Here's what Daniel Smith says about its new water-soluble relief ink: it's easy to clean up-- no toxic solvents, just soap and water. It's great from use in schools and ideal for those with chemical sensitivities. The black is rich and extremely dark with a neutral tone that's neither cold nor warm. It prints beautifully on a wide range of paper and dries to a beautiful satin finish. The open time, significantly longer than that of competing inks, gives you time to do more unusual printing techniques. You can apply a much thinner layer of ink than is customary for water-soluble inks. Once it sets, our ink is not reactivated by water.

Here's what Sharron Huffmann says: Hooray for Daniel Smith Water-Soluble Relief Ink! (They have colors now, too, but I haven't bought them-- yet!) I scaled the salmon first. I used foam brushes and was careful to not over-ink the belly. I just let the silk sort of float down over the fish and used a very light touch to get the print. The advantage is that you can see exactly what's going on; the biggest disadvantage is the ink comes through the silk and gets on your fingers, making smearing much more likely, but of course avoidable with serious concentration. I worried I had inked myself into a corner, because I want to put a wet-on-wet background on the silk, but it appears that this stuff is not reactivated by water once it sets. I intend to experiment on a sample first, but it's looking good. When I mounted some of the paper prints today, getting them soaked through with wheat paste, there was absolutely no hint of the ink reactivating. Definitely a good product for direct printing!

Sharron Huffmann's salmon Gyotaku, or "Fish Prints", using Daniel Smith Water-soluble Relief Ink