Description

Registration is one of the fundamentals of printmaking. When you print in multiple colours or layers, every pass through the press ,or every time you place your screen , must land in exactly the same position. A shift of even a millimetre creates a blurred, misaligned print that wastes both materials and time. Arteina’s registration pin-and-tab system gives printmakers a straightforward and mechanically sound method for achieving this precision across every layer of a print edition.

The system operates on a simple but effective principle. Registration pins mount onto a flat board or press bed at fixed positions. You punch small holes in each sheet of paper at matching points, then reinforce those holes with registration tabs , small, adhesive-backed reinforcement pieces that prevent the paper from tearing with repeated use. When you seat the sheet on the pins, it cannot shift sideways or rotate. Remove the sheet, re-seat it for the next colour layer, and it drops back into precisely the same position every time.

This method is a standard technique in professional and studio printmaking environments. Relief printers use registration pins to align multiple colour blocks on the same edition. Screen printers use them to ensure each colour in a design sits exactly where it belongs. Mixed media and photopolymer printmakers rely on the same system to combine printed and hand-worked layers with accuracy. The Arteina registration pin-and-tab system is purpose-built for this kind of precision work, using materials and tolerances matched to the demands of a working studio.