I dunno about this printing malarky.

After I’d worked out that I needed oil-based printing ink, I hunted some down. A few weekends ago I had some time to try it out. I had the simple collograph plate I’d made from cardboard (on the left) and sealed with varnish. I also tried scratching into the acetate sheeting, copying a warm-up sketch from life drawing classes.

I inked up the acetate plate first. Apply ink, wipe off, soak paper (I chose drawing paper and pages from a book), put everything through the pasta maker:

Then I inked up the collograph plate and did the same:

The printed sheets went between tracing paper and blotting paper, then under a heavy object overnight.

Looking at these now, I’m more pleased with the result than I was at the time. The paper isn’t that suited to printing and crinkled. I should be using watercolour paper or specific printing paper. But I didn’t want to use expensive paper until these tests revealed if the other parts of the process were working okay.

What I found most annoying and off-putting was the ink. It’s much, much messier than I’d ever anticipated. I knew I’d have to use turps for cleaning up and that didn’t worry me because I’ve painted with oils for years. But oil paints will wash off with soap and water. Printing ink gets into your skin and stays there, despite repeated wiping with turps, until you later touch something like the fridge or the book you’re reading or your clothing.

Wearing gloves while using the stuff is definitely a must. Trouble is, I’m allergic to latex. The only non-latex gloves I know of are dishwashing gloves, and they’re so thick and awkward, I can’t imagine handling small printing plates with them on.

The other problem with the ink is that the nearest sink is in the bathroom, and I’m really not keen on getting it covered in difficult-to-remove ink. Clearly this sort of printing requires a different sort of facility. A studio with sinks (and proper ventilation) rather than a ‘family room’ style workroom. One day…

So the intaglio printing tools and materials have been packed away for now. However, I have kept the relief printing tools and materials out, and I have a project in mind for this weekend – which will use the water-based printing inks I bought with the mistaken intention of using them for intaglio printing.