through and print the black plate.

The final prints are checked and trimmed on the guillotine before packing.

You can see more production shots on our Flickr pages and follow us on Twitter for news and updates on future live letterpress tweets.

The prints are available to purchase from the Candykiller online store.