Speedball Super Value Block Printing Starter Kit – Includes Ink, Brayer, Lino Handle and Cutters, Speedy-Carve

This kit is good for an introduction into block printing. The only thing that I will say is that the rolling tray, to roll the ink smoothly onto the brayer, in my kit was a little snug. I could use it but I had to be a little too careful about it. I would still definitely suggest buying this if you want to get your feet wet with block prints but I would also just suggest getting something nonporous (glass, plexi-glass, or smooth Styrofoam; I actually used one of those plain square dry erase boards, and it wasnt too messy to clean up) that doesnt have sides to roll the ink on. In my opinion its just easier if you dont have to worry about walls.

I’m going to have to get more, and might as well toss all the old ones.

Great product. If you don’t see the carving nibs plastic pouch when you open it, look for them in a compartment within the handle. Just Twist off the bottom of the handle.

The block itself was soft, I think other reviews complaining it was too hard may have not stored it properly? I found it easy to carve into and definitely a great start for beginners. The only thing I would recommend is buying a tray to roll out the ink into as it does not come with one.

I bought this kit over some no name ones because I figured the quality would likely be better, but now that Ive used it Im not sure that is true. As others have observed, it came in an unpadded envelope, meaning the contents were completely squashed by the time it arrived at my house. It is a miracle the ink didnt burst open, but I got lucky. I was also lucky in that, unlike some other reviewers experiences, my set was complete. I have not used the brayer, and realized that I probably wont (Im instead painting my linoleum cuts with acrylic paint). So, I cant speak to the quality of that. If you do buy this kit in spite of my review, at least do yourself a favor and buy extra blocks at the same time -- it only comes with 1 (although it can be flipped over to use both sides). If the Speedball name is supposed to imply the cutting tools are easily swapped out on the handle, its a serious misnomer. For the first few hours of use it was a struggle every single time to screw/unscrew/pry/jiggle/shake/twist/swear profusely and try to find the sweet spot to get the blades in and out, until it finally froze up completely and the blade that was in there appears to be permanently stuck. Despite all the drawbacks Im not completely sorry I bought this kit, because I wasnt sure I would use an expensive set of tools enough to justify the investment. However, after struggling with this for a few days, but still enjoying the creative process, Ive decided it makes sense to upgrade to an intermediate level set where at least every blade comes permanently attached to its own handle.

The carving block is nice and soft, but the cutting tool blades came dull and rusty. I bought a strop because I saw experienced printers homing their blades every 10 cuts. I was able to carve the pink block this way, but when I tried it on gray lino, the blades bent where they meet the handle. This was even with warning/softening the block with my heart gun first. The kit is not a good value for money if the tools cant hold up to reuse.

This kit is perfect for beginners!! It has everything you need to just jump right into a project!

This package contains everything but the paper! It comes with three carving nibs and handle, roller, ink and carving block. Its very soft and easy to cut, only gripe is that my tool tips were dull or uneven. They might have been sharpened wrong in factory idk. Made it work cuz the block is really really soft - but you should snag a seperate pack of nibs or a whetstone to sharpen the ones it comes with if you intend to use them over and over.

Over all this is a pretty good starter kit but Id like to warn you of a few problems (or issues) I came across: * The linoleum block is HARD. Way too hard, especially for someone just starting out with linocuts. (I kept thinking that this was sad because it might scare people away from linocuts because they may think it wasnt worth the physical exertion of carving into this hard linoleum. Every cut my cutter was skipping, snagging and flying off the block. I was grunting like a crazy person lol) Im not saying its impossible to cut, but it is NOT smooth like other linoleums. You can hurt yourself struggling to make lines in it. Do what I did: buy the BENCH HOOK along with this kit. It helped a whole lot. I bought the Speedball bench hook on here for about $9-10. Well worth the investment. Its dual purpose (meaning you can also use it as the ink tray) * Came with a very cheapy styrofoam tray to roll the ink in. Its the type of styrofoam tray you might find packed meats on at the grocery store. I feel they could have added maybe a PLASTIC tray or a non-porous sheet of vinyl or some other material. You could buy a small sheet of plexiglass at some place like Lowes which I did a few days before receiving this which would work perfectly for rolling the ink on. (I purchased it to do monoprints... but its OK because the ink is WATER SOLUBLE... meaning you can wash it off, no problem.) * The cutters sometimes comes lose. I tightened it very tightly but if you angle some of the cutters a certain way, they essentially come undone. (I didnt mark off for this; Im just warning people.) I think the more you use the cutters, the more youll understand it and how to hold it, how much pressure it can take, etc. * The directions are pretty much worthless. Really, a waste of paper. They dont tell you how to change the cutters (not everyone will understand how... luckily I had nib pens that use almost the same method of switching nibs.) They dont tell you how to clean up or store the block. I suggest looking on youtube and doing a browser search. You only get one block, so I would also order up some extra linoleum... because you will definitely be hooked once you see your prints! (I actually ordered unmounted linoleum from Dick Blick because they had much better deals that the ones I found on Amazon & m local Micheals no longer sells printmaking supplies.) So after drawing out my design of a ladys face and transferring the design to the block, I took about 3 hours of carving. It had some minute details that I thought Id be able to get done neatly... but because the block was so hard, I did find my cutter snagging quite a bit. Im surprised I didnt cut myself at all! Everyones always saying how dangerous this can be, so I was almost expecting it. I will say I am very happy with how my prints came out. I really thought my first linocut prints would come out pretty crappy but I really do think it came out beautifully. Would I recommend this kit? Sure, just beware of what I mentioned above.

Excellent all around. At first, I didnt realize the blades are inside the tool (screw off the larger en and voila!). Super easy to carve, a vast difference from old school linoleum, smooth as butter. Cant wait to start incorporating prints into my art.