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A Beginning Printmaker’s Essential Starter Kit

Getting started with linocut.

Author

Daniel Villa
June 06, 2022

Welcome back, my printmaking nerds. This weekend, I had to clean up the inventory and archive. Stay tuned to my Instagram about an upcoming sale!

In this week’s issue…

  • Printmaking kits for every budget

  • We talk to Alexis Nutini

  • Question Time!

Let’s dive in…

Cartoon of the Week

Printmaking Starter Kits

We know that printmaking is fun but picking it up as a new hobby can be expensive and overwhelming. Thanks to the answers you provided in the community survey, I learned there are a few of you beginners looking to perfect their craft.

This week, I decided to curate a few lists with my recommended ‘Printmaking Kits.’ I mention them as kits with some liberty. They are not actual kits but a list of tools and materials I use and recommend.

Budget Option $30.85

If you are just starting out and not sure if you want to commit, take a look at these options below:

Intermediate Option $72.62

For more of a traditional introduction into linoleum and printmaking paper, these items are affordable and are a great starting point.

Solid Introduction Option $112.93 - $153.74

Old YouTube channel banner showing my tools.

For those with a little extra cash to burn, I encourage you expand your skill set with the following:

Speedball Options $23.20 - $50.46*

If you would rather not buy things separately and would like to go for an “all-in-box'' approach.

Be aware that none of these kits come with paper and are intended for the very beginner. Don't get me wrong. I love Speedball. I think they make some quality products, but these kits are more of an introduction to their ecosystem. They are however a no miss option when shopping around.

So, there you have it. What are you going to try next?

Artist Highlight: Alexis Nutini

This week, we talked with Alexis Hugo Nutini, a Philadelphia-based printmaker, who uses technology to push his printmaking forwards and who shares with us how to create a healthy practice that will propel an artistic career.

This interview has been edited and condensed for your understanding. This interview was translated from its Spanglish original. Interview was conducted on May 21st, 2022.

Read the full English interview here.

Photos: Gustavo Garcia @colibriworks

Printmaking Since: 1998

Location: Philadelphia

Daniel: What techniques or mediums do you like to work with?

Alexis: Well, woodcuts more than anything else. Occasionally, I use non-conventional materials like VHS tape, anything that can be printed that already has some texture.There are two things: Monoprint and Monotype. I don't do editions, I do one of a kind prints with wood, sometimes linoleum, or whatever I have. Sometimes even in MDF. I am a woodcut specialist, but sometimes I use found materials.

Daniel: You work with a lot of color, and all your pieces have a very nice harmony. How do you choose which colors to use or are they more happy accidents of the studio?

Alexis: It's all of that! As you know color is not easy at all. I usually start with primary colors because I know it's going to work. From there I go to the others, but it's like a flow. I really like to see textiles. I think a lot about the places I used to visit with my father in Mexico, the colors of the little houses. I think about that, but not all the time it's necessarily a harmony, it's a living color.

Daniel: Do you have a favorite tool?

Alexis: Well, right now it's the CNC machine. Computer Numerical Control. Instead of doing things by hand, I make a digital file and go to the wood shop and get it carved. I do a lot of hand carving, but while I'm carving one block the CNC can carve another. So instead of having two or three carvings in a day, I can finish up to twenty. I can work faster, and I can bring more ideas to life.

Daniel: Thank you very much for your time, Mr. Nutini, where can people reach you?

Question Time!

This week Angela submitted some excellent questions!

Do you work with a specific lino type because of the environment? I am struggling with what to do as a newbie to printmaking because I was given loads of plastic softcut lino and am starting to think about how the cuts and lino leaves affect the environment. Should I be worried? Paying attention?

This is something that I have been paying more attention to, especially since I have pivoted to working entirely with landscapes. There is an irony of making art about nature, with materials that can be potentially damaging to the environment. For that reason, I am trying to shift my practice to be more environmentally conscious. Using recycled packaging, 100% cotton papers, looking for inks with less chemicals, using biodegradable soaps, minding my water usage, and phasing out plastics. It can be a lot to think about, and also expensive, but it is something that I really believe in, and I am willing to make compromises where needed.

I tend to work more with linoleum and wood, and to a smaller degree with ‘easy carve/cut’ materials.

Linoleum and wood are my guilt free materials since they are biodegradable. Linoleum is made with a mixture of solidified linseed oil and/or pine resin, cork, sawdust, calcium carbonate, and canvas or string netting. You could technically eat these materials, but please don't. Wood we know is a natural material that as long it's not burned, will store the CO2 the tree captured from the air when it was alive.

When working with wood you need to be careful which type of wood you are using. Solid planks or blocks have a lower environmental impact compared to manufactured woods like plywood or MDF. These have a larger carbon footprint due the fact they are created in factories. Not to mention that the glues and chemicals used to bind these sheets together remain in the wood. MDF uses a glue that contains urea-formaldehyde, which will continue to literally fume out of the wood into its surroundings. When working with MDF you can get a lot of dust and particles, which are easy to inhale along with all its chemicals. When I used to carve MDF I would wear a nicely fitted respirator. Think that’s overkill? Perhaps, but those dust particles would get stuck on my throat for days when I didn't wear it.

Easy-cut or Easy-carve have great advantages when it comes to printmaking and the carving experience. However, these are petroleum byproducts that will not break down and will end up in a landfill somewhere for a very long time. These blocks are made of synthetic rubber and/or PVC. I try to stay away from them, unless I really need it, like for when I need to make a shirt stamp.

Ultimately, you need to make the decision of which materials you want to use. But as a tree hugging Yosemite lover, I would recommend linoleum, natural woods, then very rarely rubber/pvc materials.

Thanks for reading. See ya next week.

-Daniel

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