What carving depth and pressure prevent ink bleed in linoleum block printing?

[AbigailBM]

I’ve been trying to make my own custom stamps for fabric printing using a linoleum block, but I can’t seem to get a clean impression without the ink bleeding into the finer lines. My brayer seems evenly inked, and I’m using proper fabric ink, so I’m wondering if the issue is my carving depth or the pressure I use when pressing.

[Aria.M]

I ran into the same thing and found depth matters more than I expected. I re-carved the smallest fine lines about a quarter to a third deeper and kept the surrounding area a bit higher, so ink stays on the raised surfaces. Then I printed on scrap fabric to compare, and the bleed dropped noticeably.

[Mila98]

Pressure was the killer for me. If I pressed with a light hand I got feathering; with a steadier, even pressure using a flat edge I could keep the ink on the raised surfaces and avoid filling the fine gaps. I did a quick test pass, then a full print and looked at the line crispness on cotton.

[Gregory_C]

I tried switching ink brands too, because sometimes the carrier or tack is too runny. The new ink did dry a touch faster and I could set the stamp with a quick heat press after printing, which helped the lines stay crisper. Still not perfect on every fabric, but better.

[HannahIJ]

Maybe the real trigger isn't the depth or the pressure. I tried smoothing the fabric and giving it a quick pre-press, and printed on a nonabsorbent test swatch to see how the ink behaves. Could the problem be the fabric prep?