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Draw Cut Ink Press

For The Love of Linocut & Relief Printmaking

Tools & MaterialsUncategorised

Cleaning a linocut after printing

written by Draw Cut Ink Press 26th March 2016
Cleaning a linocut after printing

Cleaning a linocut after you’ve used it to print your latest masterpiece is really important if you want to keep all your linocuts like I do for printing another day. One of the great things about printing is the variety of ways you can experiment with printing the same block, achieving a variety of fantastic results. I wanted to write this blog to help any new linocut artists who might be wondering what the best way to clean up and preserve their blocks were.

When using oil based inks, like many relief prints, you cannot really clean the ink away with hot soapy water (as I tried to). It doesn’t really work and takes ages if you do persevere with it and also takes a lot of effort which can actually damage the linocut block.

The best solution is to use a cleaning fluid that breaks down the oil based printing ink and allows you to gently rub the ink away from the linoleum. I would recommend two options; vegetable oil, or if you can get it, ZestIt. Some people use white spirit or turps, but these are not very nice chemicals and I would not recommend using them. They stink and are also difficult to get rid of.

Vegetable Oil

Tools for cleaning a linocut with Vegetable Oil and a cotton wool pad

Vegetable oil is cheap and available anywhere. Just pop down to your local corner shop or supermarket and you can buy a bottle really cheaply. I use vegetable oil with a cotton wool pad. Simply dab the oil onto the pad and gently start applying this to the surface of the inked lino.

Cleaning a linocut with vegetable oil and a cotton wool pad, you can see the ink wiped away on the pad

It takes a moment or two for the oil to begin to mix with the ink on the lino, but as soon as it does, it essentially dilutes the ink and breaks it down into a more fluid consistency that you can wipe away with the cotton wool pads. Make sure that you are gentle with your precious linocut so you don’t damage it (it will be worth a fortune one day when your work is in Tate Modern!). On the image above you can see the area of the lino I cleaned with vegetable oil to the left of my whale print.

Vegetable oil is great for cleaning a linocut and very cheap as well. If I had to point out a downside it would be that it leaves a slightly oily residue, but to be honest this is not the end of the world and you can easily wipe it all away.

ZestIt

Tools for cleaning a linocut with Zestit and a cotton wool pad

The product I actually use the most is ZestIt for cleaning a linocut. It is an effective natural eco solvent. It is basically as effective as white spirit or turps but is not as bad for the planet and smells of oranges! I use it in exactly the same way as vegetable oil, applying some of it to a cotton wool pad and then gently rubbing it over the surface of the inked linoleum block.

Cleaning a linocut with Zestit and a cotton wool pad, you can see the ink wiped away on the pad

ZestIt cuts through the ink like a hot knife through butter and leaves no residue on the lino block. You can order ZestIt online from various suppliers. I get mine from my local printmaking art shop Intaglio Print Makers in London. It comes in a few different size bottles; ranging from 125ml, 250ml, 500ml and 1litre bottles.

If you have kids then obviously you will want to keep this out of their reach.

You can also order ZestIt from Art Supplies or Jackson Art Supplies in the UK. If you live outside the UK then a list of international stockists can be found on the ZestIt website.

Cleaning a linocut after printing was last modified: March 27th, 2016 by Draw Cut Ink Press
Cleaning linocutsZest it
3 comments
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3 comments

Victoria 27th September 2016 at 9:24 am

Thank you for writing this! I have taken up lino cutting again after doing it at school many moons ago and couldn’t remember how to remove ink from my lino cut. Will definitely try veg oil…

Reply
BenTFleury 26th October 2016 at 2:26 pm

I’ll have to give this a try. I’ve just been using hot water

Reply
Krys 27th January 2019 at 9:02 am

Thank you for the tip! I used nail polish remover because I don’t have thinner in the house and the sink is a mess. Almost passed out from the fumes haha! Didn’t clean my tools very efficiently. I tried vegetable oil after reading your post, and it works wonderfully! Appreciate this post very much!

Reply

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