Copper etching print by Vanessa Jo Bahr made with ink from Natural Earth Paint's Earth & Mineral Pigements being pulled up from the plate after printing.

Recipe: Natural Intaglio Printmaking Ink

Make Your Own Natural, Oil-based Intaglio Ink with Printmaker, Vanessa Jo Bahr!

Copper etching print by Vanessa Jo Bahr created with handmade ink using the black ochre pigment from Natural Earth Paint, surrounded by the ingredients used to make the ink.

With just 2 simple ingredients you can make a professional quality, archival, UV resistant intaglio ink!

Ingredients:

Supplies:

  • Intaglio Plate (copper or plexiglass)
  • Glass Palette
  • Muller
  • Ink Knife
  • Inking Chips
  • Tarlatan / Newsprint
  • Printmaking Paper
  • Etching Press

Step 1: Scoop out 1 part earth pigment (e.g. 1 tsp.) into a mound and press down to make an indentation.

Pile of black ochre pigment from Natural Earth Paint with an indentation in it.

Step 2: Add 1 part (e.g. 1 tsp.) #2 burnt plate oil to the pigment.

Measuring spoon pouring the oil binder into a pile of black ochre pigment.

Step 3: Using an ink knife, mix the oil and pigment together until evenly distributed. You will know it is thoroughly mixed when you achieve a shiny ink without any loose powdered pigment.

Metal ink knife mixing up the black ochre pigment and the oil binder together.

  

The mixutue of black ochre pigment and oil binder is becoming shinier after being mixed with the ink knife.

Step 4: Using a muller, continue to work your ink mixture. The purpose of mulling is to evenly distribute the oil binder among the pigment particles. It is not meant to grind the pigments; therefore, you don’t need to use too much pressure.

Pile of mixed up black ink sitting next to a glass muller and ink knife.

    

Glass muller being used to mix and evenly distrbute the oil binder among the pigment particles.

Step 5: The more time you spend mulling, the better your ink will be. At least 3 rounds of scraping the ink off the muller and re-mulling is best. The more ink you are mixing the longer you will want to mull. This ink was mulled for about 5 minutes in total.

Person's hand using the ink knive to scrape the black ink off the glass muller.

Step 6: Ink up your intaglio plate (copper or plexiglass) using inking chips.

Person's hand using ink chips ink up the copper plate with the handmade, natural black ochre ink.

  

Person continuing to ink up the copper plates with handmade, natural black ochre printmaking ink.

Step 7: Wipe your plate using tarlatan or newsprint.

Printmaker Vanesss Jo Bahr wiping the inked up copper plates with tarltan, preparing the plates to print.

Step 8: Place your inked plate on the press bed and lay your soaked printmaking paper on top. Run them through the etching press and pull your print!

Copper etching print by Vanessa Jo Bahr made with ink from Natural Earth Paint's Earth & Mineral Pigements being pulled up from the plate after printing.

  


Step 9: Clean Up: Use Eco-Solve (a plant-based and non-toxic solvent) to clean plates, glass surface, muller and ink knife. Use Pinerite (plant-based hand cleaner) to clean ink off hands and skin.

Artist Vanessa Jo Bahr in her studio holding up a relief print of her studio logo with a black and white dog on her lap.

  

Aritst Vanessa Jo Bahr in her printmaking studio demonstrating how to print a handcarved relief block on a press.

Find more of Vanessa's beautiful work using natural materials at....

Instagram: @VanessaJoBahr

Website: https://vanessajo.studio Scavenger Studios: https://scavengerstudios.net

What is "Burnt Plate Oil"? Burnt plate oil is linseed oil (aka flaxseed oil) which has been heated until it has become thick and viscous. The higher the number, the thicker the plate oil. We don't carry it but it's available online.

Another Recipe: Several artists have told us another recipe for intaglio ink that involves mixing gin and pigment into a paste and then adding in stand oil. We'll be trying this out soon so stay tuned!

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