Category: Letterpress for beginners
Later topic: general question
Earlier topic: press help/shipping question

Where to buy ink online?

Another noob question…

Where is the best place to order ink online?

Log in to reply   6 replies so far

Well, it depends on what kind of ink (soy, oil, rubber) you want, and in what quantity.
You can order 1lb cans of both oil and rubber from VanSon (http://www.vansonink.com/store.aspx). You can buy both basic Pantone colors and custom mixes.
NA Graphics sells oil based inks (and rubber based too, I think) in 1lb cans and oil based inks in 1/4lb tubes. They sell the basic Pantone colors and some additional ones as well. (http://order.nagraph.com/ink.html)
Then there is the “ink in tubes guy” who posts on here sometimes. If you do a search here, you should be able to find him. I think he’s willing to mix many ink colors.
Soy ink - I don’t know.

Hello Elizabeth,

I’ve gotten oil-based ink from Renaissance Graphics and Graphic Chemicals:

http://www.printmaking-materials.com/

http://www.graphicchemical.com/

Barbara

I’ve been buying my ink from the Oldham group in Ft Worth. Great oil based ink for letterpress.

Oldham Group
Joe or Becky
(817) 554-0041
jhicks@oldhamgroup.com

Thanks everyone. Is oil the most generally preferred?

i JUST bought a letterpress and haven’t had a chance to try it, but as a long-time printmaker, i just thought i would give a shout-out for graphic chemical. they are great, they are so knowledgeable and helpful, always on top of things. i got some rubber inks with my letterpress, but i also plan to try some of my old standby graphic chem and charbonelle oil-based inks because they are what i know and love.

I use rubber based inks (except for metallic colors, which only come in oil based) because they stay open on the press longer. I’m a beginner, so I do a lot of fiddling. With rubber based inks I can ink up on a Saturday morning, print all day and leave the press idle while I fix all my mistakes.
I also like that rubber based inks don’t skin over in the can. That really drives me crazy for some reason, but it might not bother you.
I think that oil based inks are supposed to be easier to clean up, but I haven’t really noticed that. They’re definitely better for printing on coated paper since they dry. Many people find oil based inks to look a little richer.
I’m really happy with my rubber based ink. I’ve ordered from Van Sons and Graphic Chemical and been very happy with both.