Is there a non water based block printing ink?

Question

I was making some block prints and thought I would make some of them in color, and when I went to go put the color on, it smeared! I know, I know, I should have read the bottle more carefully, but I thought it meant water soluble(sp?) for clean up, you know, when it's still wet, and non water soluble when dry, like acrylics. I tried black acrylic, but it gums up too easily and isn't as nice and dark as the printing ink. Is there anything else I can do? I don't like the fact that even if I wanted to keep my print just black and white it would still 'run' if it got wet. Please advise, and if you know of anything, please let me know what and where to get it. The stores around here are limited at best and the catalogs I have now have the basic stuff only. (I am concerned with permanance.) Also, I have seen oil based print ink, but will this rot paper? How could I make the paper more rot proof? Sorry to ask so many questions within a question. LOL!!! Thanks! :)

Answer 1

Try mixing a little bit of acrylic gloss medium with your water base inks If it's black you could maybe add a little India ink too.There may be additives that you could add to the acrylic or try a little India ink with that too.Speedball does make a oil based block ink you should contact them to find out how it would affect the paper.Yupo is a synthetic watercolor paper that should not be affected by the oil based ink.Strathmore Aquarius is also synthetic and might be suitable.Cheap Joe's in the States carries Yupo maybe the other one too( if not they can get it).They have a website.Good luck!

Answer 2

hm. Well first off I would wait a few weeks before adding color to your prints to make sure everything is dry. That ink can sometimes take a long time to dry.

One thing that is really cool to do is to place the color down before you put the block print down. So color the paper where you want color, let it dry, and then put the print over that. It gives a really cool effect. I've done a lot of prints like this, if I can find one online I'll add the link later. But I would highly suggest doing this above adding color afterward.

There is oil based relief ink. It's what I usually use. I wouldn't worry about it rotting the paper. It would take years and years for that to happen. The key here is just to experiment as much as possible and use good paper.

http://www.dickblick.com/zz403/06/

http://www.danielsmith.com/LEARN/aboutDSProducts/printmaking/oilReliefInks/

The key thing for printmaking is having good paper. High quality is always the best. I would suggest these papers. they should not degrade as easily as other papers.

Japanese printmaking paper
Rives BFK
Arches

see this site, it has them all http://www.dickblick.com/categories/printmakingpapers/


The best art supply stores that I know of are

www.dickblick.com
http://www.cheapjoes.com/
http://www.utrechtart.com/
http://www.danielsmith.com/

Answer 3

www.dickblick.com

www.pearlpaint.com

Happy hunting.