Practical Printer

I ran into a situation on a two-color job where I needed to print a polymer plate and type at the same time.

Fortunately I was running the two colors in quick succession by using two presses.

Pictured above is the print, followed by Press Number 1 with the black plate; then Press No. 2 with the red plate and the ornament. (Note the rule cut away on Press Number 1 to allow the ornament on Press No. 2 to fit into the gap.)

All of this was an expediency caused by the fact that although the job looked lively enough on screen, the print itself needed some help.

Hadn't I been able to do this, I would have had to revise the original file, output new film, and make new plates.

In the past ornaments of this kind were available from ATF in Handipacks. And any job printer would have had at least one case filled with ornaments.

Today however, with many printers exclusively running photopolymer, one might consider outputting film of ornaments so that should the occasion arise one would have some “ornaments” available.

(Of course, my saying this, implies also that I still do some “designing” on press.)

A good starting place might be the wonderful selection of penline flourishes available in Minion and Poetica. Many are similar to the Civilité ornaments, which at one time were available in ATF Handipack 73.

Something that might be kept in mind is selection of size. It is not by accident that the size differential in foundry ornaments goes up by 6 or 12 points at a time, as this is a sufficient jump in size to allow for various applications.

Now you can create you own “Handipacks.”