Non-Toxic Printmaking Practices

Welcome back to all of my printmaking lovers! 

In this week’s issue: 

• Video of the Week 

• Toxic Printmaking Education 

• Printober Week 3

Video of the Week 

I am starting a new YouTube video series called: “The Ultimate Linocut Guide.” Through these videos, I will be going over everything you need to get started with linocut. We will be covering just about everything I have learned thus far through my personal experiences as well as reviewing the many printmaking books I have read recently. I hope you subscribe to the channel and accompany me on this new adventure!

Toxic Printmaking Education

Before we start, let me clarify a few things: I love the printmaking community. They are a generous and intense community. My inquiry regarding cleaning practices (which you will see here) was solely for research purposes regarding the habits of other relief printmakers. I am aware that there are other printmaking techniques (i.e. lithography, intaglio, monotype, etc.)  that may require the use of chemicals, solvents, and substances that will not clean up with soap and water which are very hard to effectively detoxify. 

A Trip To The Library 

Everything I know about printmaking, I have learned via practice, the Internet, and books. I have no formal relief printmaking education aside from a Domestika course taught by Don Kilpatrick III. 

On a recent trip to the library, I purposely stumbled against the arts section and was honestly surprised at the amount of printmaking books available. I was in heaven. I went ahead and picked out the books that caught my eye: 

• Essentials of Linoleum-Block Printing by Ralph Polk 1927

• Block Printing Craft by Raymond W. Perry 1939

• Lino-cuts; A Handbook of Linoleum-cut Colour Printing by Claude Flight 1948

• Printmaking without a Press by Janet Doub Erikson and Adelaide Sproul 1974

• The Complete Manual of Relief Printmaking by Rosemary Simmons 1988

• The Encyclopedia of Printmaking Techniques by Judy Martin 1993

• Simple Printmaking: A Beginner’s Guide to Making Relief Prints with Rubber Stamps, Linoleum Blocks, Wood Blocks, Found Objects by Gwen Diehn 2000

While I was looking for more books on the topic, I went online to Apple Books to see what was available on and found:

• Linocut for Artist & Designers by Nick Morley 2016

These books cover almost one hundred years of relief printmaking and after reading all of them, I can tell you not a lot has changed in the world of relief printmaking. We are still cutting up wood blocks and linoleum with gouges. We are still using brayers and oil based inks…and established printmakers are still recommending the use of toxic substances to clean up. 

Some books I was reading were recommending I use a cocktail of gasoline and kerosene or gasoline and paint thinner, and the equally concerning turpentine and acetone to clean up. A few folks reached out to me on Instagram and shared that even when they were students in college or at apprenticeships, artists were STILL being told that gasoline is “the best clean up substance”. Right….

Maybe this is the hippie Californian tree hugger in me, but why would anyone consciously continue exposing themselves to harmful substances?

Thinking that the mainstream use of solvents was a thing of the past, I ran a survey on Instagram and on printmaking groups. I received more input than I anticipated and a lot of constructive criticism at my perceived naivete. I even got some very strongly worded DM’s with essays about the subject. Folks feel very strongly about their cleaning practices. 

Formal Training vs Self-Taught 

One of the first things that began to surface, as messages and comments, started pouring in was that printmakers with formal academic training still used at least one or more solvents during their clean up process. 

This seems natural since most printmaking programs focus on different types of printmaking outside of linocut and woodcut. Hobbyists and self-taught folks who got started after a workshop or learned at home, tend to stay away from solvents and chemicals.

Does this mean the traditional way of working is bad? Not at all! Solvents and chemicals have their usefulness and purposes as long as they are used in the manner prescribed by their manufacturers. This is where reading all the words on warning labels and a bit of common sense is important. 

However, if we can work without solvents & chemicals, why shouldn't we? As contemporary printmakers, we should look at the way previous generations of printmakers worked and innovate new ways of working sustainability. Our health and our environment will benefit from it.

Non-Toxic Relief Printmaking 

Luckily for us, linocut and woodcut are the easiest techniques to detoxify. Manufactures have caught on to the non-toxic trend that started in the mid 80s and created lines of “non-toxic* inks (i.e. Speedball, Caligo Safe Wash, Akua, Blick, Aquafine). 

The following is a simple list of actions we can all do to keep our studio safe:

• Work with water miscible inks (i.e. Speedball, Daler-Rowney Aquafine & Caligo Safewash)

• If a water miscible ink irritates your respiratory tract, like fabric ink does to me, wear a mask or respirator while working 

• Work in a well ventilated area. Open windows. If necessary, place a fan to pull air out of your studio

• Avoid solvents. Oil based inks can be loosed up and wiped off with veggie or mineral oil. You can clean up the greasy residue with soap and water

• If you are using an acetone transfer method, try carbon paper or the glue/acrylic medium method (requires a laser printer)

• If you must use a solvent, try Gamsol. This is still a mineral spirit but it has been distilled out of aromatic solvents

• Do not eat or drink near fresh ink. Trust me, you will inevitably get ink on your food and it's not a fun experience

• Wear gloves and eye protection if you use any chemicals, especially when etching lino (more on this technique in a few days)

• Solvents can be absorbed through your skin, if you come in contact with them rinse off the affected area

• If you keep solvents or other chemicals in your studio, store them in a dark cool place away from heat sources

As an artist, I want to continue working in this medium for the long term and I find it counterproductive to involve toxic substances in my daily practice. 

Printober Week 3

Week two (2) of #Printober has come to an end. It has been so much fun watching everyone post and share their work! Here are some of my favorite entries from this week:

Later today, at 6:00 PM PST, I will be going live on Instagram @printober_official to do a quick recap and give some shoutouts for the excellent entries. I will also be pulling prints of my Giant Sequoia print which was my entry for week two (2)! 

The week three (3) theme is FIRE. I can’t wait to see what you put together.

Also, we are another day closer to Halloween, so for this week I have something rather baroque in mind! Keep up to date with the happenings via my social media platforms!

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Thanks for reading. See ya next week