Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Charbonnel Aqua Wash Etching Inks

Chris was at an art materials trade show in Phoenix a few weeks ago and came home with a new water soluble etching ink for me to try from one of my favourite ink companies, Charbonnel.
I like the idea of less solvents, though I do clean up plates and rollers with baby oil in my studio but am wondering if oil based inks will soon be a thing of the past as they slowly do away with oil based paints and varnishes for the home. 


The ink seemed very thin and not as tacky as I am used to for intaglio printing.  Possibly some dry magnesium could fix that.  Colour was very good and with all Charbonnel inks, you get alot of quality pigment for your money. 
Cleaning up with just straight water seemed to work, though the addition of soap made it even better.  Was looking for it to be even easier...
As I was out of dry magnesium and could not try to stiffen up the ink, thought I should try it on a block as they suggest.  This worked very well and I like the idea of ink not drying on the roller  or block but still being easy to clean up.
More testing will have to be done before I make a big switch and am curious about how they will mix with the oil based etching inks that I already have.  Chris did purchase the range for wyndham art supplies, so will have to see.  I think they would work beautifully for monotyping as they are so soft and would be great to use with a brush.

1 comment:

  1. Easy clean up with these inks is to use cleaning wipes. They are already wet and ready to use. Lay one to surface of the plate rub the wipe and it will produce a soapy lather. You will see the ink transfer to the wipe. lift from plate, fold wipe in half and with the clean side wipe the remaining ink off the plate. Wipe dry the plate. Done.

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