Costs
Part of The linocut shortlist: projects worth cutting before you buy more gear
Pricing linocut prints: cost per copy and how to read supply bundles
A 20 print linocut edition priced line by line, with materials per copy, burn rate tracking in grams and sheets, and a price test for supply bundles and free gifts.
What to take away
- A 20-print linocut edition on 11x15 inch paper costs about $1.90 to $2.95 a copy in materials, at typical mid-2020s US retail prices.
- Paper is roughly 70 percent of that total, so it is the only line where changing supplier moves the number.
- Tools and registration are fixed costs. Divide them by the edition, never by the single print.
- A bundle beats buying solo only when the main item sells for the same price elsewhere without the extra.
Sort every cost into three buckets
Cost per copy is paper plus a fraction of the block plus a very small amount of ink. Everything else belongs to a longer time frame.
Consumed per sheet: paper and the ink that actually transfers. This figure repeats with every copy you pull.
Consumed per edition: the block, kraft tape, masking film, cleanup oil and rags. One block serves one run.
Amortized: gouges, brayer, baren, bench hook, glass slab. A starter set runs $120 to $200. Across ten editions that is $12 to $20 per edition, or 60 cents to a dollar a print.
Our notes on what printing equipment actually costs to run cover the maintenance half of that figure.
Two conclusions follow. Printing more is cheap once the tools exist, and cheap paper is the saving that most damages the result.
Example: a 20-print run priced line by line
Prices are typical US retail ranges. Substitute your supplier's numbers.
| Item | Cost for the edition | Cost per print |
|---|---|---|
| 24 sheets of 250 gsm paper, cut from 22x30 inch sheets | $28 to $42 | $1.40 to $2.10 |
| Linoleum block, 9x12 inch | $8 to $14 | $0.40 to $0.70 |
| Relief ink actually used, about 12 ml | $0.90 to $1.40 | $0.05 to $0.07 |
| Kraft tape and masking | $0.40 to $0.80 | $0.02 to $0.04 |
| Cleanup oil and rags | $0.50 to $1.20 | $0.03 to $0.06 |
| Total, materials only | $37.80 to $59.40 | $1.90 to $2.95 |
Total materials land between $38 and $60 for the edition. Add tools at $12 to $20 and the all-in figure is about $50 to $80, or $2.50 to $4.00 a copy. Packaging for sale adds roughly $0.80 to $2.25.
Paper alone is 70 percent of the materials total.
Share of cost per print
- Paperusually over half
- Blocka quarter or less
- Inka few percent
- Cleanupa few percent
- Toolsfalls toward zero
Track burn rate in grams and sheets
Purchase price tells you nothing about next year. Burn rate does.
- Weigh the ink tin in grams the day you open it.
- Pull one edition, then weigh the tin again.
- Divide the difference by the number of prints for grams per copy.
- Count the sheets left in the pack and note the date you finish it.
- Repeat across three editions, then multiply by your usual output for a yearly figure.
Track consumable burn rate
- Weigh ink tin when opened
- Weigh again after the edition
- Count sheets in a new pack
- Note the date the pack finishes
- After two or three editions, predict a year
Typical burn rates make the arithmetic quick. A 300 ml ink tin at about 12 ml per edition covers roughly 25 editions. A 25-sheet pack of 22x30 inch paper yields 100 quarter sheets, which is four editions of 20 prints with spares.
Keep the record with the print records in our shortlist of linocut projects, because a cost figure without the edition size attached means nothing a year later.
Bundles, free gifts and the price test
The Federal Trade Commission rule on the use of the word free and similar representations sets the test. A free item attached to another purchase must leave the main item at its ordinary price, not one raised to absorb the gift.
Price the main item alone at two other sellers. If it costs the same without the extra, the extra is free.
Typical mid-2020s US list prices behind three bundle offers:
Bundle price
- 300 ml relief ink plus free 25-sheet paper pack
- $54
- Carving set plus free brayer
- $62
- Five 12x12 lino sheets plus free tape
- $58
Bought separately
- 300 ml relief ink plus free 25-sheet paper pack
- ink $22, paper $14
- Carving set plus free brayer
- set $48, brayer $18
- Five 12x12 lino sheets plus free tape
- lino $45, tape $7
Verdict
- 300 ml relief ink plus free 25-sheet paper pack
- You paid $18 for the paper
- Carving set plus free brayer
- The brayer is genuinely free
- Five 12x12 lino sheets plus free tape
- The bundle costs $6 more
Canadian makers should check which rate to charge on a supply before quoting a price, since prints sold as goods are taxable in the usual way.
Lines people forget to count
- Postage on paper. It is heavy, and it is often the largest single shipping charge you pay.
- A replacement brayer roller, $15 to $35 every few years.
- Sharpening supplies for gouges, $10 to $30 for a stone and its oil or water.
- Sleeve and backing board, $0.80 to $2.25 per print.
- Spoiled sheets. Assume two to four per edition from misregistration and tearing.
- Registration, if you protect the edition. The Copyright Office publishes its schedule of fees set under the copyright law, with a single application at $45 and a standard application at $65 for one work.
Run a weekend checklist for auditing your printmaking supplies shelf before you reorder, so you stop buying duplicates.
Our guide to what to buy first puts the same money in a purchase order, which is the other half of this question.
