finals, finals, finals!

As it turns out, I don't really have any difficult finals. What seems to be taking up more time than I would like is my special project class Grap4040. Barabas has achieved the best kind of putting off there is, and my free time was taken with it. I made NINE screens for printing last week while waiting for my t-shirts to arrive (this is the time we SHOULD have been doing our offset printing) Sadly we are not even starting our offset until tomorrow afternoon. I still have to pack up my life!! And see some of my friends before I leave the state... and SLEEP! Lord Almighty!

Anyway, this photo is the interworkings of an offset press. Offset is where the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on the repulsion of oil and water, the offset technique employs a flat (planographic) image carrier on which the image to be printed obtains ink from ink rollers, while the non-printing area attracts a water-based film (called "fountain solution"), keeping the non-printing areas ink-free.

Ira Washington Rubel invented the first offset printing press in 1903.