Schmincke ink guide and review
This video and blog is a quick and easy guide to Schmincke printmaking inks for beginners. I will start by discussing the variety of colour and size options of ink available, also sharing mediums you can use with the ink. I’ll share my personal opinion of the inks, including consistency, application and ease of use. I’ll share my preference for paper to use with the inks and demonstrate them in action. Finally I’ll share my favourite thing about them, the ease of cleaning!
Schmincke inks are water-based, made with a natural binder, they come in a variety of colours and sizes, including 120ml tubes and 35ml tubes. They also make 250ml bottles, but I do not purchase these as I have heard from other printmakers that they do not dispense inks as well as tubes. There are 15 colours currently available, plus 3 metallic colours. I have tried the metallics, but in my honest opinion, I prefer the Cranfield Traditional Gold for vibrancy and depth of shine. Schmincke also produce a lino extender, amongst other mediums, they produce one that is quite good for allowing transparency of colour when needed, it is also water based.
The Schmincke water based inks do have a decent depth of colour, and they do mix well together. The consistency is more fluid and lighter than an oil based ink, as you would expect. I like to really work the colour onto the roller before transferring to the lino. As you can see in the video the ink transfers well, I like the evenness of colour, and think the results are good in terms of maintaining detail whilst still providing cover. I have enjoyed using Schmincke ink for multi-layered, and multi-colour reduction prints., and am up to 8 colours on the print shown in this video. The drying time is about 15 minutes to touch dry surface per layer, but my personal preference is to usually only print one layer per day, to allow a full 24 hours for drying times. The ink transfers well to the smooth cotton acid free 300 gsm paper I normally use, as I prefer a much thicker paper (similar to watercolour paper but smoother) to absorb all the layers of water based ink.
Finally, one of my favourite things about Schmincke inks is that they wash up with water, I just use water and standard kitchen roll or a cloth to wipe down surfaces, and clean rollers under running water.
I hope this has been helpful, thank you for reading and watching my video blog below. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel for future video blog posts and to leave any questions in the comments section, or follow my blog on this website.