SpeedballBlock Printing Baren - Comfortable Wooden Handle, Made in the USA - 4 Inches (4139)

I use this baren for all my gel plate prints and works just fine. It has a great ergonomic design with a sturdy wooden handle. Slides easily over the print paper, assuring a tight grip of paint between the gel tablet and the printing paper. You can do the same with a bottle or some other object. It's not a must that you should have this barten but it provides great facility and control when smoothing the paper. If you print daily, I'm sure you'll appreciate the ergonomic comfort it provides. It is a bit on the pricey side. It's not cheap. But it is well constructed and should last longer than its cheaper and mostly plastic alternatives.

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of this baren. Improved appearance of my prints and made printing easy.

It is comfortable to use, applies nice even pressure and works great.

I've recently started making lino prints and I have been struggling to get even results in large inked areas using a spoon to rub the paper against the block. After some reading I ordered this Speedball baren in hopes of getting crisper prints with more even ink coverage.The build quality here is pretty adequate. The wood handle was comfortable to hold and press with my adult sized hand. The pressing surface is covered with some kind of mesh but it glides very smoothly over the paper as it presses down. The results are promising, after a little practice, I'm able to get much more even ink coverage on the paper so far and I find it a better overall experience than I had with the spoon. Until I can get a actual press, this seems like it's going to get a lot of use.

I bought this for step son to use with his Lino printing. He was so excited to receive this and he said it works very well and is easy to use. Great value for the cost.

I am very pleased with the Speedball Baren, as the build quality is very nice, featuring a wooden handle and a silver band around the base. Not only is it aesthetically pleasing, it seems very sturdy. I own a few other Speedball products such as the Lino Cutter Tool and I have yet to be disappointed with Speedball. I have had little experience with barens because I have had access to a print studio with full size printing presses; however, I can safely say that this is a great product for those who may not have full sized printing presses or just want to try a simpler method of block printing. I can definintley see myself using this baren way in the future!

I used this to make 50 Christmas cards from a block print that I carved, and it worked as advertised. It was quite easy to place sufficient rubbing pressure on the Baren to get a good clean image.One downside, even though I didn't downgrade the 5 star rating: the width of the handle was just barely wide enough to accommodate my four fingers, and there was not enough room between the top of the Baren and my fingers to wrap my thumb underneath. Not a biggie, but something to consider if you have large wide hands.

Saves the hands while pressing your paper while creating prints.Glad I purchased!