Presse NeunZeefdruk / Rotterdam

Hand screenprint / Rotterdam / nine colours

PresseNeun

Flat colour you cannot get any other way, pulled by hand, one screen at a time, on paper we keep in the building.

What it costs
Fluoro Pink
Warm Red
Signal Orange
Process Yellow
Chartreuse
Bottle
Sky
Reflex
Rich Black

A screen lays down more ink than any other process, which is why a flat colour printed this way looks lit from inside and the same colour printed digitally looks like a photograph of it.

Nine of us, one four-metre bed, two dryers and a rack that holds eleven hundred sheets. We print editions for artists, posters for anybody, and we mix every colour in the building.

The workshop has been in the same brick shed on the Maashaven since 2013, and the lease says 2038, which is longer than most of our plans.

What we print

Lead times are honest ones and include the day we spend arguing about the separation.

  1. 01

    Editions

    Signed and numbered, up to nine colours, up to 700 × 1000 mm3 weeks€ 640
  2. 02

    Posters

    One to four colours on our own stock, runs of 50 to 50010 days€ 380
  3. 03

    Overprints

    Printing onto something already printed, including yours1 week€ 190
  4. 04

    Colour matching

    Mixed by eye against your sample, drawn down and posted to you4 days€ 85
  5. 05

    Studio hire

    One bed, one dryer, one person who knows where things areSame week€ 45 / day

Four stages

The same four whether it is one colour or nine. Only the third one gets longer.

I

Separate

Your file becomes one screen per colour. This is where most of the thinking happens and where a nine-colour print becomes a five-colour print that looks better.

II

Expose

Film positive, vacuum bed, four minutes under the lamp. Wash out, dry, tape up, and check the mesh against the light before it goes on the press.

III

Print

One pull, one flood, one colour at a time, in the order the separation says. Wet on wet where the ink allows it and overnight where it does not.

IV

Dry and count

Racked for a day per colour, then counted twice, then the spoils are torn in half in front of you so nobody has to wonder.

The price list

Published, unnegotiated, and the same for everybody. Setup is in the figure.

  1. A2420 × 594 mm1 colour50 sheets€ 380
  2. A2420 × 594 mm3 colours50 sheets€ 640
  3. A1594 × 841 mm1 colour50 sheets€ 520
  4. A1594 × 841 mm4 colours50 sheets€ 1 090
  5. A1594 × 841 mm4 colours200 sheets€ 2 240
  6. B1700 × 1000 mm2 colours30 sheets€ 780
  7. B1700 × 1000 mm6 colours30 sheets€ 1 860
  8. B1700 × 1000 mm9 colours30 sheets€ 2 690
  9. CustomUp to 700 × 1000 mmAnyAny runAsk
  10. OverprintYour own sheets1 – 3 coloursAny runFrom € 190

Paper in the building

Held means we have it today. To order means four working days from Amsterdam.

  1. 300 gsmSomerset SatinCotton, mould madeEditionsHeld
  2. 250 gsmSomerset VelvetCotton, mould madeEditionsHeld
  3. 270 gsmColorplan PristineColoured throughPostersHeld
  4. 270 gsmColorplan EbonyColoured throughPostersHeld
  5. 240 gsmMunken Pure RoughUncoated, warmPostersHeld
  6. 170 gsmMunken LynxUncoated, brightRuns over 200Held
  7. 290 gsmFedrigoni SirioColoured throughPostersTo order
  8. 250 gsmZerkall LithoMould madeEditionsTo order
  9. 300 gsmGF Smith NaturalisUncoated, softEditionsTo order
  10. 52 gsmNewsprintFor proofing onlyNever soldHeld
  11. 1.5 mmBoard, greyFor test pullsNever soldHeld
  12. AnyYoursBring it and we will test itOverprints—

Nine colours is not nine times better than four. It is nine times more places to go wrong.

Halima Yusuf, master printer

Editions we published

Our own imprint. Printed here, sold here, and never reprinted once an edition closes.

  1. PN-041Zeven HavensIris Kaandorp9 colours, Ed. 30Sold out
  2. PN-039Loud FieldMensah Osei6 colours, Ed. 4012 left
  3. PN-036Rood op RoodTove Lindgren4 colours, Ed. 6031 left
  4. PN-034KadeStudio Bakker3 colours, Ed. 1004 left
  5. PN-030NachtploegIris Kaandorp7 colours, Ed. 25Sold out
  6. PN-027Overprint No. 2Halima Yusuf5 colours, Ed. 4519 left
  7. PN-023Blauwe MaandagPieter Vos2 colours, Ed. 15088 left
  8. PN-019Quiet FieldMensah Osei6 colours, Ed. 40Sold out
  9. PN-014WitTove Lindgren1 colour, Ed. 200112 left
  10. PN-009Nine InksEnsemble9 colours, Ed. 9Archive

Asked at the door

Usually while somebody is holding a wet sheet, so the answers are short.

Can you print my gradient?
We can print four flat colours that read as a gradient from two metres away, which is what a screen does. A true gradient is a different process and we will say so.
How close is your colour match?
Close enough that you will not pick it out of a line-up, and we post you the draw-down before printing so you can disagree in writing.
Do you print on textiles?
No. The dryer, the inks and the mesh counts are all wrong for it and there are four workshops within a kilometre that do it properly.
What happens to the spoils?
Torn in half and recycled. If you want the good spoils, say so before we print and they cost the same as a print.
Can I watch?
Yes, and you should. A colour decision made at the press takes ten seconds and a colour decision made by email takes four days.
Do you ship?
Rolled in a tube anywhere, flat in a crate within the Benelux. Editions over B1 travel flat or not at all.

Bring us a file — or just watch

Editions, as they come off the bed

How often
Whenever an edition dries, which is roughly monthly.
What is in it
One print, the separations behind it, and the price.
Leaving
One link, bottom of every letter, no questions asked.

Maashaven Oostzijde 9, 3072 Rotterdam. The workshop is open to visitors on Thursdays, and to clients whenever their job is on the bed — write to bed@presseneun.example if you would rather not wait for a letter.