Hardening Bromoil ink

SMBooth · Dec 20, 2011

I'm about to embark on some Bromoil printing, I got some litho ink 1796 which seem a little soft, but I have read where you can use beeswax or Magnesium salts (Epson) to harden the ink. Before I go all gunhoe and just try it does anybody have some experience in harden a soft litho ink.

OMU · Dec 20, 2011

Hello;

I have learned my Bromoil process from Gandolfi and uses magnesium carbonate as hardener.
Here is where I bought mine:
http://www.aartdevos.dk/katalog/farvefremstilling/pigment/fyldstoffer/?p=46040

Kevin Caulfield · Dec 20, 2011

Epsom salts are magnesium sulfate (I still get annoyed that IUPAC changed the spelling of sulphur to "sulfur") as opposed to the carbonate.

SMBooth · Dec 20, 2011

Thanks, i did read magnesium carbonate most places, but Michael Spedding refer to Epson Salt, -"and inked up using graphic black litho ink 1796 which had been stiffened with oil pastel or crushed magnesium sulphate (epsom salts). i'[ll have a play a see what happens

Kevin Caulfield · Dec 20, 2011

It's probably the magnesium itself which does the work. Good luck.

Mark Fisher · Dec 20, 2011

I'd bet that the magnesium carbonate is just a bulking agent....talc would probably work too. I'd be less confident in epsom salts....they dissolve once water hits them and that might affect how they work. Seems like most any insoluable powder would work.

Whiteymorange · Dec 20, 2011

I am not a bromoilist, though I've done a lot of printmaking... take anything I say with appropriate caution.

In etching, ink is made stiffer with French chalk (talc), but sparingly. The tack of the ink is not necessarily the same as the hardnes or softness. Dead Link Removed sells ink conditioners, but the text on their talc page made no sense to me. Perhaps it will to a bromoil printer.

Good luck

Jerevan · Dec 20, 2011

Derek Watkins suggests candle wax (obviously uncoloured) or powdered aquatint resin, both needs to be melted. Other mediums include the aforementioned chalk/talc and powdered household starch. As an aside, the candle wax makes the ink a bit glossier.

You can tailor the matrix to be of higher relief (warmer water temperature), but maybe stiffening the ink (or buying a can of 1803 instead) is a better idea.

cliveh · Dec 20, 2011

SMBooth said:
I'm about to embark on some Bromoil printing, I got some litho ink 1796 which seem a little soft, but I have read where you can use beeswax or Magnesium salts (Epson) to harden the ink. Before I go all gunhoe and just try it does anybody have some experience in harden a soft litho ink.

I found litho ink to work fine. Why do you need to harden it?

gandolfi · Dec 20, 2011

my 2 cents:

the oils I have worked are all far too soft for using without hardening. That's why I use it.

I buy the magnesium carbonate in the same store where I buy the ink, but I have also in the past tried something ammonium - something (the actual name eludes me).

As I have never tried the aforementioned suggestions, I'll stick (pun intended) to the magnesium....

Clive: one reason to use hardener is, that it can be a means to highten/lower the contrast in the final bromoil..

(the stiffer ink, the higher contrast..)

SMBooth · Dec 20, 2011

Thanks:
I don't know if I 'need' to harden it, just would like to now how so I can try using harder ink in comparison to a softer ink in my learning stage. By what Jerevan said a matix soaked in warmer water will accept the softer ink better. (i could not get the harder 1803)

cliveh · Dec 20, 2011

gandolfi said:
my 2 cents:

the oils I have worked are all far too soft for using without hardening. That's why I use it.

I buy the magnesium carbonate in the same store where I buy the ink, but I have also in the past tried something ammonium - something (the actual name eludes me).

As I have never tried the aforementioned suggestions, I'll stick (pun intended) to the magnesium....

Clive: one reason to use hardener is, that it can be a means to highten/lower the contrast in the final bromoil..

(the stiffer ink, the higher contrast..)

I think one of the problems here is that there are probably as many variables in the modus operandi of making Bromoils, as there are people making them. I have always found achieving low contrast bromoils more difficult than high contrast versions. I have posted one on the experimental media gallery made with soft lithographic ink.

coobush · Dec 21, 2011

You can use 81053: : Charbonnel Litho Crayon Black 200ml
straight out of the can without any stiffening.
Graphic Chemical product.

GLSmyth · Dec 21, 2011

You can use magnesium carbonate to stiffen lithographic ink. A source for this would be Bostick & Sullivan: http://www.bostick-sullivan.com/cart/search.php?mode=search&page=1

Cheers -

george

sarahfoto · Dec 21, 2011

I had the pleasure to meet Maija McDougal last year who gave a demonstration of the technique and some advice. She told me that most inks sold today are to soft and she uses beeswax to stiffen it. I tried Silverprint Bromoil ink and was given a jar of Maija's ink, the later was much better! But then I am no expert.

SMBooth · Dec 21, 2011

GLSmyth said:
You can use magnesium carbonate to stiffen lithographic ink. A source for this would be Bostick & Sullivan: http://www.bostick-sullivan.com/cart/search.php?mode=search&page=1

Cheers -

george

I read that, do you know in what ratios of Magnesium to Ink. I tried a 1:1of Magnesium Sulfate but didn't seem to effect it.

I did mix plain old candle wax and that certainly harden it up, but how it work I'll have to wait and see until after Christmas.

yashasvi bhuta · Mar 25, 2014

one can also use starch such as dextrine or pigment powder itself to harden the ink

Hardening Bromoil ink

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