Prussian Green Studio
Prussian Green Studio
 

Printmaking Tools & Materials

Below you will find a list of art materials

and other things I have found helpful when creating art.

 
Prussian_Green_Studio_Inking_Plate.png
 

Printmaking tools

Printmaking Lino Blocks

I personally prefer to use softer lino blocks to make prints as I find them easier to carve into. I use a variety of brands such as:

  • Above Ground Easy Cut Lino Blocks

  • Essdee SoftCut Lino Blocks

  • Jack Richeson Unmounted Easy to Cut Lino Blocks

  • Nasco Safety-Kut Printmaking Blocks

  • Speedball Speedy-Carve, Speedy-Cut, Speedy-Cut Easy Lino Blocks

Carving Tools

To make lines of various sizes and depths into the lino block surface, I like to use:

  • Flexcut Carving Tools (especially the Micro-Palm Set for finer details)

  • Vintage E.C. Lyons Linoleum Tool Set

  • Various things found in the studio or kitchen (e.g. toothpicks, kebab skewers, scissors, etc.)

To help keep the studio’s carving tools at their best, I also use:

  • Flexicut SlipsStrop Sharpening Kit

 

Printmaking Inks

I like to used non-toxic printmaking inks that can be cleaned up using soap and water, but still have a professional grade. So far at the Studio, we have printed using:

  • Akua Intaglio printmaking ink (soy-based).

  • Caligo Safe Wash Relief Inks (oil-based).

  • Speedball Relief Printmaking Professional grade ink (oil-based).

 

Brayers & Rollers

A mix of soft & hard rubber brayers.

  • Speedball

  • Essdee

  • Japanese

For more delicate paper:

  • Spoons

  • Heritage Arts Arcylic Brayer

  • Kitchen Rolling Pin

Paper

I like to use a variety of paper, always looking for new ones to try. At the Studio, we have currently printed on:

  • Above Ground Printmaking Paper

  • Arnhem Printmaking Paper

  • Arches Rives BFK Paper

  • Canson Edition Paper

  • Hahnemühle Printmaking Paper

  • Jack Richeson’s Rice Paper

  • Rising Stonehenge Paper

  • Somerset Velvet Paper

  • St. Armand Canal Paper

  • Strathmore 400 Series Paper

  • Speedball Mulberry Paper

  • Tri-Art Handmade Paper

  • Various Japanese Paper

Misc. Printmaking Supplies…

  • Liquitex Palette Knife

  • Plexiglass and/or Glass Panel & Non-slip Shelf Liner

  • Permanent Markers

  • Pencils

  • Bone Folder

  • Parchment Paper

  • Spatulas

  • Water Bath

  • Plastic Bag (large enough to hold many sheets of paper)

  • Blotting Paper

  • Ternes-Burton registration pins & tabs

  • Cardboard (for registrations or printing on the bookbinding press)

  • Tape

  • Rags and/or Towels

  • Drying Rack & Clothes Pins

Art Supplies

When I’m creating traditional illustration and art that isn’t printmaking, I like to use:

Painting:

  • Holbein Acrylic Gouache

  • Watercolour (Stoneground Paint Co., Beam Paints, Daniel Smith, Winsor&Newton, Yasutomo, etc.)

  • Watercolour Paper (Fabriano, etc.)

  • Brushes (varying sizes from small fine tipped liners to bigger flatbrushes, I don’t use a particular brand.)

Drawing:

  • Pens & Markers (Staedtler, Winsor&Newton, Sakura, Molotow fineliners, Copic markers, etc.)

  • Pencils (whatever is on hand…be it Mirado, Staedtler, Prismacolor Col Erase Pencils, etc.)

  • Coloured pencils (Polychromos, etc.)

  • Paper (various types of paper…)

  • Sketchbooks (Deserres, Fabriano, Rhodia, Strathmore, etc.)

 

Printing Presses

To see these printing presses in action, visit the Prussian Green Studio’s Instagram here.

 
 

L’automne - Mitchell press works Printing Press

This bespoke quality handmade printmaking press was custom made in Montréal via Chicago by Mitch from Mitchell Press Works. It features T-handles and a ergonomic painted Captain’s wheel and is our newest addition to the Studio. This heavyweight piece of printmaking equipment is used to print our larger prints and/or larger editions and it’s notched ruler on the inside of the press ensures the lino block’s lines are recreated in fine detail.

Steel bed size is 15” x 30”.

Captain’s wheel is 16”.

To see how Mitchell Press Works presses are built, visit their Instagram.

To learn more about this press, visit Mitch Press Works’ website here.

JM-25 Polymetaal Intaglio etching Press

After attending a printmaking course one summer, we purchased one of these presses for the Studio from a Toronto-based printmaker who affectionatly calls this type of press a Sweet Baby Jane. Many of the Studio’s first linocuts where printed on this press.

This Dutch-built intaglio press, featuring a star wheel, is small and light enough (at 26.5 pounds or 12 kg) to move around the studio (or elsewhere by unscrewing the spokes for easy transport).

The original laminated paper resin bed measures 10 x 18" , but we switched it out later for a 10 x 24” MDF press bed to be able to print longer artwork.

To learn more about these portable presses, visit the North American reseller’s website here or Polymetaal’s website here.

 

Antique BookBinding press

This cast-iron press has always been a part of the studio… It was found by chance in a Montréal brocante and purchased by my father ages ago. It has become a family-favourite, and a beloved piece of studio equipment.

Though the original function of this press is for bookbinding, at the Studio, we use it to press smaller sized lino blocks, or blocks that are a bit too big to print nicely with our other presses. To use this press to print our lino blocks, we slowly turn the weighted T bar, which lowers the pressing screw and plate with uniform pressure onto the various layers of boards and blankets that protect the paper and lino block during the printmaking process.

Daylight opening is 3 1/2”.

Platen size is 10” x 15”.

Origin unknown.