- Speedball Art Products
One of the most recognized and esteemed brands in the art world, Speedball Art Products, offers a comprehensive range of ink suitable for linocut printing. Its reputation and the high quality of its products make it an excellent choice for beginners.
Speedball block printing inks offer a rich density of color and smooth consistency, ensuring your linocuts stand out with vivid detail. The ease of use of these inks adds to their appeal. They are water-soluble and thus easy to clean without needing any solvents, making them an ideal choice for beginners experimenting with linocut.
Among the offered range, the Speedball Professional Relief Ink stands out. It provides the highest level of pigment, resulting in intense, bold colors and enhanced viscosity. The long open time allows for more time to work on your prints before the ink dries.
- Gamblin Artist’s Oil Colors
Gamblin is a renowned name in the artistic industry and has a line dedicated to inks, including those for linocut printing. Their oil-based inks guarantee vibrant, eye-catching results, despite the technically more challenging nature of working with oil-based products.
Oil colors by Gamblin are characterized by their saturation and intensity. They provide a rich, lustrous finish that showcases your linocut designs spectacularly, adding depth and detail. Their range of hues is extensive, ensuring that you find the perfect color for your artwork.
However, as using solvent for clean-up is necessary, handling these inks might be slightly harder for an absolute beginner. Nevertheless, their unmatched quality makes it worth the effort and can be a significant step in learning important aspects of printmaking.
- Caligo Safe Wash Relief Inks
Created by Cranfield Colors, Caligo Safe Wash Relief Inks are designed specifically for linocut, engravings, and woodcuts. They are oil-based inks perfect for beginners due to their unique ‘safe wash’ feature. This means they can be cleaned up with soap and water instead of harmful solvents, a property usually found in water-based inks.
These inks offer a luxurious, buttery consistency. They retain the advantages of oil-based ink, such as higher permanence and a glossy finish, making your prints more vibrant and detailed.
Caligo inks are also known for their longer ‘open time’, a beneficial feature for new artists, as it allows for a more extended working period before the ink starts to dry.
- Charbonnel Etching Inks
Charbonnel, a brand revered for over a century, is recognized for its superior quality etching inks. Their formulation guarantees intensely pigmented, bright, and crisp prints ideal for the linocut technique.
Charbonnel offers a spectrum of colors, from the traditional range to more unique and bright hues. The even, distinct, and grain-free finish provides a unique character of richness and depth to your artworks.
While the clean-up involves solvents, the print quality achieved with Charbonnel is superior and makes the brand a reliable choice for new as well as seasoned artists.
- Akua Intaglio Inks
Akua Intaglio Inks are specially designed for block printing methods, including linocut. What makes them a great choice for beginners is their extended working time. They don’t dry on the printing plate, thus providing better control over the print.
These inks are water and soy-based, which provides the additional advantage of easy cleanup without harsh solvents. Moreover, these are non-toxic and fume-free, enhancing safety.
Despite being water-based, Akua inks still possess the richer and more professional look of oil-based inks. If you’re a beginner looking for non-toxic, eco-friendly, versatile, and high-quality inks, Akua might be your ideal choice.
- Schmincke Aqua Linoprint Inks
Schmincke, a German brand known worldwide for its high-quality art materials, provides Aqua Linoprint inks created with natural binders and featuring vibrant pigments. These inks are water-based, making them easy to clean with water.
A distinct feature of Schmincke Aqua Linoprint Inks is their compatibility with different surfaces, including paper, cardboard, and wood. This makes them a versatile printing ink suitable for linocut beginners looking to experiment.
Schmincke’s Aqua Linoprint inks can be mixed with each other, broadening the available color palette and making it a wonderful starting point for beginners who want to push their artistic boundaries.
Each of these brands offers its unique selling points and benefits. What works best for you depends on your requirements, like your budget, whether you prefer oil-based or water-based inks, your level of tolerance for dealing with solvents, and your work setting or studio environment. Choose one that provides you with the best balance of these factors. Starting with a high-quality brand will ensure that you have a positive, fulfilling experience while making your first strides in the fascinating world of linocut printing.
