10 July 2021

Codex Sonora on the press.

 

Codex Sonora on the press.
2020 was a considerable delay in life for most of us. My book project was one of the casualties. Books take financing, and although print sales were building a substantial nest egg for the book, this depleted during the Covid pandemic. I took advantage of the time to do the months of inking required for the book's text and the careful setup of the files in printable form. In all, the project had about a year delay.
I work for AlphaGraphics Commercial Printing Services in Tucson and am pleased to get one of my projects on the big press. Ours is a beauty. Walking by, I'll sometimes hear German accents through the computer interface troubleshooting an issue live with the pressman. I asked if it was like the BMW of printers, the answer was, "It's like the Bugatti of printers." It's a Heidelberg CD102, 6-color perfecting press with closed-loop color control and inline aqueous coater. Color balancing is controlled through what looks like a soundboard for ink, scanning each piece and adjusting for corrections. I was called from my office for each press check to approve the color and quality. I wanted the cover to have a special coating called "Soft-touch," and the printer did that final coat just like one of the ink coats. Anyway, I get excited about the offset printing process and love the perfect fine line you get with it. This is something you never see on a monitor screen. The book is 9x12, so my artwork is reduced, and the lines are extra crispy!



I'm delighted with this and can't wait till I get the final product bound and in my hands. I'll have this for sale by the end of July or August.