Sivakasi beyond fireworks: a printing town
How a dry town in southern Tamil Nadu became one of India’s busiest printing centres, and what to see if you visit.
On the press floor: how we check colour during a run
Make-ready, the proof under the lamp and sheet-by-sheet checks: what happens after you approve a proof.
Approving a proof is not the end of a print job; it is the start of the most careful part. Here is what happens on our press floor once your file is cleared.
First comes plate-making. Your PDF is output to four aluminium plates, one each for cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Each plate is checked under a magnifier for scratches and missing dots before it goes on the press. Then make-ready. Our press operator, Pandian, has run four-colour presses for 22 years. He mounts the plates, loads the paper and runs a few hundred waste sheets while he sets the ink keys across the sheet and brings the four colours into register, so they line up exactly. Make-ready for a catalogue takes 40 minutes to an hour.
The first good sheet is pulled and laid next to your approved proof under a standard viewing lamp, because colour looks different under shop lights and sunlight. Pandian measures the colour bars at the edge of the sheet with a densitometer, adjusts, and pulls another until it matches. That sheet is signed and becomes the reference for the whole run.
During the run, a sheet is pulled every 250 to 500 impressions and compared with the signed sheet. Ink balance drifts as the press warms and the paper changes, so small adjustments happen all through. At the end, the signed sheet goes into the job file with your order number, so a reprint months later can be matched to it. You are welcome to attend the press check for large jobs.
