So what happens when you are happily letterpress printing along and accidentally pull a print on your top sheet? If you leave that ink there it gets on the back side of the next dozen impressions you pull. Even if you wipe it away with a rag, there can still be some residual ink transfer.
We keep a bottle of baby powder in the press room to deal with the problem. After we wipe the top sheet with a rag to remove as much ink as possible, we break out the baby powder. A small shake of powder rubbed on the tympan paper top sheet helps stop the remaining ink from transferring on the backs of future impressions. And you’ll have the bonus of smelling like a clean babies bottom.
Usefull too in manual print, so we can manipulate sheet with bare finger at time, even with some ink on it. And to clean too !
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This is such a great tip! Not that I want you to give away all of your secrets, but I’d love to see more printing tips like this here on Beast Pieces.
Anti-set off spray works as well. And if you’re backing up a wet sheet oiling the tympan helps prevent ink transfer.