Saw a letterpress shop in Seattle that changed how I think about registration

I was down in the Pioneer Square area last month visiting a friend and we stopped into this old school print shop that's been running since the 80s. The guy running it showed me how he sets up registration on a 1950s Kluge press using nothing but paper shims and a magnifying glass. He said he can nail a 4 color job within 3 sheets every time. I always thought you needed fancy pin registration systems or laser cutters to get perfect alignment. But watching him work with just those simple tools and years of feel made me realize I've been overcomplicating my own setup at home. He even let me run a few sheets through the press and I got the hang of it after maybe 10 tries. Has anyone else found old school methods that work better than the modern gear?

2 comments

2 Comments

rowanp1519h ago

I can barely keep my business cards aligned with a $2,000 system, so that guy is basically a wizard.

-1

tessawebb11h ago

Found that printing them myself with a cheap guillotine cutter and a corner rounder saved me a ton of headache. Way easier to keep things straight when you're not paying someone else to mess it up.