Thank you for visiting the American Artisan Inks learning page, and our first article! In future posts we will talk all about inks, color, paper and substrates, processes, products and printmaking supplies, so you can bring your artwork into the twenty-first century. Information provided in this section will give you tools to take with you on your journey as an artisan printer. Our goal is to help you achieve the highest quality artwork and become the most successful, profitable printer you can be.
In this opening article, we will scratch the surface of a complex industry. A foundational understanding of ink is key for you to attain quality print. Future articles will start unraveling topics that you would otherwise never see written. We will cover subjects related to ink formulation, department operation, pigment selection and much more. But before this, let’s take a look at how it all began.
A brief history of ink
Inks have been in use for thousands of years. Early inks from Egypt and China were made from soot; a by-product of fire. Animal tissue was boiled down to make adhesives. When these adhesives and soot were combined, the result was some of the earliest and most basic ink formulas. These are the two required components of an ink; a vehicle and a pigment.
When the Chinese invented India ink, a common black writing ink made from carbon black and bone black, they ground the mixture with a pestle and mortar before drying it on a plate. From there it was able to be stored until a wet brush was applied to it at the time of use. Sometime around the year 400, ancient Rome used a blue shade black ink made from iron salts and gallnuts. This type of ink was popular for hundreds of years.
Fast forward 1000 years to the year 1440, when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. At this point, the Greek, Roman, Chinese and Egyptian inks were all designed to flow from either a pen or brush tip. None of these were suitable for use on a printing press. Because of this a new ink recipe from walnut oil was created to allow the ink to adhere to the print surface.
A modern ink formula
Inks are generally comprised of colorants and vehicles. The vehicle can be water, solvent or oil based, while the colorant can be a dye or a pigment. The color comes almost entirely from the pigment or dye, but needs to be carried to the proper place using a vehicle like varnish or water. The substrate is also responsible for determining the final color.
Modern printing inks are formed from colorants and vehicles, but also make use of additives. Additives are necessary for certain functions and can solve a variety of other performance related problems. Some printing processes require inks to perform in extremely tight specification ranges. In these situations, quality control is not complete until the ink has been verified at press.
For example, in lithographic printing a drier is added to the ink in order to oxidize and dry on the substrate. In the past, a cobalt drier was used to dry the surface where as manganese drier is used to dry the non-surface areas. Most offset lithographic driers today have eliminated the use of cobalt and use only manganese to oxidize the ink. Another example is the use of linseed oil to reduce the tack of an ink. Many additives are capable of slightly changing the color, so it is important to be familiar with the variables that affect the ink at the time of printing. Using the highest quality materials found in American Artisan Inks will give you the freedom to focus on perfecting your trade. Keep reading to learn why we just changed everything.
The finest inks in the world
American Artisan Inks are for artists
American Artisan Inks have been developed for artists in many categories. No matter if you are into lithographic, intaglio, block, letterpress, relief, or mokulito – these inks are for you. We listened closely to the industry feedback, and took action to bring these artist grade inks to market. There are many considerations to keep in mind and problems that need to be avoided when selecting a given ink. Attributes involving quality, strength, price, volume, functionality, shelf life – just to name a few. Let’s take a look at how the process has been – until now.
Green inks in all colors
In this modern age of printing, it has become necessary to treat planet earth with the highest respect. We are excited about the future of our inks because they are made from safflower and corn oil. American Artisan Inks are mindful of the planet we live on, and are created sustainably. Only virgin material goes into our products, every time. In addition to the environmentally conscious formulations used for the inks, the vacuum sealed metal cans eliminate the need for you to constantly reorder, repay for shipping, repay for the packaging, create another wasted package, just for the drivers to deliver a small denomination. When you buy this environmentally friendly ink in bulk, you give back to the planet.
Price
The next problem we solved is one of the most appreciated, the price. How did we reduce the price so much? When you purchase American Artisan Inks, you are making an investment in your finished product on every level. When you buy in bulk by purchasing one of our large 2.2 lbs. / 1 kilo cans, you take advantage of tremendous savings. It’s that simple. Go ahead, compare the price of our massive container to whoever your current ink supplier is.
The prices you regularly pay for a small container of ink are much higher. We wanted to see the artists using inks in creative ways, not being afraid that their entire ink budget is going strictly to production. The primary issue that we face is challenging you the artist to use all that extra ink up by printing more frequently. One of our goals is to help you be more profitable. This promotes creativity, and fosters an environment where you can attempt things that you wouldn’t normally have tried. With inks as affordable as American Artisan Inks, you have so much room to grow as a printer. The sky is the limit when you have this much extra.
Strength & quality
We feel confident when we say that our inks are the highest quality inks in the world. I’ll say it again, American Artisan Inks are the highest quality inks in the world. You won’t find another ink like ours, ever. Aside from the price, freshness or environmentally friendly manufacturing process, every element of the entire product line is unbeatable.
You can find cheaper ink, but cheaper will never translate into better. Even if you break down the price per pound and find another ink that is “cheaper”, you will be trading away one or more of the other features that give this ink its supreme value. You might find a tube or a taped can of ink that costs less, but when you get it, are you forced to pick out dried up ink? Or worse, is it showing up in your prints when its too late and now you’ve wasted paper and time? This is how you lose value and money. Is the ink too weak or made poorly with bad transfer characteristics, causing you to apply a heavier ink film thickness just to try to reach color? This is the result of companies charging top dollar all while using low quality materials. Using American Artisan Inks will change the way you print, eliminating the quality issues of the past.
Archival inks
Now is the moment where the work is done. Sit back, and admire your art. If you have chosen to switch to American Artisan Inks, then you just used the highest quality archival artist inks in all the world. You got the best value, so you have excess ink to play with. You were creative again. They arrived to you vacuum sealed fresh, with absolutely no dry material whatsoever, they are as fresh as the day they were made. You can reward yourself and give piece of mind to your customers because you are using eco-friendly inks. You printed with them, and so you are familiar with how easy it was to achieve the strong look you were aiming for due to the enormous pigment concentration. You can store your prints away knowing that you have used an archival quality ink set. This means they will not fade as easy as the others. They will remain looking bold for years into the future, bringing a long preservation to your one of a kind pieces.
Is this the experience you get when using the other brands?
This is a mixing system
When you use the American Artisan Inks mixing system of bases, you create the colors that you want, and as much or little as you want. Why buy “Sepia”, or “Burnt” colors, or any of the other colors that are premade and likely to be aged and dried up? We offer a versatile mixing system that allows you to buy in at a number of price points that you can’t afford to pass on. Spending money on a premade color is a thing of the past when you can buy the primary colors and mix your own. That’s right, you yourself can make Sepia, Burnt anything, or your very own color library, standing apart from the rest.
If you are beyond an hobby level artisan printer and you want to go deeper into the corners of the printable gamut, you’ll be happy to learn about our “Expansion Pack”. This pack give you access to the exotic base colors, like Orchid Violet, Royal Blue, Mandacaru Pink, and Tuscany Red. Also classics like Lava Orange, Emerald Green, and Iris Violet, three colors that are so clean and bright, they cannot be overlooked. Check out our shop to see the rest of what is included!
It’s time to switch to American Artisan Inks
To summarize, there is no need ever again to pay more, for an unfriendly, weak or inferior product, only to arrive to you aged and dried, to cause you to struggle during the process of producing valuable artwork, and find out that it faded out after it’s too late.
We are looking forward to helping your business!