Making a gold and red two color letterpress print with a tabletop printing press

Worth the Waste

Showing up close rolling out rhodamine red rubber base ink with a brayer on the ink stone in preparation for some letterpress printing in the print shop exhibit at the Sacramento History Museum. As Howard demonstrates, this is done to create an even layer of ink on the ink stone and the brayer. The remaining ink at the top of the stone will gradually be rolled out throughout the day as we’re printing. Rubber base ink is a very slow drying ink that can last all day on the ink stone and not dry. #