Hi, I'm Leone from Spines and Splines. I'm here with a short video today showing you how to set an etching press for print making. First up I'll be running through how to set up for printing and tallyo style, followed by how I set up for relief printing. There are timestamps in the description so that it's easy for you to find the information that you need. The first step for setting an etching press to print and tallyo plates is to raise the roller so that you can get your blankets into place. Always raise both of the pressure spindle screws at the same time if you can so that the roller stays level. If you bring up one side at a time you can damage the mechanism in the roller. If you can't reach both spindles at the same time, raise one side a little then the other side and keep swapping back and forth until you've raised the roller high enough. Slide your blankets underneath the roller and smooth them down. If you're using more than one blanket, put the thickest one near the top roller and the thinnest one near the bed. Here I'm setting my press with a 1.5mm blanket closest to the press bed, then a 3mm one in the middle and a 6mm one on top. How many blankets you use will depend on what you're printing. A lot of people only use two blankets, usually a 3mm or a 6mm and if you're printing a collograph plate or a monoprint, you might even only use one thick blanket. Crank down your pressure screws evenly until you hit the blankets. My press isn't geared so when I reach the bed the spindles go slack. When you hit this point, continue to screw the spindles down until you reach the pressure you need for your particular plate. How much pressure you use will depend on the size and type of plate you're printing and you might need to do some testing to get the pressure correct. To check the pressure, put one of your plates in place and cover the top or bottom edge with a scrap of printmaking paper. Run the plate through the press and check the scrap of paper to make sure that the embossed mark is even on both sides. To set your press for printing relief plates like Lino on woodcuts, it's a good idea to put some runners the same height as your block on either side of the press. I made myself a pair of Lino runners with offcuts from a large piece of Lino and these also work well when I'm printing plywood plates. You don't need a lot of pressure to print relief plates. Using runners helps the press bed roll evenly and they stop the roller dropping when it hits the edge of your plate. When you have your runners in place, screw down both of the pressure spindles evenly until the roller reaches the top of the Lino, then screw them down just a tiny bit further. When you print your block, you can pack it with as many sheets of news printers you need to adjust the pressure to your liking. If you have a relief plate that's an unusual height, you can make some runners from scrap cardboard. Here you can see me cutting up a cereal box into a pair of runners. The process for this is the same as the previous step, where I used two strips of Lino as runners. After my first pressure test with the ones I'm making here, I realised I needed them to be a little bit thicker, so I added in some extra layers of cardboard before checking the pressure a second time. Again, when you have the height and pressure roughly correct, you can use sheets of news print to pack out your prints so that the pressure is perfect. You can also see here that I layer sheet of thick clear plastic over my press bed. This helps me keep the press clean and it's also useful for the registration of prints. I like to drop a registration sheet for my print runs on news print and I slip this under the plastic so that it stays clean and in place as I make my additions. While I finish setting this press, it seems like a good time to remind you that I have a Patreon and you can support it. I really like to keep these videos free so that anybody can watch them and learn about print making, but if you enjoy them and find them useful, I'd love it if you could support me on Patreon. Each tier offers different rewards and every little bit helps me make these videos better. If you enjoyed this video, please like, subscribe and share it. If you've got any questions or suggestions for future videos, please leave me a comment. I've listed all the materials that I used today in the description and you'll also find links there for my website, my Patreon, my Facebook page, Instagram, my red bubble shop and some affiliate links to art stores where you can buy materials. Thanks for watching, cheers!