One batch, start to tin · about 15 days
From dry pigment to tin
The order below never changes, and the resting step is the one nobody can shorten. It is why we cannot fill a same-week order for an ink that is out.
40 min
Weigh and wet
Dry pigment is weighed against the base to the gram, then wetted by hand with a palette knife until no dust lifts off the slab. Anything that stays powdery here shows up as a streak on press two weeks from now.
3 hrs
First pass on the granite triple-roll
The paste runs through three granite rollers set to a 40 µm gap, closing to 12 µm by the last run. The stone stays cool, which matters: a steel mill heats the linseed and the ink skins early.
14 days
Rest in the dark
The batch sits sealed in a cellar at 14 °C. The pigment finishes wetting out and the tack settles to its final number. Ink sold before this point prints thin and keeps changing in the tin.
90 min
Second pass and tack check
One more run at 6–8 µm, then the inkometer at 1200 rpm. If tack lands outside half a point of spec, the batch goes back to step 02 rather than into a tin.
25 min
Print, tin, label
We pull a proof on rag, coated and newsprint, staple it to the batch sheet, and hand-number the tins. Your batch number matches the proof in our binder, so a reorder can be matched exactly.
Custom matches
Send a printed sample — printed, not a screen colour or a Pantone chip — and name the paper you will run it on. We mix against the sample under a D50 lamp, mill a 1 kg batch, and send a proof before the tin ships.
If the proof is wrong, say so and we remix at no charge. If it is wrong twice, we stop billing and tell you honestly whether the colour is reachable in a linseed ink at all.
What a match needs
- Printed sample 2 in² min.
- Paper name Required
- Press type Required
- Minimum 1 kg
- Lead time 2 weeks
- Match fee $120