Cranfield Caligo, Safe Wash Relief Ink, 75ml Tube, Black, BKCN1860

Product Information

Clean up is easy. I mix the Caligo ink on a glass plate and to remove the ink at the end of work scrape off the excess onto newsprint then lightly flood the plate with a dishcloth of water. I let it soften for a minute and it then wipes away easily with kitchen towels or the glass or plexiglass can be flushed without fear under the tap. Same for rollers, roll off excess onto newsprint, loosen ink with water and get easy cleaning. Caligo is best easy clean printmaking ink I've used. - I love using Caligo printing ink. It's easy to blend colours, give clear bright results, layers really well, cleans up easily with water and dries overnight. Oil-based ink for all relief techniques including woodcut, linocut, monotype, engraving and Solarplate

Humidity and temperature will also affect the drying time of oil-based inks. It can help to place the prints in an area with good air circulation and lower humidity. They’ll dry faster at warmer temperatures as well. I’ve read that you can speed up the process somewhat by using a hair dryer on low, but I’ve never tried it. NOTE: Protect your Blanket: On thin fabric the ink may penetrate all the way through and mark your blanket when you print. So remember – always protect your blankets with a couple of sheets of tissue paper before you print. If you are intending to wear (e.g. a scarf) or handle the printed fabric (e.g. as a cushion) or it’s likely to be exposed to the elements (e.g. a pennant or flag) – then we’d advise you wash the printed fabric before using. This way the washed fabric has the best chance to remain smudge resistant – even if you may lose a little colour on first wash. Although – as you see – the results on cotton are good. The key is patience and giving sufficient time for the fabric print to dry fully before attempting to excessively rub or wash. Less absorbent fabrics will, we think, take longer to dry and will be more liable to smudge whilst waiting to fully dry as more of the ink will be left to sit on the top of the fibres rather than soak into them. In this case adding extra driers may help. reduce drying time and improve mark and rub resistance of the dried print surface. Test for suitabilityIf any stubborn patches of ink remain, dry the surface with a paper towel, work in more soap and wash again.

Once fully dried you can wash the printed fabric and the image should stay fast and not wash out. Our own tests on cotton and poly-cotton fabric support this. If the image washes out excessively or bleeds then your inked image was either not completely dry or it may be that the textile was not suitable. A small addition of driers may help. We’ve also hand printed successfully (on a hard surface) with a simple ‘traditional’ Rubber Stamp. Drying / WashingInk the linocut in the normal way. Print as an etching. You’ll need to adjust the height of the gap between the roller and etching table to accommodate the linocut – try a few test prints to achieve the optimum pressure to give a strong, even print. Some printers like to wash and dry their fabric first to give the most receptive surface for printing. Printing with a press will always give the densest, most even ink transfer for your fabric prints but you can still achieve pleasing results printing by hand. Note – the pigmented ink is being ‘absorbed’ onto the fabric fibres rather than being ‘absorbed’ into the fibres as per fabric ‘dyes’. Yes, it's an intaglio ink but it works just fine for relief printing right out of the tube. Similar to Caligo but a little more expensive and smelly.

What are your thoughts on the water-soluble inks and oil-paints? Have you tried any of them? Tell me below in the comments! While also oil-based, it's made to clean up easily (like Caligo's ink) and comes in a wide spectrum of colors. Speedballrolls out nicely and produces crisp images on t-shirts and other fabrics. On the downside, I find the smell a little unpleasant while I'm working with it. After it dries (up to 7 days), it washes well but there will be some slight fading over time. The results are so good people have asked me if I've used oil printing inks for my lino cuts. I use up to ten colours in my prints and it makes exceptional prints on Somerset paper. We would recommend you use our Safe Wash RELIEF Inks on fabric as these have some driers already added. If you need to speed up dry times, then you can add a drop of cobalt or manganese driers to your ink and mix well. Printing – with or without a press ?

Hello,

|Reminder: It’s important to remember that we’ve designed our inks so that while they are wet, you can wash them out with just soap and water without the need for toxic solvents. Also great if you want to wash out and recycle your tarlatans and perfect for washing away the odd spot of ink on your hands or clothes while you work! Cranfield Caligo Safe Wash Relief Inks are water-soluble, oil-based inks suitable for all high-pressure techniques: woodcut, wood engraving, linocut, letterpress and also for printing with photopolymer plates. etc. It’s weird that you’ve experienced issues with the inks not drying. What type of paper are you printing on? Different fabrics may need different drying times depending on whether the ink is fully embedded into the fibres of the fabric, simply sits on the surface (or a combination of the two). If the fabric has a rough, woven texture and you want a more solid ink coverage that reaches ‘into the dips’- then you may need the help of a mechanical press with higher pressures.