Here are my favourite inks for wood engraving, woodcut and linocut printmaking

For Beginners

I recommend staying away from any water-based inks. These are recommended a lot to beginners because they are cheap and dry really fast.

They are fine for small fun projects like working with kids but if you want to get into printmaking a bit more seriously I would stay away from them. I found that whenever I print with water-based inks they dry out so quickly that it’s impossible to get a decent print.

Speedball Supergraphic Black and Caligo Safe Wash Ink

Try a safe wash ink instead (like Speedball Professional Relief Ink, or Caligo Safe Wash Inks). They are oil-based but clean up with soap and water so you get the best of both worlds!

The downsides are they are slightly more expensive than the cheap water-based inks, and they take a few days to a week to dry, but if you can afford it I would definitely recommend it!

What Ink I Use for Linocut and Woodcut

It depends on what project I’m doing, but my most used ink is Speedball’s Supergraphic Black professional relief ink. I’ve found it prints really well and is easy to clean up without harsh chemicals. It’s a safe wash ink - so it’s oil-based but cleans up with soap and water. I use their black but there are many other colours in this line.

This line also has a variety of other colours although I mainly stick to black.

The only thing is it’s quite loose (runny). This makes it great for printing large areas of flat colour and bold graphic designs but not for very tiny details. I have used it successfully for wood engraving prints (smaller details than woodcut or lino), but because it’s quite runny it can flood small engraving marks and you can lose detail in the print.

For Wood Engraving

When I want a stiff ink - like for printing wood engraving blocks with very small details - I’ve started using traditional oil-based inks. I’ve been trying out a few different inks recently and am still deciding which ones I like best. Here are some that I’ve been using: Cranfield Traditional Letterpress Ink , Cranfield Traditional Relief Ink , Tom Hucks Outlaw Black.

These are a bit more messy because they don’t clean up with soap and water like the safe wash inks but you do get nice crisp details when printing.