(left = water-based, right = oil-based)

Next to my job at Van Beek Art Supplies, my weekly bug stamp, my watercolour
experiment
Ā 
on panel and the start on a new lino print Iā€™ve been working on another experiment:
printing on textile!
Iā€™ve been using my Sleeping Cat lino from last yearsā€™ ā€˜15 Linoā€™s in 30 Daysā€™ project.
Next to just trying things out by myself Iā€™ve been reading a lot on the internet too.
The problem Iā€™m running into is that most favourite brands I read about are not available
in the Netherlands and having it shipped here is a bit too expensive for me right now.
A lot of people use Permaset Aqua which is actually made for screen printing but lots of
people succeed perfectly in using it for printing lino on textiles.

After a bit of experimenting with a soft brayer and a thick layer of Permaset Aqua ink I
managed to get some good prints.
But the thing is I also did some prints with some leftover etching ink and I like those
results much better!

As you can see on the picture above, the water-based Permaset Aqua print is much cruder than
the print next to it which is printed in oil based ink. Iā€™ve read more complaints about this on the
internet. Somehow the results with water-based inks in general are always a bit crude.
Not a problem when your design has big shapes but my prints are mostly quite delicate.
And now Iā€™m puzzled on how to continue next.
Do I continue with water-based inkĀ which has aĀ cruder end result butĀ is set after ironing or do
I go for the nicer print which I fear will remainĀ vulnerable for solvents like white spirit.
I tend to go for oil based because itā€™s more beautiful andĀ I must say next to my studio
clothing none of my textiles ever had a collision with white spiritĀ or any other solventā€¦
What do you think?

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