Weblog

Linocut technique – Notes and Queries

Nov 27, 2022

Now and then I get questions from followers of this blog about linocut techniques, tools or printing issues. Although I don't pretend to know everything there is to know almost linocut (that'due south one of my life goals!) I'm happy to help if I can and I welcome other linocut artists to add their aid and advice in the comments department. Do contact me if there's something you want to ask.

Here are a couple of questions I got this week followed by my replies:

Waterbased inks and Drying times

I'm working on my christmas cards today and I usually use waterbased inks for lino press as it's what we use at school. I take bought myself some linseed oil based ink to endeavor and I just did some test printing. It'southward lovely to use merely I'1000 worried about getting the prints to dry. Accept you got any tips? I oasis't decided what paper I'll use. In the past I've used really sparse stuff like tissue paper so that I can become a clear image just by rollering on the back.

-Tricia Thousand

inks

I have just started using water-based inks myself for workshops and printing greetings cards. They are and so much easier to clean up and there are lots of different brands to cull from. My opinion is that oil-based inks are all the same superior for colour intensity and and so are worth the extra hassle of cleaning up with vegetable oil if you want perfect results. I try to avoid all solvents nowadays, only when I'1000 using oil-based inks I stop cleaning my rollers with a tiny corporeality of turpentine to get them pristine.

Drying fourth dimension for oil-based inks does vary co-ordinate to the brand of ink and the color. Annihilation from a 24-hour interval to a few days is common. Most oil-based inks contain 'driers' (or dryers), a chemic which speeds up drying time. You can also purchase these to add to your inks yourself. There are 2 kinds – manganese driers and cobalt driers. Manganese driers are 'body driers' which dry the ink evenly throughout (avoiding a glossy surface) and cobalt driers dry from the surface downward.

Make sure you follow the instructions and article of clothing protective gloves when handling driers – they are toxic. You but need a few drops which you mix in with the ink before rolling it out. If you are in the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland you lot can purchase driers from Intaglio Printmaker. I'chiliad not sure where to get them in the USA, but McClains has an splendid reputation and a good range of inks. They specialise in relief printing and practise mail service society only.

You can also speed up drying fourth dimension by ensuring a good circulation of air around the prints and hanging them in a warm, dry out environment. If you are printing multiple layers endeavor printing moisture on wet – y'all may be surprised how well the ink takes and it means you don't have to expect for each layer to dry individually.

Hand printing advice

What's the best way to go clean/compatible looking prints on a upkeep? Is there a hand method than comes close to using a printing? I really like the mitt printed await, only I have a few ideas in mind that could really utilise that polish fifty-fifty look. All the presses I have seen looked like Big Fourth dimension $$$.

-Sam (Australia)

boy_bike

It is certainly possible to get solid, even blocks of colour when printing by mitt, although it takes a picayune time and attempt. My East London Printmakers buddy, Chris Grunter, is a master of this. I would say the most important things are inking and what newspaper you use. Y'all demand a adept quality ink, a relief printing ink for professional artists. It should accept good density of color and be quite viscous when you lot ringlet it out. Yous will need quite a lot of ink. It is best to build it up in thin layers so that it doesn't fill in the carved areas. Inking for the showtime print volition always demand extra ink.

The paper you lot use should be smooth and thin. Japanese papers are the best for this although some Chinese papers volition work. Japanese newspaper (washi) is made with long found fibres which make information technology incredibly strong. This is important considering you demand to give information technology a really proficient rub on the dorsum using your printing tool and cheaper paper will fall autonomously. If y'all can't afford Japanese paper, cull a thin cartridge paper and place a piece of tracing paper or greaseproof paper on the dorsum before you kickoff rubbing to protect it.

wooden_spoon

Yous volition demand a lot of force per unit area when printing. You can use any smooth, difficult implement for this – the back of a spoon or a Japanese baren piece of work well. Experiment with using the corner of the spoon/baren to concentrate the force over a smaller area. Every bit you lot are printing you can lift a corner of the newspaper to encounter how you are doing and replace it before continuing.

Cheap presses are hard to come past merely if you are useful at DIY it may be possible to build one yourself. Have a expect online, I saw ane in one case made out of a car jack!

Promise that helps!