AIC's 47th Annual Meeting

Patterns and other design elements of mechanically printed paper materials can often be difficult to replicate in areas of loss compensation using conventional inpainting techniques.

EZ Screenprint brand screens can be used to quickly and easily create a printing screen with the replicated pattern of the original object. Toned long fibered paper can be used as the printing substrate to exactly match the color of the original object. The toned fill material can be screen printed with the appropriate design or pattern using acrylic paint mixed to match the color of the original media to produce a visually pleasing fill that replicates some of the visual qualities of mechanical prints. Compensating for losses of binding decorations and recreating spine title information can be difficult if one’s lab does not have access to metal tools. Such was the case in the rebinding of a 1791 volume of System of Surgery. This book was part of a 4-volume set and the new binding would have looked out of place with a laser printed label. Investing in expensive tools and equipment to perform gold tooling or stamping was not an option, so a new label was printed on acrylic cast composite leather using gold acrylic paint and EZ Screenprint screens. Both methods of loss compensation can be created using readily available software and digital imaging. These images can be printed on transparencies and used to create screens for printing on a variety of materials to be used for fills or overlays. EZ Screenprint screens are inexpensive, non-toxic, and provide a high level of detail during printing, making them a good choice for loss compensation on a variety of materials.