Cotton paper and humidity
Dry cotton stock cracks along the fold. Two days in the damp box and the same stock takes a deep impression without complaint. The workshop hygrometer was the cheapest useful thing we ever bought.
Mixing a warm black
Straight black looks flat next to letterpress texture. A touch of warm red in the mix reads as black to the eye but keeps the page alive. Write down the ratio, because you will not remember it in March.
Make-ready is most of the job
Setting the plate takes ten minutes. Getting an even impression across the whole forme takes an hour, and it is all tissue paper, patience and looking at the back of the sheet under raking light.
We keep a make-ready sheet for every recurring job now. It saves the hour the second time round, which over a year is a great many hours.