A technical dictionary of printmaking, André
Béguin.
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water based etching ink,
article written by Nik Semenoff
Posted by Nik
Semenoff on October 31, 1999 at 16:34:14: In Reply to: waterbased
etching inks posted by davida kidd on October 30, 1999 at 12:10:44: I
have recently been doing a lot of research into water-soluble inks
for both waterless lithography and intaglio, considering that Green
Drop doesn't seem to be in business. Myself, and others whom I have
talked to, have not found the GD inks very suitable for intaglio as
they were impossible to wipe, leaving not only plate tone, but a very
dark plate. While water-soluble waterless ink is more difficult,
intaglio ink is much easier to concoct from ordinary oil based litho
inks. This was my approach when using GD inks and continues to work
well. For intaglio, take a common litho ink such as Hanco or Daniel
Smith and add emulsifiers. For a start, I have found that soya
lecithin from the health food store is a good candidate, along with
Golden Acrylic Retarder. I have sometimes used Golden flow release to
improve the emulsification of the ink, but you may not find it
necessary. How much to add? Well don't go overboard, try using a
mixture of lecithin, retarder and enough magnesium carbonate to
produce a stiff mixture, then add this modifier to the ink to make up
10-20%. The lecithin and retarder can be used in about equal amount.
One of the things to consider is the wiping charcheristics, which
litho ink doesn't excel in, but by fooling around with the
ingredients, you can get a nice wiping ink. Another advantage I found
was this ink has a less tendency to skin over in the can, one of the
problems with commercial inks. I have found the print is dry on the
next day. Don't soak the paper at long either, as this ink will
quickly penatrate easily into the fibers. You will use an industrial
cleaner like Simple Green to remove the ink from plates and
equipment. Being an alkali, the soapy water would not do well on
ImagOn if the plastic layer is used as the plate surface. You may
have used my previous formula for water-soluble intaglio ink, using
Lascaux screenprinting base and dry pigment. I know of some etchers
who did not like the extremely clean wiped plates with no plate tone,
so went back to oil inks. Since the new concept will produce plate
tone by controlling the additives, these printers should be happy.
Since intaglio in not my chosen media, I have not done a lot of test
editions with these inks and would appreciate any feedback I can get
from the etchers out there. I planned to present this formula at the
SGC conference, but there seems to be a need today, even though my
research has not been completed. Cheers
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