Menai Bridge lino- new caligo oil inks

I'm a bit behind with my updates here due to lots going on at work and a lovely trip away. I'd been printing with the water based inks and they were ok, but they were lacking in something. They looked a bit like a school project... Maybe this was the designs I was choosing or my technique but I wasn't happy.

After lots of research I decided I just had to invest in some good quality oil based inks. I've never used oil paints because of the hassle of drying time and cleaning nightmare. But I found these new caligo safe wash inks which claimed to be easy wash with soap but still oil based. Now the tubes were around £10 each so I stuck to the primary colours for now.

I also changed my paper. I thought I needed really thick paper in order to get a good print that wouldn't tear. My research taught me that this meant a lot of work to burnish through the thick paper and the risk of a patchy print. The trick apparently is to get a quality paper but with a lower gsm- around 130 I'm told is ideal. This allows the print to come through without too much pressure being put on the paper- but it's still hard work!

So, my first oil based ink was quite a challenge. I used two layers (why not make it tricky) and the design was very intricate. I'm working on Anglesey at the moment and I look out onto this pretty Menai Bridge scene each day on my drive home.

My opinion on the oil inks? They just don't compare. The print was brighter, crisper and glossier. And because the inks were expensive it meant I took more time over getting them right! The clean up is still harder than for the water based inks- yes the soap got off most of the stuff but the dried on bits needed help with some vegetable oil so it gets a bit messy. The smell isn't too bad and drying time was a few hours although I left them a day before printing the next layer just to be sure.

I'll definitely be using this combination of inks and paper from now on.