Hurray now in the UK!

For those of you familiar with the Boxcar Base in USA you'll be pleased to know that an equivalent system called the Chase Base is now available in the UK and Europe from Lyme Bay Press. Also if you already have a Deep Relief Boxcar Base they also supply KF 1.52mm polymer plates you've be longing for!

“Manufactured from high quality aluminium & ground flat by precision engineers, anodised matt black then laser etched, this is the ultimate photopolymer plate mounting system.

The white relief exposes the details of the high contrast registration grid for a long lasting surface resistant to press chemicals, allowing easy plate mounting year after year. The 10mm grid is easily visible through all foil backed polymer plates allowing small adjustments after mounting for easy alignment. The hard anodise coating is durable & easy to keep clean.

Our plates come with a sticky mounting membrane already applied & specially designed to give high tack to the polymer plate side & low tack to the Chase Base side for easy repositioning & easy plate removal after printing.

Simply replace the plastic carrier sheet on the sticky surface & store your plate in a ziplock bag to use again time after time. If the membrane gets dirty or spoiled, additional sheets can be purchased economically from our store.”LBP

Full support will be offered in getting you up and printing using the base plus there will be a forum on the website too soon. They also stock Vanson ink plus plenty of new developments in the pipeline.

I recommend contacting LBP to check which base is more suited to your press, they are a friendly bunch and will happily go though all the technicalities.

lymebaypress.com

MIXING INK - TRANSPARENCY

I've been asked about overlapping transparent inks and what inks I use, so I did a little experiment...
I use primarily VanSon Rubber based ink that come in Pantone colours. Below I've mixed a TINY bit of Relex Blue and Bordeaux Red with Transparent white, adding tiny amounts until I got the colour I wanted, the overlapping ink then produces purple. The effect is watery in appearance and the choice of paper stock can also alter the appearance and colour.
What depth you want the colour if just a personal preference but don't forget it is better to add the tiniest amounts at a time, it's a lot easier to darken your colour than to suddenly find you have to add large amounts of transparent white to get it lighter :)

I just love the colours in the photo below, the starting point for a new project :)

Why do I use VanSon, well being eco friendly I would have loved to used water based inks but these wouldn't be good for my wood letters, and as I recycled most of my ink from a printer selling up they didn't end up in a landfill! Soya based inks are not readily available to the small printer and there is much debate as to whether they are so eco friendly, a search through Briar Press will give you lots of info on the subject! VanSon do not come in CYMK but come in Pantone colours so you can buy the Pantone Formula guide which include the formulas for mixing Pantone inks.
There are several relief inks on the market if your not bothered about matching Pantone colours (links available under supplies on the right) but bear in mind some of these are primarily made for fine art printmaking so if you just want to print relief art then these may be for you! These too offer a transparency extender but from what I can gather, as I have never used these inks, is that some of the colours are already transparent/semi transparent/semi opaque, so straight from the tin a blue overlapping yellow would give a green.
If anyone has any info on transparency effects with ink they would like to share, post a clickable link in the comments below, and if you want know how to post clickable links in read this from the very helpful Haptree :)

LETTERPRESS INK & WASH

I came across these Printmaking Suppliers who make their own ink, HAWTHORN'S, who have an online shop. Their inks are very strong and transparent so you may need to add transparent or opaque white to get the desired colour, they recommend the STAY OPEN INKS for letterpress which come in a mass array of colours including process CYMK and gold, silver and FLUORESCENT! They also offer a NON SKIN LINSEED INK which is the vegetable based alternative to the Stay Open Inks which also available in a multitude of colours plus process CYMK, both are cleanable with soap and water, white spirit or the washes below. It's also worth noting that a drop of cobalt driers may be needed to speed up the drying time if overlapping colours.

What I also really like is that they sell CITRI-WASH a citrus based cleaner for all oil based ink and safe to use in kitchens and also LINCOLN WASH which is just as easy to use as white spirit but much safer and according to the guy I spoke to doesn't smell and highly recommended for cleaning your rollers. If I hadn't already got my inks I would have liked to have tried these and if you have any questions they are very helpful, going to try the Lincoln wash then I won't keep stinking the house out with white spirit!
UPDATE
The Citri Wash didn't work on my Van Son Rubber based ink so that was a no go though did smell lovely! I'm not happy using Lincoln Wash on my wood type because you have to mix it with 50/50 water so I tend to stick with a low odour white spirit for both my rollers and wood type.
I clean most of my ink off using recycled paper/newsprint first so minimum solvents are required for cleaning up. I run the rollers over the inking plate with a pieces of recycled paper in-between to get rid of most of the ink first. Using this method I find I don't need to use much solvent.
Depending on the ink your using I recommend giving the Hawthorn washes a try, perfectly fine for your rollers!

INK SUPPLIES IN THE UK

Just added another supplier of letterpress ink in the UK to my Suppliers List (on the right hand side) http://www.greatart.co.uk/ who stock a German range of letterpress inks called GERSTAECKER which is a traditional oil based relief ink. Good range of colours in tins or tubes, they don't do the basic CYMK but if you got the COOL YELLOW, MAGENTA, COBALT BLUE, COOL BLACK, OPAQUE WHITE & TRANSPARENT EXTENDER that would be a good starting point for mixing colours. Developed for all types of relief printing it also suitable for Letterpress and polymer plates!

They also sell some water based lino printing inks that are interesting, one is a pearlescent and the other a transparent gloss, add a bit of sparkle to your Christmas cards or some SPOT UV to your artwork! I would imagine these would dry very fast so maybe hand inking your forme would be better.

Messing around!

I just love the POINTING FINGER, PRINTERS FIST or for the correct terminology MANICULES so just resist printing some A6 note cards while messing about and mixing inks. I've haven't got a Pantone Guide at the moment so it's just a case playing around and getting very dirty, should have taken a picture of myself I was covered in ink! Mixing Van Son Rubber based inks in large amounts isn't as easy as I thought but managed to get a nice duck egg blue (my favourite colour!) which printed nice on some recycled Hairy Manilla but was too dark on some Fabriano Rospina. I'm hoping to sell my letterpress wares but need a name for myself which is driving me crazy!

Caligo Safe Wash RELIEF INKS

Thanks to Hannah at KUTUU for the link to these inks that I'd never heard of , no need for white spririts or press wash, ink just cleans away with liquid handsoap and water. Theyre oil based and behave like traditional oil based ink and are available in a great range of colours transparent, semi opaque and opaque but also sell the basic CYMK for mixing your own which are transparent so you can over print layers of these inks to create new colours where the transparent coloured layers overlap. The only thing that worries me is cleaning wooden type with water, but great for linocuts and polymer plates but any worries email them and the'll resolve your questions. All the info on this product is here

You can buy online from Lawrence's and Intaglio Printmakers these links will take you the right page.

INK UPDATE

Thanks to Jackson at http://foreverfoxed.blogspot.com/ for reminding me you can also get 150ml tubes of oil based Adana ink from http://www.caslon.co.uk/ in a large range of colours. He's a very clever dog Jackson and he's got a some awesome cards for sale! Here's a pic of my favourite!

LETTERPRESS INK - oil or rubber?

From what I've read it's a case of whatever floats your boat! Some people just prefer one or the other, I think I'll swing both ways and have a go with both!

Van Son Rubber Based inks dry mainly by absorption so it can be left overnight on the rollers and doesn't skin over in the tin, they can go very stiff in winter if kept a garage, if this is the case warming the tin is recommended but not adding thinners! Rubber based colours can be mixed together but NOT mixed with oil based.This ink sets rapidly on uncoated papers, but takes longer to dry on coated and metallic papers and dries to a matt finish. Rubber-based inks are not recommended for use with coated or non-absorbent paper.
Oil based dries by 50% oxidation so can't be left on the rollers overnight, in fact if left unattended it could dry within a few hours. Arrgghh! then you might need new rollers. It also forms a skin in the tin resulting in those annoying little lumps in your ink! This ink gives a glossier finish and can be used on any paper stock plus it sets quicker than rubber-based especially on coated and metallic paper. A anti-skin product is available from Gemini printers for use on rollers and ink tins.

INK SUPPLIERS

I got all my ink (pic above) off eBay at a bargain price of £20 so it pays to keep your eyes open especially as they retail about £14 a tin! I've enough ink to last me my whole letterpress life, mainly all Van Son Rubber-Based and most are unused. I've got different reds, oranges, greens, blues, brown, purple, black, grey and silver the only thing I need is some Transparent White (mixing white) and Opaque White (printing white).

Gemini printers sell Van Son Inks both Oil and Rubber, they also sell it in small amounts, 120ml jars, as well as the 1lb tins, the prices are not on the website but they'll email you an up to date one if you ask. Lawrences sell traditional varying shades of black letterpress oil based ink in tubes or tins, no skinning over in the tubes which is good!

If I find anymore suppliers or if anyone knows of any others let me know and i'll add them to my list!