Speedball Professional Relief Ink 6 Color Set, Multicolor

Good customer service. My first box arrived open and empty, they mailed out a replacement and it got to me very quickly. The ink itself is fantastic. Professional grade and super smooth. Perfect prints every time. Will be ordering again.

like it

When just starting in lino carving I was trying to find affordable supplies. The price of this ink was very reasonable and it's a lot of ink! Just takes a little bit to do a series of prints. It's oil base so dry time is slower than water base. In the learning curve that is a plus because the ink doesn't dry up on the lino block while you're printing. I use it for mono (one color) prints. On some pieces, I come back with watercolor paints to add highlights. Take some time to clean up the inside of the lid and the lip around the canister to make use less messy. Good ink at a good value.

Got worried by all the reviews saying it arrived leaking. It looks like they've taken steps to remedy this. It has some heavy duty tape wrapped around the lid and wasn't leaking.

I've been working with Speedball block printing ink and wanted to try the Professional version. The consistency is better and achieves better printing results but ink takes a ridiculously long time to dry. I printed onto a thin blank MDF panel (which is more porous than I thought) and a panel painted with acrylics and this ink is still tacky to the touch almost 10 days later. I've had it in a sunny window in a dry studio and still not completely dry. Will need to anticipate the drying time prior to any future projects. This tin container that the ink comes in isn't the greatest. Two tins were crushed in shipment.

Love the ink. Came in flimsy bubble envelope with no additional packing- ink everywhere. Tin was highly dented. I suspect the lid "blew off" due to pressure change during transport.

These inks are good. Better for personal use, not classroom use. Know that the “oil based/water soluble” labeling means that they may bleed. They clean up nicely, but they are not as good as true oil based inks. The plus: they dry quicker than true oil based inks. The minus: they are not as durable, their coverage is not as strong as true oil and most important, they don’t layer with as much opacity. Furthermore, if you are planning to use them for multi-use/media projects (like adding colors/water color applications or tea-staining, etc, they do not hold up). As a teacher, I can’t recommend them for multi-color/layered projects for people learning printmaking/relief. They don’t hold up as well as true oil. The fast drying time is not worth the sacrifices of durability. You can’t beat the test of time!

Pro: LOVE this product's jet black color and thickness as I work with Lino printmaking. You cant a blacks depth anywhere else. I've tried multiple brands. Con: Extremely messy. If you've never would with loose ink , I would recommend going for ink in a tube instead. If you do happen to work with this, the best way to clean it up is with Dove dish detergent and water. DO NOT get lazy and wait a day to clean up; it will be harder.

Sadly it was leaking when it arrived

Esta tinta es de lo mejor en el mercado para grabado en relieve. Recomendado!

Looked like it had been opened and used.

J'ai acheté cette encre pour faire des impressions à l'aide de blocs de linogravure de style Speedy Carve. J'avais essayé les formules à base d'eau avant et n'étais pas satisfaite du résultat. Je suis loin d'être une professionnelle, mais cette encre m'a au moins permis d'obtenir des impressions bien meilleures. J'ai acheté plusieurs couleurs et ai pu créer des mélanges et des gradients très satisfaisants. Le temps de séchage est un peu long, de 1 à 2 semaines pour moi.

The ink itself is fine (doesn't seem dry,) but I'll update this review as I use it. But holy damn, the other reviews were correct that Amazon just is incapable of shipping these without damaging the tin. Mine was dented in 3 places and wibble wobbles on the table (see vid,) which isn't great. I'll see if I can gently mallet-whack it back to a stable state. The ink was pretty chaotic inside as well, as it was shipped in a bag, not a box with stuffing so this was jangling around and upside down a lot I imagine.