Which blanket is right for you?

Below are our recommendations of what blanket or blankets to use and what combination to use when you are printing the different plates.

Blankets are in order of preference. 

Plate – 1mm, 2mm, 3mm, or 4mm float Glass will print very well with…

to the same thickness of the glass your printing and then either the one printing matt on its own or one woven or one pressed felt blanket.

Woven wool blankets will print better than the unwoven. You might want to use an extra metal plate to put the glass onto, but its best depending on what printing you are doing to experiment to get the results you want.

Plate – 1m thick dry-point styrene or thinner plastic plates will print very well with…

The printing matt  on its own / single 100% woven wool blanket / single 80% unwoven wool felt blanket / set of x 2 100% Woven wool blankets / set of x 2 unwoven wool blankets

There are lots of short movies showing prints coming off the press on our website. The print on the right is by Printmaker Anna McKenna who owns a Gunning press No1

 

Plate – 1mm thick etchings including zinc, copper, aluminium and steel, photo etching’s and photopolymers will print well with…

The printing matt  on its own / single 100% woven wool blanket / single 80% unwoven wool felt blanket / set of x 2 100% Woven wool blankets / set of x 2 unwoven wool blankets 

Plate – 2mm thick etchings including zinc, copper, aluminium and steel, photo etching’s and photopolymers will print well with…

The printing matt  on its own / single 100% woven wool blanket / single 80% unwoven wool felt blanket / set of x 2 100% Woven wool blankets / set of x 2 unwoven wool blankets 

Plate – Mountboard collagraph’s will print well with…

The printing matt  on its own / single 100% woven wool blanket / single 80% unwoven wool felt blanket / set of x 2 100% Woven wool blankets / set of x 2 unwoven wool blankets  / a set of three 100% woven wool blankets 

Plate – Mountboard and plaster collagraph’s will print well with…

The printing matt  on its own / single 100% woven wool blanket / single 80% unwoven wool felt blanket / set of x 2 100% Woven wool blankets / set of x 2 unwoven wool blankets

Plate – 3mm thick plastic dry-points will print well with…

Set of x 2 100% Woven wool blankets / set of x 2 unwoven wool blankets  a set of three 100% woven wool blankets 

You might want to use large thickness of newspaper or newsprint to help compensate for the large 3mm thick step you are creating if you are using only one blanket. Or you can print using a set of two or three blankets unwoven or woven depending on the depth of line created in the plate.

Plate – 3mm thick easy cut lino or 3.2mm thick hessian backed lino or 4mm thick Japanese plywood or any relief plate that is no thicker than 4mm will print well with…

We use 4mm thick runners and chock the plate up from underneath to make it the right height See the runners page for more information on this. For this type of printing you don’t need a matt or blanket, but if you like using blankets or want to protect any wear on your top roller, you can use any combination of Matt or blankets but see what works best for your plate.

    

Plate – 6mm, 8mm, 10mm, 12mm, 14mm, 16mm, 18mm, 20mm, 22mm, 24mm linos or woodblocks will print well with…

We use the appropriate thickness of runners and chock the plate up from underneath to make it the same, if not slightly higher than the runners. For this type of printing you don’t need a matt or blanket, but if you like using blankets or want to protect any wear on your top roller, you can use any combination of Matt or blankets but see what works best for your plate.

Plate – 25mm letterpress blocks in or out of chases or linos or woodblocks will print well with…

We use the appropriate thickness of runners and chock the plate up from underneath to make it the same if not slightly higher than the runners. For this type of printing you don’t need a matt or blanket, but if you like using blankets or want to protect any wear on your top roller, you can use any combination of Matt or blankets but see what works best for your plate.

Plate – Any thickness of plate lino or woodblock reductions. Here is a short description but why not just watch our movie showing how to set your plate up and press up? At the bottom of the page movie 17 and 18.

We use the following method. Glue your plate down to a board or styrene to make sure it does not move. Use registration pins to hold the paper in place, and plastic tabs to reposition your paper in place. Measure the thickness of your board or styrene you have stuck your plate to and then the lino or woodblock. Choose the appropriate runners for this thickness (ideally the exact thickness). If you do a test print and it’s not printing correctly add one or two pieces of paper on top or underneath of the paper your printing on to help the sandwich be the same height as your runners.