I am using spinks envirotech black on my first ever batch of cards from my “new” Craftsman Victory.They have been air drying for two weeks and where the ink is thick, it has not dried past tacky. I am going to try baking the cards at 150 degrees for 15 minutes in the oven. I’m looking for tips to get the ink to just dry without having to further interrupt holiday cookie production. Thank you for any suggestions.

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Although I don’t personally have any experience with this ink, the Spinks website says that it dries fast. That is obviously not your experience. I suppose that there is the possibility, although remote, that Spinks didn’t make that batch of ink correctly.

Your idea of puting the cards in the oven at low 150 degree heat for 15 minutes may work. You wouldn’t be the first one to do that, although I don’t know how well it will work with that particular ink formula.

I’m a little puzzled about your comment “where the ink is thick, it has not dried past tacky.” Are you talking about places where you printed two colors of ink over each other and there are two layers of ink? If you didn’t print two colors over each other, shouldn’t the ink be the same thickness everywhere on the card, or did you print some colors with more ink than other colors?

How experienced are you at printing by letterpress? You say this is your first batch of cards from your Craftsman, but is it one of your first ever print jobs? I am asking because it is common for new printers to put too much ink on the press and print with it. This is certainly no adverse reflection on you; most all of us have done it when first starting out. And, if the ink on the cards was too thick, that would probably be the most likely cause of your slow drying problem. You only need to put a very very small amount of ink on the press. I would start by putting much less on than you think you need, let it get evenly distributed by pulling the handle numerous times, and then try printing with it to see how it works. You can always add a little more if necessary. I don’t have a Craftsman, but maybe start with half a pea sized amount of ink (or less), and go up from there if necessary.

Let us know how things turn out….