Tools of the Trade
I highly recommend investing in high quality carving tools as these are the main squeeze of the medium. They stay sharp longer & are made to last.
For organizational purposes this post will focus primarily on my printmaking materials only!
I first learned printmaking in the seventh grade and since then I have experimented with cheap tools, expensive tools and even makeshift tools to create the style and artwork you see today. Bottom line, I use a pretty well rounded mix of expensive and inexpensive materials. Sometimes investing in higher quality items is necessary and sometimes a wooden spoon* does the best job—I’ll elaborate there later!
Cutters
I primarily use Pfeil linoleum and wood carving knives. My set includes:
3mm No 5 Gouge (small area peak smoothing*)
6mm No 7 Gouge (medium space clearing and peak smoothing*)
10mm No 7 Gouge (medium/large space clearing
5mm No 9 Gouge (medium space clearing)
1mm No 11 Veiner (outlining and detail)
1mm No 12 V Parting Tool (outlining and detail)
*Peak smoothing: This is likely not a real term in printmaking but it is what I call it! When I carve, in my style, I tend to leave behind little “peaks” between each carved line. These can leave behind stray marks in the printing process, so I will use the flat knives to smooth those down so they don’t pick up ink when I roll.
I also have this really awesome dot tool made by Karol Pomykala. It has been instrumental in achieving some of the raw edge details I make in my pieces. Please, take a look at his art, because it’s incredible!
I highly recommend investing in high quality carving tools as these are the main squeeze of the medium. They stay sharp longer and are made to last.
I have nothing against FlexCut tools, there are actually a handful of their cutters on my “to purchase” list, I just haven’t purchased them yet so I sadly, don’t have anything to say about them nor am I able to compare the two brands.
I use a FlexCut slipstrop kit to keep my blades sharp, and I highly recommend finding a professional if you ever have to sharpen your tools beyond what the wood honing block can do. I attempted to sharpen my own once and ruined an entire set of blades. Learn from my mistake!
Linoleum
I generally order from dickblick.com and recently have been using the battleship gray block. I have purchased the 90 foot roll, but now prefer to buy larger, flat blocks and cut those down to avoid the curl when you buy the bulk roll. I also buy my blocks unmounted as I don’t have the need for them to be mounted!
Papers
Ughh!!! The paper is probably my most favorite part of printmaking. I love the look and feel and the extra character it can add to your art’s aesthetic—if it’s your vibe of course! I mainly use handmade lokta and mulberry papers from a company located in Texas that sources these handmade papers from artisans in over 20 countries around the globe.
My favorite by far is the Napalese Lokta. Depending on the batch or the weight of this paper, and the mulberry, it can be a bit tricky to hand print on, as I don’t have a press, so I spend a little more time hand burnishing my prints on these heavier papers—so keep that in mind!
I encourage you to experiment with all types of papers until you find the one that speaks to you and your vibe!
Inks
I use Cranfield Traditional and Safe Wash Relief Oil based inks for all my print except for tiny prints. My tiny prints use a water based ink for a much quicker drying time. Using oil inks gives me more saturated colors and, in my opinion, a prettier print. The only down side is dry time—I have to strategically plan my print runs to adapt to this. In some cases the inks can take up to 2 weeks, give or take a few days, to cure enough for safe packaging.
For the curious collector reading this, this is why shipping time can vary for pull to order prints as all of my prints are hand printed, none are a scanned reproduction unless noted. I take a lot of pride in creating one-of-a-kind pieces that capture the best detail I can achieve to share with you.
Printing
I currently do not have a press, but I’m dying to buy one! In the meantime I use a variety of random things to help me hand burnish my prints.
While I have a traditional baron, I just don’t like it. I prefer to use a wooden kitchen spoon to burnish many of my prints. I like the leverage I am able to get and the different angles and coverage I can achieve by holding it at different angles.
I also use registration tabs, though not perfectly. I am self-thought in using these so who even knows if I am doing it the right way! I don’t do a lot of multi-color work, so I more so use them when I bulk pull prints to keep my prints centered across the pulls.
My print board is also handmade. I drew a base grid out and then use an ikea plastic placemat on top for visibility of the grid and easy clean up if I get ink on it.
Tip: I also stockpile scrap paper and junk mail to use as “clean-up” papers. At the end of a print run I will rub excess ink from my blocks onto these trash paper and wipe my palette with it as well. It helps reduce my paper towel cost and use, lol!
Lastly, I use a lovely herb dry rack as my dry rack. It’s a light weight, mesh style stacking frame like contraption. It can break down pretty small or stack up to 7 ft tall I think— I have two sets that I stack depending on how many prints I need to dry. It was much more cost effective than buying your traditional art class dry rack and it does its job just fine! Plus it was one of my brand colors, and if you know me you know I love all things on brand!
Prep & Miscellaneous Materials
Below is a list of other random tools I have around the studio, maybe they can help you too:
Tracing paper for sketching and transferring my designs with ease
Felt rub sheets to use in between my print and spoon/baron so that I don’t ruin my prints when rubbing
Paper towels
Artist Tape
Painters tape
X-Acto Knives
Palette knives for mixing and warming up my ink
