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  • July 11, 2016 at 12:53 am #994252
    Saint Ragdoll
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        I know that old linoleum gets hard, difficult to carve and can crumble.
        Is there any to keep,it ” fresh”?
        Maybe put the Lino into ziplock bags and squeeze as much air out as possible?
        Or use the Seal a meal vacuums sealing macnines? Seal a piece of Lino in a bag, suck out all the air and seal up the bag. It would stat sealed until you cut the plastic bag open.
        Has anyone tried any of these these or any other way to keep Lino fresh?

        Teresa
        Saint Ragdoll

        July 18, 2016 at 6:34 pm #1254542
        Sonia
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            Sorry, can’t help you with that. It’s one of the reasons I changed to Softcut which is so much easier to work with, and as I use acrylic for the small amount of printing I do, I can just drop the whole block in water for clean up.

            PS It is worth looking at this site: http://www.belindadelpesco.com. Some really helpful printing demos and videos, plus I believe she uses a water-based ink.

            Sonia
            http://paperpaintandprint.blogspot.co.uk

            July 31, 2016 at 10:23 am #1254544
            bridog
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                One would think because the linoleum is derived from materials that contain natural oils that having it not exposed to air might aid in its preservation? Also perhaps keeping in a cool dry dark place away from UV light would be of additional benefit?

                I was given a basket of very hard and rancid smelling 4 x 6 inch brown lino from a teacher recently. It had been kept as is on a shelf in a school storage room for who knows how long. Unfortunately it proved to be useless and ended up tossing it.

                [FONT="Book Antiqua"]The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work. Emile Zola

                www.myprintmakingjourney.blogspot.com
                visit my Etsy shop: www.etsy.com/shop/borealart

                August 1, 2016 at 10:24 pm #1254543
                Saint Ragdoll
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                    Sonia, Well, I am having a terrible time with water based inks ( Speedball) , patchy coverage and they dry waaaay too fast even using a retarder. And I am not happy with the chalky and very matte look when they dry either.

                    I have been reading online that the people who use the water clean up inks like Caligo easy wash have problems when mixing white with the other colors…..I don’t have much money so I will have to buy black, white and the 3 primary colors and mix the colors I want. So being able to mix white with another color is important to me.
                    I am going to invest in oil based inks, after usi g a small sample to pull a few prints, I really love the way they look. They have been around and working well for ages.
                    I prefer the easy clean up of water based or water soluble inks but not the results. And it’s not really that difficult to clean up oil based inks. I have found using a sheet of the disposable palette paper, taped to my marble inking slab works fine and makes clean up that much easier. I bought a small, drying rack on clearance at my local art store so now I have a place for the oil based ink prints to dry safely. I just need to decide which brand of oil based inks to buy!

                    I love the smell of fresh Lino and I love the feeling of the sharp tool sliding thru the Lino. Carving the Lino is one of my favorite parts of printmaking!!
                    I have used the easy carve and have a stash of it to use up but it’s not my first choice, especially not for details or fine lines. Everyone has different preferences, that’s what makes life interesting!

                    Bridog, that’s what I was thinking….limit the exposure of the Lino to air and keep,it in a cool and dark area. I am going to experiment a little with this as well with seeing if using lindseed oil on dry Lino will soften it up any.

                    In all the books and websites I Have read that Lino has a life of about a year. I haven’t read any suggestions on how to prolong the life of Lino or revitalize dry Lino except the tip that warming up older Lino makes it easier to carve.

                    Did you try anything to revitalize that old Lino you were given?

                    Teresa
                    Saimt Ragdoll

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