A technical dictionary of printmaking, André Béguin.

Table black etching inks

Name		colour	covering power	consistency	aquatint	dry point coarse etching	plate tone	wiping warm/cold	show trough	price ratio
CHARBONNEL
Noir 55981		neutral	****	buttery smoothy	****	*	little	both	much	100
Noir 55985		blue	***	stringy stiff	***	****	little	warm	fairly	100
Noir F 66		neutral	****	buttery stiff	****	****	little	warm	fairly	82
Noir 71303		brown	***	stringy smoothy	***	***	little	both	fairly	100
Noir luxe C		blue	**	stringy smoothy	***	***	little	both	fairly	100
Noir RSR		neutral	*	buttery stiff	***	*****	variable	both	fairly	82
GRAPHIC CHEMICAL & INK COMPANY
Blue black 327		blue	**	less stringy and smoothy	**	****	variable	both	no	60
Vine black 1014		brown	***	less stringy and smoothy	****	****	variable	both	much	71
Intense black 1797		brown	****	less stringy stiff	***	*****	variable	both	no	88
Black 514		blue	*	less stringy stiff	***	****	little	both	no	60
Stiff black 135S		blue	*	stringy very stiff	*	*****	little	cold	much	68
FAUST
Warm black		brown	***	buttery very smoothy	***	**	much	warm	much	94
Jet black		blue	**	buttery very smoothy	***	**	much	warm	much	99
ARTOOLS
Cool black		blue	***	less stringy smoothy	**	**	much	warm	much	158
Warm black		brown	****	less stringy smoothy	**	**	much	warm	much	158
OIFFER
Noir TD		neutral	***	buttery less smoothy	****	****	variable	both	no	117
GUTENBERG
JS 1301 "Magic Ink"		brown	***	very stringy and smoothy	****	***	no	cold	no	79
***** = excellent		**** = good		*** = reasonable		** = poor		*= bad

There is confusion about quality of printmaking inks. Some artists are suspicious about commercially available inks since the composition of the inks remains unclear. For some printmakers this is the reason to make their own inks. All in all enough reason for us to start a survey abour commercially available printing inks.

The seventeen inks involved in this survey are more or less similar in composition; a linseed varnish with pigment. While the comparison was is progress, many differences showed between the inks. This can have several reasons; used varnish, used pigment and possible additions.

Varnish

The viscosity is an important property of ink and depends upon the time used for boiling the linseed oil. While boiling the molecules of the oil are rearranged into "chains". This process is called polymerisation. Viscosity increases with the length of the boiling time. A "buttery" ink has been made of a varnish thas was boiled a short time and with a lesser viscosity. A "stringy" ink has been made with a varnish that was boiled a longer time , with a higher viscosity. In general one can say that wiping off a plate is easier with buttery ink than with stringy ink. The latter leaves some marks. (see pictures). This however not true for every ink. There are inks that are stringy but yet easy to wipe off. This might be accomplished with some additions. (Often secret)

Pigment

The sort of pigment added to the varnish determines also the character of an ink. One ink can be rubbed into varnish easier than another. In general one can say, the more the varnish is saturated with pigment the stiffer the ink is. A saturated ink has a better covering power than a lesser saturated ink. The covering power also depends upon the magnitude of the pigment grains. A fine pigment gives a better covering than a coarse pigment.

additions

The differences in inks can also be caused by additions like inkconditioners and fillers. The most important reason that inks differ however lies with the printer. In the hands of one printer a specific ink is like shoe polish, while another printer thinks it is the best ink available. All these differences have not been investigated in this survey. Neither has been investigated which ink gives the best print results. This would generate too much data and would therefore not improve the insight in the matter.

An aquatint plate can be wiped clean with any of the inks discussed here. One gives a little bit more trouble than the other, or with use of additions. A deep line etching or dry point demands however specific properties regarding the stiffness of the ink.

Methods

Several plates were inked, without any additions, at a temperature of 40 - 50 °C. One plate was a dry point, two others had a coarse line etching and a finer one, four plates had an aquatint. The plates with dry point and line etchings were wiped off with tarlatan. The aquatints have been wiped by hand and some chalk powder. A sample of the ink was brought onto a sheet op paper (250 gr. Velin Arches) , which shows after a while the seperation of the ink and the oil, or to say it differently, how much the ink "shows through". An ink thar shows through will, in the end, damage the paper. Finally small towerlike shapes were made to judge the smoothyness of the ink. Such a shape is made by lifting the spatula slowly from the inking stone. Between the inking stone and the ink on the spatula a thin line is formed. The dripping ink fals back to the stone and forms a small "tower shape". The longer the line is, the stringier the ink is. With a stiff ink the tower shape will keep standing upwards for a longer time. Since every artists has his own demands with respect to printing inks, a ranking in quality can not be done objectively. This survey therefore gives no judgements about quality of the inks.