Other Block Print Tools
Wear old clothes. The ink we use is water soluble, but do not wear anything valuable that might get ink on it just in case.
If you do not get a set, you will need to buy the items that usually come in a set. In addition to the Lino carving tools, you will need:
Brayer
Brayers some in a variety of sizes and are made by different companies. For our purposes, a standard Speedball 4-inch brayer is best. This comes in most sets. These can be purchased at Michaels or Hobby Lobby as well as at art supply stores and online.
Ink
For a beginning class, Speedball Water Soluble Block Print Ink is the best bet. It is reasonably priced, readily available, prints well and cleans up easy. You will need the 4 basic colors and extender if you want to print color. If you only want to print black, you will need the black and the extender. Extender allows you to mix make transparent colors and sometimes helps you to get better results when printing. This ink dries fast, so you must only put out on your plate what you will be using in the next few minutes. These are often available to Michaels and Hobby Lobby as well as the art stores.
Later, when you become more advanced, you may wish to try other inks that take longer to dry, such as Caligo Safewash. Caligo is oil based but cleans up with water. It takes a lot longer to set. It is however, more expensive.
Inking Plate
You can buy a piece of plexiglass at Home Depot or Lowes or you can get plastic sheets from a dollar store. If you buy a bench hook it can double as an inking plate.
Wooden Spoon
A wooden spoon or a large regular spoon can be used to press down the paper.
Baren (optional)
A baren is the tool you can use to exert pressure on your paper. You can also use a wooden spoon. You can buy more expensive barens at printmaking supply stores, but the basic Speedball baren is fine. A baren is optional as you can just use a spoon. You can try mine and see if you like it. Some barens are made from glass paperweights! So if you have an old paperweight, you might try that.
Sketch Book for ideas
Pencil for drawing and transfer
Paper Towels
Old towels or microfiber towels (less lint is better)
Q Tips (optional)
Cleaner such as Meyers or similar in a spray bottle (I will bring)
Water Bottle that has fine mist (optional)
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