Schmincke Print Medium
Printmaking

Printmaking with Schmincke Print Medium and Oil Paint

28th April 2017 by   16
You can easily change any oil paint into an oil-based printing ink by adding the Print Medium for Relief and Intaglio developed by Schmincke.
The resulting ink works well for intaglio printmaking techniques (etching, engraving, drypoint, etc) and relief printmaking techniques (linocuts and woodcuts).
Schmincke Print Medium
Intaglio Printing in Oil using the Schmincke Print Medium for Relief and Intaglio

You will need:

• A plate of copper, other metal or plastic on which you have created an intaglio image (etching, engraving, drypoint, etc.)
• Schmincke Print Medium for Relief and Intaglio
• Good quality oil colour such as Schmincke Mussini
• Paper, suitable for intaglio printing, such as Hahnemuhle Etching Paper
• Plastic bag large enough for the paper
• Spray bottle filled with water
• Glass plate for ink rolling
• Ink roller
• Printing press
• Spatula or pallet knife
• Gauze and old newspaper (advertising brochures are especially suitable)
• Heating plate (or radiator)
• Solvent-resistant disposable gloves (nitrile gloves)
• Cleaning agent with solvents
• Washing-up liquid

Printing Your Etched Plate:

Step 1:

Dampen the paper.

Dampen the paper completely with water. Use a spray bottle filled with water for an even, not too intense application, well soaked but not too wet.
For an even dampness put the paper into a closed plastic bag for about one hour, so that the paper fibres can swell and become softer. This will achieve a better printing result.

Step 2:

Warm your tools and materials.

Schmincke Print Medium
For better handling slightly heat the printing plate, the glass plate, the medium and the oil colour. You can use a heating plate (at about 35°C) or you can put all materials onto a radiator.

Step 3:

Mix and apply ink.

On your glass plate with the pallet knife mix one part of the oil colour with one part of the Print Medium for Relief and Intaglio.
Roll the mixture to a thin layer and apply it onto the printing plate in an even and thin layer. It is important that the colour fills all the grooves of the plate.
Schmincke Print Medium

Step 4:

Wipe the plate.

Don the disposable gloves and wipe the colour from the printing plate using the gauze.
The remaining colour should then be removed from the surface of the plate with the newspaper.
Polish the plate carefully, so that the colour to be printed remains only in the grooves. Remove the gloves.

Step 5:

Put inked plate and paper in press and print.

Put the printing plate (inked side up) onto your printing press and adjust it, if necessary.
Now you carefully put the well soaked paper onto the plate and the printing process can be carried out.

Step 6:

Pull your print!

Remove the print carefully from the press and let it dry on an even surface.
Completed etching.

Step 7:

Clean plate.

Finally put on your gloves again as you have to clean the printing plate with a suitable cleaning agent. Use water and washing-up liquid to clean the printing plate at the end.
Some intaglio printing results:
Print on a black cardboard with white oil colour.
Print on white cardboard with red oil colour.
Relief Printing

This technique is much easier as it works like the typical linoprint. Mix one part of the medium with one part of the oil colour. Apply the oil colour and Print Medium mixture with a roller onto the linoprinting plate and the printing process can start as usual – with a printing press or by hand.

Relief print with red oil colour and Print Medium.

Click on the underlined link to go to the current offers on the Schmincke Print Medium for Relief and Intaglio on the Jackson’s Art Supplies website.
Postage on orders shipped standard to mainland UK addresses is free for orders of £39.

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Julie was the editor of the Jackson's Art Blog for 10 years and now writes for the blog part time. With an encyclopaedic knowledge of art materials (with a focus on oils and acrylics), she loves researching and writing pieces for the blog as she learns something new each time. She studied journalism in California, art at Camberwell College of Art and completed the two-year Turps Studio Painting Programme in 2019. She exhibits her paintings regularly.

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Comments
  • Toine 5 September 2017 at 10:08 am

    Is this a better way than just using normal etching ink on a
    oil base?

    • Julie Caves 5 September 2017 at 4:19 pm

      Hi Toine
      It is just another option. So if you have oil paint already you can use it and also you can use the colours you can get in oil paint.

  • Jenny Stirling 14 September 2017 at 2:27 pm

    The info on the tube about inflammability is somewhat
    alarming – what exactly does it mean?

    • Julie Caves 15 September 2017 at 6:20 pm

      Hi Jenny
      Apologies for the alarm. It seems it is a standard warning for them but is nothing to worry about.

      Any cloth soaked with a drying oil, like linseed oil, can catch fire if all the right conditions are met. You are unlikely to meet these conditions using one tube of medium, as the main conditions are lots of oily rags like you might get if you were oiling a yacht with 20 litres of oil and piling up a large mound of scrunched up oily rags. As they dry by oxidation thier drying might generate some heat and that pile could catch fire.
      The tube of medium will never catch fire nor any work printed with it, any more than a tube of oil paint or an oil painting would.
      Any oil soaked rag should be hung on a line without any creases to dry thoroughly, with air circulating freely around it. A bit of medium on a rag is nothing to worry about.

  • Sharon Wright 26 November 2017 at 3:50 pm

    What does the print medium contain? What does it add to
    oil paint to make it suitable for printing? Why can’t you just
    print with oil paint?

    • Julie Caves 28 November 2017 at 10:18 am

      Hi Sharon
      It is a consistency issue.
      Oil paint is too soft and smooth. You don’t get good results when you print directly with oil colours, because you cannot get clear lines and crisp prints – it does not have the correct body consistency.

      By adding the medium, made of linseed stand oil, linseed oil & damar varnish, you modify the consistency of the oil colour and give it a more tacky character so your oil colour becomes a printable colour.

      Add the medium 1:1 to the oil colour.

  • ingrid altavilla 22 February 2018 at 8:26 pm

    can one use this product to make monotypes printed
    manually

    • Julie Caves 23 February 2018 at 10:22 am

      Hi Ingrid
      Yes, the purpose of the medium is just to make the paint into the right consistency similar to printmaking inks.
      If you try it do let us know how you got on!

  • Pat 4 September 2018 at 5:51 pm

    Would this medium work with water mixable oils or is there a
    medium for these to allow them to be used for intaglio. Or
    could you just add water to them?

    • Lisa Takahashi 19 July 2019 at 3:00 pm

      Hi Pat

      Yes you could use this medium with water mixable oils. Don’t just add water; the consistency will be wrong for print!

      Many thanks
      Lisa

  • Vernon Purcell 27 December 2018 at 5:48 pm

    What paper is used for printing with
    oils? Will linseed oil eventually
    yellow? Thinking of mono prints thanks

    • Lisa Takahashi 19 July 2019 at 2:36 pm

      Hi Vernon

      If the layer of ink is thin it will not yellow on printmaking papers. Zerkall, Southbank, Fabriano Rosaspina are some of many printmaking papers that would work well for mono prints.

      We highly recommend using oil based printing ink or mixing oil paints with a printing medium such as the one by Schmincke or Daler Rowney Georgian Block Printing Medium, as they make the oil paint tacky – a good consistency for print.

      Many thanks

      Lisa

  • LENORE HOWARD 24 November 2019 at 8:23 am

    After using the printmaking medium, can you
    paint over this with normal oil paints. I’d like
    to incorporate printmaking techniques while
    painting. Thank you.

    • Julie Caves 26 November 2019 at 4:09 am

      The print medium by Schmincke is made from a mixture of stand oil, linseed oil and dammar resin. They are all the same ingredients you’d find in many oil painting mediums. So it is all fully compatible.
      Hope that helps.

  • Fiona MacDonald Holt 30 January 2021 at 11:39 am

    Hi,
    I’d like to incorporate printing into my oil
    and cold wax paintings. When my oil and
    wax is dry am I able to print over the
    top? I’d like to add more details and
    interest to my paintings.Thankyou Fiona

    • Julie Caves 12 April 2021 at 6:05 am

      Hi Fiona
      That should be fine, using this oil paint medium or oil-based inks will work on top of an oil painting.
      Have you read the article on Cold Wax painting? Sally Hirst is also a printmaker.
      SALLY HIRST COMPARES COLD WAX MEDIUMS

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