Ternes Burton Plastic Register Pins are an affordable alternative to the handcrafted stainless steel version. They are sturdy and meant to hold up to repeated usage. They are commonly used to align layers of paper while printing with lino or wood blocks.
Ternes Burton register pins enable tight registration on complicated multi-colour projects. The register pins work with Ternes Burton stripping tabs or can be inserted directly through the holes made by a punch. The trademarked base shape is unique and is designed with a narrow forward area to hold the button centred to prevent tilt. The wider area of the base has a hole in it so that as you tape the pin down, you have adhesion on either side as well as the centre, which helps limit movement.
The button height depends both upon the number of layers of paper, as well as the thickness of layers being attached to the pin when lining up and taping your stripping tabs to your printing paper. Both heights will work when printing on an etching press set for relief printing and come into their own, preventing movement in this situation.
As a basic guide, gather together a base board of plywood or MDF, one pair of Ternes Burton Register Pins, two stripping tabs per paper sheet, enough for your whole edition, parcel tape to tape down the pins, and masking tape to tape down the stripping tabs.
Before you actually stick anything down, you can lay out your pins, block and paper on your base board to guide yourself. You can then check that the paper is the correct size and the block is in the desired position for your print.
Secure your pins to the base board, orientated with the button at the bottom and then tape well down, making sure you press inside the hole within the pin. Secure your block to the base board well enough to carve in situ, or create a tight block registration set-up on the base board in which you can very snugly reposition your block after successive carvings, although this second option will introduce the possibility of losing register by moving the block.
Place your first sheet of paper over the block and click the stripping tabs over the pins. The paper should sit below the pin and under the lower half of the tabs. Secure both tabs to your paper with masking tape. You should be able to remove them later without damaging the paper.
Place your second sheet of paper over the first, carefully align the two sheets and attach two more tabs to the pins and paper as before. Repeat this for all the sheets in your edition.
You can then set aside your paper and start making your block. As you come to print, make sure you click the registration tabs over the pins and then lower the paper onto your inked block.
