Half-Tone Letterpress Printing a Photograph in CMYK!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ส.ค. 2024
- We're printing a full color photograph using our Heidelberg platen press from 1960! Take a closer look at how Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black ink can reproduce a full spectrum of color. Using four different copper halftone printing plates, we take you through the step-by-step process. Our goal is to help you understand what's happening behind the scenes when CMYK printing is done. Whether you're printing with letterpress, offset lithography, screen printing, or digital printing, the principles of four color printing remain the same. Using our letterpress technique, it's easy to see and understand what's happening as each layer of color slowlyl brings the artwork to life. This challenging project is unique and uncommon but it's the best way for graphic designers and artists to fully grasp the science and inner workings of high quality printing.
Photography by:
Dmitriy Serov | Photographer | Art director
/ serovphoto
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as a retired printer its good to see one of the older skilled craft print methods still practiced......
Thank you Edward!
Same here. I haven’t run a windmill since the 70's
Retired blacksmiths feel the same way.
As a former printer's devil in a weekly small town newspaper, it's great to see the Original Heidelberg running again. When Dad bought it to add to the back shop in the 1960s, we were transfixed, watching it, as we had experienced only the much older Chandler & Price presses. I must admit that I wanted the printer in the video to let that press show what speed was actually possible. 5000 impressions per hour wasn't out of the question. It could fly!
I did a process color piece on letterpress once. Once. Never again. It was the most challenging, difficult, and make-ready-wasting print job I ever did. Hats off to you for attempting this, and pulling it off!
You should have done a 5 year apprenticeship like I did. Letterpress 4 colour process is a piece of cake 8 pages at a time.
@Barracuda 1964 Great! Did the same myself in the 70's. Can't be many of us left now!
@Barracuda 1964 KSBAs are still around. A lot of them are being used for die cutting nowadays.
@@ronnieg6358 My apprenticeship was 7 years in 1965.
@@peterhrick6789 You obviosly learned it properly . Mine even included first year full time at college.
Nice job! Nice register. You know you've won when you come to the trimming and, as you can see you're cutting the trim marks in half. 👌
I really like the look before black is printed.
It looked a lot like a renaissance painting to be honest
After 42 years in print, much of it on Heidelberg platens in print, foil, embossing and diecutting, it's lovely to see them being used well and looked after, you have a great setup there.
I appreciate that views of the printing were taken from differing angles so the actual print could be viewed. The hiss is soothing.
Thank you Susan, some of those angles are hard to see so we tried our best!
This is not printing, This is ART !!!
I agree!
Ah, I'm a photographer and this brings me joy. I wish you had this kind of service available for limited edition print runs!
I’m a wedding photographer and I have a very small letter press. I love producing images. I am working in sublimation now.
When I saw the pull cords on your hoody dangling over the press I thought 'there's a man with a death wish'. Glad to see you tucked them in before starting the run.
I could watch those machines print all day long.
The movement and the soft sounds of the rollers and press is extremely hypnotic.
Very therapeutical.
Sounds like magic!
Brilliant Ive been a letterpress printer for 50 years and never seen it done as good, also what an awesome CLEAN workshop well done!!
Thank you so much! It's tough keeping things as tidy when we're in the swing of things but we certainly enjoy a little bit of creative clutter. Producing this print was really challenging so thank you for the generous compliments!
I was one of the final generation that used these.
I have a 10x15 Heidelberg Windmill in storage I bought years ago that I ran at a company when I graduated college.
these presses are a marvel of old school engineering. All of these intricate parts working in mechanical harmony. It has a soothing sound. Precise metal touching and spinning produces very little noise. Mind boggling how no computers were used to build these machines.
In all honesty... Not sure why this is satisfying... Maybe it's the mechanical movements mixed with the human brilliance.... Maybe it's the old way of doing things better than the new... but it's incredible to watch...and you are a craftsman.
From a neanderthal mindset of squeeze trigger...turn wrench....bang hammer...light the fuse...to the simplicity and chaos of lighting a welding rod...all of which is in my wheel house... This is beyond me!
This is mesmerizing! Truly respect your art form Sir. Keep up the amazing work 💪💪
I worked at a print shop once, but i was only the computer guy. I used corel draw, one of the first versions ever. The guys that handled these machines were amazing.
The result of the magenta print was absolutely stunning
Almost seems like magic!
@@JukeboxPrintLive truly magical video
Honestly, I was not impressed. I thought it might be a redhead, so that was fine but it looked like he indeed messed up the amount of yellow ink.
Then came the black ink. Mind = blown.
👍Well done demo - I taught High School Graphic Arts for 36 years in Michigan. Lakeland High School, White Lake. 🚂
Authentic piece of art (as well as the portrait)
I love all those old fashioned machines. Great video!
It was actually moving to see this one come together. Very wholesome.
Astonishing how much work goes into those prints. But the star of the show, in my opinion is this beautifully engineered machine... That one for sure had a lot of work going into it as well.
We feel the same way!
Jesus. It's an incredible amount of time, patience, and patience, and patience... Respect.
(for the info: I'm working in the printing industry for more than 20 years)
Paiting like effect... nostalgic somehow. Great!
I started out in the news/print industry and I've always loved full process printing and different separation techniques. Halftone process is gorgeous to look at close up and I use a few deep close-ups of halftone patterns in my current generative art video series. Great video!
Really appreciate you guys for keeping letterpress alive. I am also an offset printer (inherited from my father & grand father), but sometimes get bored from digital & 4,5 color offset but seeing letter press professionals is something else...Love from Pakistan.
Thank you! We are trying. It is truly a dying art and we appreciate your comments!
Truly a piece of art!! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and talent!
Thank you so much! There’s so much knowledge and talent that isn’t appreciated by those around us. It’s a very challenging and highly demanding environment to work in. Thank you for your comment!
I have done 4-color dot register jobs on the Windmill that I have had and have run for the past 40 years, and my ace offset pressman once did a 4-color print like this on our ATF Chief 15 - just because he could.... But I have never printed a color halftone on any platen press. Dot register and perfect makeready and color. I am impressed! Pardon the pun, but Jukebox Rocks! ;)
Ahhhh the Chief... I was running one with a T head before I had a driver's license! After I got my DL, I was able to drive myself to go get stitches when she bit the tip off my right index finger. The cover near the feed lever was off. Thankfully, It was saved, lots worse has occurred as a result of "just the tip"
This video was spectacular. It is nice to finally get where the rosette pattern comes from in prints. Thanks for the great vid, I look forward to binging your other videos.
Thank you very much!
So nice seeing a younger generation keeping a mechanical artform alive and desirable. This is not just a case of registration either. You really have to know your equipment, even the small personalities between each press. BTW - will you be selling these prints as a limited and numbered run?
Thank you, we’ve dedicated many years of learning from the previous generations. So much of this skill and talent goes unappreciated. We sincerely thank you for your kind words. Unfortunately we won’t have these print pieces for sale. We will have more CMYK print content on the way!
The order in wich you print the different colors is indeed interesting. I have had an extensive printing education and when a first started working (it was a T-shirt screen printing company) we had a lot of difficulties depending on the films we got for making the printing screens. It turned out that there was a huge difference between the opacity and color pigment between different brands of inks. With the one brand the major problem was the magenta that was too red, so the color balance shifted completely. We started to make our own color separations (my bosses weren't used to work with Photoshop to that extend, so it fell up to me) where we adjusted this by removing up to 30% of the magenta curve and started to print the magenta first + we switched the brand of ink. This way we were finally able to run our prints smoothly and more consistantly. Also, if your black is really too dark during print you can cheat a little by switching to a dark gray. Works like a charm!
Sam Liekens thank you for your insight. A lot of the printing industry seems to be experimenting and coming up with the best ways yourself. It feels good to overcome a challenge!
Not sure people realize how difficult it is what you’re doing! Truly amazing stuff. I, too, have the GT model and this just made you LETTERPRESS GODS in my eyes. Thanks for this - truly!
Thanks for this video, having been a designer and art director for many, many years, I spent countless hours camped out at large offset printers waiting to check the register and other aspects of jobs so I could give final approval while the impersonal and enormous machines roared. This seems so much more elegant. 😀
......heidelberg windmill !!.... incredible press.....nice to see one still in use.....
The best!
I'm more curious how the plates are made.
Some day we will film the whole process!
@@JukeboxPrintLive I'd love to see more about your plate making process, as well!
I would be very interested in this process as well. the registration lines look very deep and accurate.
for a very traditional way of doing it, have a look at this film. th-cam.com/video/KutnfeElLU8/w-d-xo.html I am sure today CNC is involved to speed things up
Traditional is with panchromatic screens and filters on a horizontal camera for the films.
Modern is with an imagestetter. By modern I mean obsolete now. I still have a Dolev 200 running film for screen printing positives. There is no better way to produce positives for screening screens.
Excelent process, love it!
WOW !!! Great Job. I never had seen a 4 colors job on a letterpress. Awesome.
Neither did we! We had to try it out.
Thank you for giving us such a rare and incredible look at a priceless mechanical process. I wish to see it in person before I die, and get one of whatever you’re printing!! You can be like the best tourist attraction ever.
There’s almost certainly one of these machines in your home town. These presses are EVERYWHERE. You just gotta find em!
Jukebox Print kitchen utensils can’t make dinner, it’s the chef who actually delivers 😊 your channel is like an art exhibit, thank you for including us in your art projects ❤️
This is by far one of the coolest things I've ever seen. To be able to print any image in etched copper blocks without needing the years of experience with etching by hand is a whole new world. If I am ever rich and famous I would love to get some of my work printed in such a way. Thank you deeply for sharing such an interesting process.
Aidin Andrews thank you for your kind words!
This type of machine and craftsman is something you never thought existed... until you saw this video. Thank you for sharing the super interesting art form with us
Glad you enjoyed it!
You guys are resurrecting this lost art. I photograph film and I know how this feels. ❤🤩
akshayd211 Thank you! We’re trying!
Wow, this really brings me back to my days working at a print shop. I always aspired to run the Heidelberg Windmill, and the day I got to do it first was such a huge deal. My career has take me other places, but I wish there was a way that I could go back and "hobby print"
its less than $2000 USD to get a heidelberg windmill on ebay
Thanks for sharing. Great work.
I did medium offset decades ago and it really brought back the good memories.
In the end it is something that I miss. You can point to a stack of paper and say I did that with pride in the work that you did.
This is one of the most satisfying parts of the job. The feeling of accomplishment when it's all said and done.
Love seeing the machines I operate daily do what they were intended to do.
I'm using a Heidelberg platen and Original cylinder press for Hot Foil printing.
The factory also has 5 Original Heidelberg Cylinders and 2 windmill platens dedicated to Cutting and Creasing.
Foil stamping on a cylinder would be fantastic. I love how the impression strength of cylinders, and the rolling motion, can create large areas of foil with more ease than a platen. Plus, trapped air, and gassing out is much less of a problem. Platens can be really tricky with solid coverage...
I screen print CMYK on tshirts at 45 lpi. Works pretty well, surprising how well the colors translate. The black is the magic the pulls it together in the end. Cheers
nice editing, thanks for the extra work on the close up part that's really fascinating.
We need more of these videos to distract us from the bad news we're currently faced with
yes we definitely do.
Absolutely beautiful! 😍
Those machine are hypnotising me im sure of it !!! Damn that is some old school engineering!
You can really get lost in a trance watching them go!
Although it’s been 3 yrs since it was made I have to say it was really well done. I started at a local chain of newspapers and eventually aended up in the IT department. I started in 78 and they had a Heidelberg they used for commercial printing wchich was a niche part of the production but as time went on it was phased out. I was more concerned with the daily press runs of the newspaper so it was pretty interesting to me to see the more upscale printing that is done on these presses
As a screen printer.. the 4 Color process is always a challenge to register. It is cool to see it done on another machine
This vid made me A subscriber, as I was riveted the whole time. I was amazed by the details required of the process, and realized how much care must be involved. Truly, a “Labor of love”. At the end, I wanted to understand the front end of the process; What was involved in the making of each halftone plate, the decisions concerning size and placement of the dots in relationship to the desired outcome of tone and value, the making and etching of the plates themselves, the image transfer process onto the plates, all of it! I wish I could spend days in your shop, just observing the various processes involved in what you do. Keep these vids coming. I’ll watch them all with rapt attention!
Vgudorf there’s a lot of technical information on here that I really wanted to include in the video. In the end, the time crunch and need to get the video finished as fast as possible took over. Maybe in the future I’ll be able to make more technical videos to help you learn more!
I would always put density bars in the waist that gets cut off - using density bars is for quality control for color and density of each color and gain control and registration.
I was a pressman for 36 years. * Nice work on this video * 👍🏼
I almost always place color density bars on every print project but for this one, the prepress work was taken out of my hands. It would've been a lot easier with the proper printer's marks all around.
I used to run a 10" x 13" Heidelberg "Windmill" Platen for numbering tickets and ballots and the such back in the 80s. We did a little imprinting or simple die-cutting work but never attempted CMYK printing with it. Very cool to see!! Still have my line gauge handy. Great little back scratcher!
Those hook top pica poles can really get to those hard to reach itches huh?
I used to shoot separations for this type of work on a railed camera using screens to expose the dots onto pan film . Each colour was exposed using a coloured filter. Cyan had red, magenta had green, Yelo had blue (always the longest exposure) and a black key was created using a orange/beige filter. Great job, I loved it.
Modern thermo film still doesn’t compare to shooting through a proper halftone screen with strong filters. The camera work has the greatest effect on the overall print. Were you shooting for silver master offset plates? Line screen value for those must’ve been very very high...
I was making seps for lithography and letterpress. 4 colour became rare in letterpress for regular jobbing work and when someone requested it it was a pleasure to do the extra work. Cartonwork was the biggest source of letterpress type separating. Images where then etched onto bimetal plates, similar physically to a letterpress dot but harder and capable of running 500k+ impressions. Have you printed from any wood blocks yet?
Masterfully done from start to finish.
Thank you!
Great print. Love the old Heidelberg printers
Thank you, so do we!
I watched your video with great interest. I'm a retired press salesman. I worked for Heidelberg beginning in the 70's. Just about every print shop had a "Windmill". I noticed you have replaced the "Original Heidelberg" lockout bar with clear plastic. Do you know the year of your press? There were 165,000 "Tiegel" machines produced between 1914 and 1985. The "Original Heidelberg" on the lockout bar was there to distinguish it from the"Knock off" on the market. For years Heidelberg published a small hardbound book titled "Hints for the pressman". I still have one that was for the "T" platen.
Did you know Lars Stayburg at Heidelberg USA back in the day?
@@rogerhodge1146 I worked for Heidelberg West just after they took over the Heidelberg Pacific dealership for the West Coast. At that time one other dealership existed. Heidelberg Eastern, owned by a Dutch company East Asiatic. Heidelberg USA wasn't formed at that time. Heidelberg USA was formed after Heidelberg took over Heidelberg Eastern and consolidated both dealerships.
Could you share me a copy of that document?
Wonderful to see a Master at work!
Thank you Johan, we are always trying to improve our skills.
I’m in awe I love this CMYK
Pretty cool to see it come together huh?
I love this! Print ♥️
Beautiful!
Such a beautiful technique and outcome! Love it how this video is edited too, the lack of music makes it pleasant to watch! Thanks!
Thank you! We're really happy you enjoyed it!
Why is this so chill to watch?..
I know, right?
55 years ago I worked for a label printing company we printed 4 color process all the time but on Miehle Verticals....we had progs form plate maker to show ink color for density used color bars ... you did a good job nice video
Those V-50's and V-45s are good machines. A lot of trouble to clean up from what I remember but the cylinder would do a much better reproducing these half tones than this platen press does. Thanks for your comment John.
I wish that I knew you were planning this activity before. One piece of "art" that I always wanted to get would be a strip much like your proofing panel, showing C/CY/CMY/CMYK (and some additional sheets with Y, M, CM and YM), all put into a single frame. A letterpress result is so much more pleasing than mocking this up in Photoshop to be printed on a laserprinter.
Outstanding! Makes me wonder about my Mercedes cylinder stop and go press doing billboards for local artists…
I was a printer from 1956 to 2006, this brought back many memories, however you did not mention that the individual screen angles must vary by 15 degrees to avoid the dreaded moire pattern occurring but this is a great video
This was absolutely amazing. I've never seen anything like it!
Thank you Bryan! Glad you enjoyed the video.
That is a work of art! A wonderfully produced video. Very clear and gives a perfect insight into the skills still required in the industry. Thank you.
Thank you so much! It’s words like these that keep us going. It’s hard to feel appreciated sometimes when people around us don’t quite understand just how difficult and challenging it truly is. Thanks again!
Hats off to you, I would never even attempt a 4 colour process job on a windmill.
Me encanta amigo......gracias
Amazing process! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching!
Printing at it’s best. Well done
Thank you Kenneth!
HEIDELBERG - it is special!!!
Such masterdful work!
Thank you!!
Love this video
you are so lucky to be doing this I always wanted to do this for years but could not get a job around here. You do great work.
Thank you very much!
Beautiful machinery and beautiful print
Thank you very much!
Excellent result congratulations
Well done!
Recently came across your TH-cam channel.
I was a printer for 54 years, started in 1965. It was good to see the skill and craft still at work. I just have one thing to point out, you keep referring to the chase being put in the press, the chase is just the metal frame when type or blocks are locked into the chase it becomes a forme, so when you put it into the machine you are putting the forme in. Just technical but correct term to use. Otherwise very informative videos.
That was one very nice impression of how a 4 color print was done, having to feed the paper 4 times to the printing-press, bringing along all the difficulties to make every next feed fit the one before. There are so many variables involved to get a good result in the printing process... paper quality, humidity, ink density and having it spread out evenly, printing pressure, proper working of the front- and side lays, and so on.
The sounds of the "Degel" , as this book=printing press was called in German, are all to familiar to me, having been a mechanical service engineer on Heidelberg printing presses for over 20 years. Not specifically on the book-printing presses though, more like on to the offset presses of Heidelberg (GTO, MO, SOR and the whole range of Speedmaster series), but on many occasions, when doing a job on a modern Heidelberg press, on the background you would hear this very distinctive rhythm sound of a "Degel" (plate printing press) or a "Cylinder Automat" (like a BIG Degel).
It's very nice to notice that the Plate printing press still is around, for those special kinds of printing demands.
that would be Tiegel
Wow. Really enjoyed watching this process from start to finish. I actually watched it twice haha!! Now I need to find a printer locally that uses a Heidelberg!
bravo!! brillante trabajo!!
I've done a CMYK print on a 5m-long piece of cotton, using screen printing and a repeat pattern based on a painted illustration. The result was really good, I only got a bit of a moire, despite using the correct angles. Nice technique to work with.
That sounds like an amazing piece!
Wow, tons of respect to you sir!
This video made my day
Great craftsmanship!
Thank you!
Seriously impressive. (no pun intended)
As I mentioned before I only have second experience and that's with an offset press. But this was far beyond what our little shop would have attempted.
Thank you!
Love the content, keep it up the great work.
Thank you!
Another great video
wonderful job! indeed! congratulations
francesco fantoni thank you!
That's a super scary paper cutter. And the model has the most amazing blue eyes.
I noticed that the operator was able to press the paper stack back as the ram descended on it, before the actual cut. My aunt learned the hard way to have more respect for that item. All the fingertips of her left hand in straight alignment, thanks to that ram. She didn't lose much, but it must have hurt like heck!
Mind blowing! ;) Great job!
Thank you! Cheers!
crazy, I never saw this befor. greets from Heidelberg ✌️
Thanks for this, very informative ❤️
What an amazing job
Elizaveta Demina thank you!
¡Increíble!. No pensé que se pudiera hacer selección en esa máquina. Yo usaba una pero para foliar, suajar y poner pies de imprenta en facturas notas recibos etc. La selección la hago en serigrafía. 👍
Great video!
I always have believed that when 4-color-proccess you needed to change the angle of each color to avoid the moire effect, but here it seems that they on purpose left it, and it looks strange but beautiful. Thanks for the video!.
Our halftone angles are C 15 degrees, M 45 degrees, Y 0 degrees, and K 75 degrees. I’m noticing a bit of moire happening in the thumbnail image and some of the video stills but in person there isn’t any... There’s something going on in the display of dots to pixels. Moire can be distracting and I find it happens most when too small of an image is sized up and then ripped as a half-tone.
Oh!, so then its has to do with how cameras perceive the superposition of the dots!.
@@JukeboxPrintLive The fine regular pattern of the halftone dots is triggering moire in the camera sensor! :) Most video cameras don't have anti-aliasing filters in front of the sensor. Same applies for high-end full-frame digital stills cameras which leave the AA filter off to improve sharpness. But can be a nightmare when trying to shoot finely patterned fabrics, for example.
Paul Thompson Thank you! This is the answer we’ve been waiting for. Cheers!
@@pixelp07 I'm not seeing any interference patterns at 1080p. I don't have a 4k monitor to check, but I'd expect to see artefacts at 1080 if they were generated in-camera.
It's possible you guys are streaming the video at a higher resolution than it's scaled in your browser (like viewing it at 720p, but having the window scaled so that the video is only 400px high - or viewing it at 4k in full screen on a 1080 monitor). This is known to cause aliasing on TH-cam.