How to Clean Up Oil-Based Printmaking Ink
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2024
- This video demonstrates and describes ways to clean up oil-based printmaking ink from ink palette, brayers and other inked-up tools
For more information and to see future tutorials:
🌟Subscribe: / @chcole88
🌟Instagram: / 🌟
🌟Website: catherinecole.us 🌟
I just had a lithography class, and I struggled sooo much to clean my tools and station... I kept having to change my gloves. We also use baby oil, and the bottles are so small!!!
Very good video. I was looking this up specifically to remind myself of how to avoid super-long drying times for oil-based inks. I usually use Caligo Safe Wash ink (made by Cranfield) which can be cleaned up with just soap and water (or just water).
I am about to make some prints (wrapping paper) with Cranfield oil-based ink and remember in the past that I had a terrible experience with ridiculously long drying time. Apparently, the problem was that there was a very small residue of vegetable oil on the roller, which contaminated the ink and prevented it from drying. The solution (no pun intended) was to wash the roller in something like Dawn dishwashing liquid (which is really different from other dishwashing liqids), or maybe rubbing alcohol or Simple Green, with plenty of wiping/flushing.
I am particularly interested in not polluting the air in my studio (in the living space during the cold season) or the waterways by flushing ink and solvents down the drain at any point, so the use of Simple Green and rags/paper towels is good, as it can go in the regular garbage ans not pose a fire hazard.
Thank you for sharing what you do! I am also interested in transitioning my home studio to more greener and safer practices, and was even told Simple Green is an asthmatic for some, so have been switching to Seventh Generation brand cleanser/degreaser. I do agree that too much vegetable oil left on the brayer can impact the quality of prints. The university I work at uses Akua inks on brayers, which we wash with Dawn Soap, but they left the brayers always sticky. I read the ingredients of Dawn Soap to see one of the first ingredients listed is alcohol denat, and I had always been told to never use denatured alcohol on brayers, so I'm now looking into alternative soaps. But for now, for both using vegetable oil and or dawn soap, I follow up with corn starch or french chalk to absorb any residual oils or reduce the tackiness on brayers. Wipe with a clean cloth or paper towel, or I sometime just wipe it with my hand before inking and printing again.
@@Chcole88 I might try the baby powder or French chalk, but I have not found that the sticky rollers are really a problem, just annoying.
Is that ink permanent when dry? I'm printing with the intention of adding color with watercolor paint. If the ink loosens up again with water, even after dry, it'll make a huge mess. Do you know?
@MariaLanger I think so. Once it is dry, it won't dissolve in water. I have colored a couple of prints with Ampersand Scratchbord/Claybord Inks, which I think are similar to transparent watercolors or maybe one or another of Dr. Ph. Martin's inks (there are several varieties). Water-based, and no white pigment, so when it crosses the black-printed portions it will not muddy the black. Originally formulated for tinting scratchboard pieces, and work much the same on linoprints. Only five colors, plus black, so you might want to try transparent ink or watercolors from different brands.
@@MariaLanger Adding to what Patrick replied, so long as the ink is oil-based should be fine to paint over. Speedball water-cleanable inks also dry permanently. Most oil-based water-miscible inks like Caligo Safe wash are permanent when dry. The only brand of printing ink I'd be cautious about painting over is Akua, which is a soy-based ink. Once it is absorbed it seems permanent, but I've found with student work that it takes a while to dry, especially if applied thickly, and since I can smudge it with my hand, I figure a brush would also smudge it.
do you clean the print block with vegetable oil as well?
Hi @miabecerra2611 - Thanks for asking! I've used vegetable oil with linoleum and shellacked woodcuts, following up with something that has a degreaser in it, but I tend not to use oils for non-sealed woodcuts. I try to wipe up as much as I can without using any cleaning agent first, and then follow up with a little bit of a solvent like Gamsol or Soy Solv ii or the slightest bit of something like Simple Green or Seventh-Generation degreaser on a rag to get the remaining ink. Hope that helps!
Is it safe to throw away paper towels with wiped off oil based printing ink on them?
Just noticed this comment now, sorry! I do just throw the paper towels away if I'm not using a rag, just the same as if I scrape up used ink and toss it. I try to fold paper towels and use it until it's completely soiled so I'm not wasteful, If I have paper towels with solvents on it, I put it in a covered bin to prevent spontaneous combustion, but at the university I work at, the hazardous waste people often move the paper towels out of the covered bin to the trashcan when emptying rags, so I think most of the concern is when it's soaked and damp with solvents, but seems okay when it is dry.