Monday morning, and it’s into the print-shed.
Getting everything ready. Paper. Ink. Plates. Registration marks.
Thinking about colour and tone.
The feeling of the piece.
After about half an hour of prep, I reached for a roller and… horror of horrors… melted rollers!
Is this actually a thing? I’ve never come across it before. My beautiful little emerald green Durathene rollers, perfect for adding a pop of colour and giving wonderfully even coverage, had melted. Durathene rollers are renowned for their durability and, honestly, I expected them to last a lifetime. I’ve had them for more than twenty years, but sadly, no more.
Not only have two of the small rollers succumbed to the heat of the print-shed (really, it only reached 39°C!), they’d also melted themselves onto two of my other rollers.
The resulting gloop was incredibly viscous, sticky, syrupy and stretchy, clinging stubbornly to everything it touched. Online advice for removing it ranged from aggressive oven cleaners to even harsher caustic chemicals, none of which I was prepared to use on (previously) perfectly good rollers.
After a frustrating couple of hours trying meths, cooking oil and carefully scraping with a blunt knife, I was close to giving up and ordering replacements (ouch, the price of good rollers?!). Then came a little lightbulb moment: nail polish remover…
It’s a slow process, but it works and as a bonus, it smells nicer than the alternatives.
After a lot of patience, I’ve rescued my much-used 100mm and 75mm soft rollers.
Barely a mark. Feeling very relieved.
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