Nostalgic Color - Mimeograph?

[ParkerDuofold]

One mistake we may all be making with this is the fact that "back in the day" there were numerous different brands of mimeograph ink and they all probably varied somewhat.

 

The problem may not only be our "misty, watercolored memories," but also the simple fact that each of our schools used different brands of ink that varied in color and tone.

 

It's probably going to be impossible to narrow down a UNIVERSAL mimeograph ink color. For me, it's definitely WES Imperial Blue by Diamine; for others, it may be J. Herbin Violet Pansy, etc., etc.

 

- Anthony

Edited December 21, 2016 by ParkerDuofold

[amberleadavis]

I'd have to say that J. Herbin Violette Pensée is closest in color to the ditto ink used most generally in the schools I attended in the 60s and 70s.

 

But hey -- thanks for bringing to mind those mimeographed test sheets! Just add an array of guesses in #2 pencil (Ticonderoga for preference), and then corrections and the grade at the top in Skrip red, and the picture is complete.

 

(Did y'all hear about Skrip Red's being discontinued? Apparently it's finally going the way of the ditto it had "graced" for 30+ years. So long Skrip Red.)

 

 

Vintage Skrip Red cleans out any pen. I may need to buy some of the new stuff because I don't have it, and dang it really nice.

[amberleadavis]

One mistake we may all be making with this is the fact that "back in the day" there were numerous different brands of mimeograph ink and they all probably varied somewhat.

 

The problem may not only be our "misty, watercolored memories," but also the simple fact that each of our schools used different brands of ink that varied in color and tone.

 

It's probably going to be impossible to narrow down a UNIVERSAL mimeograph ink color. For me, it's definitely WES Imperial Blue by Diamine; for others, it may be J. Herbin Violet Pansy, etc., etc.

 

- Anthony

 

 

I remember Gestentner machines even in college.

 

And though I remember Imperial blue looking sheets when the machine was freshly loaded, everything looked like that watercolor violet at the end of the run.

[Manalto]

"Violet pansy" is redundant, Anthony. A pansy is a violet and vice versa. The French is, roughly, "thinking violet."

 

But you're right, there was probably a variation. (I'm still not ruling out a flawed color memory on my part.) I browsed the Wikipedia entry for mimeograph, but I don't really understand the chemistry of it. I'm just glad I have a bottle of WES Imperial Blue on its way to me, for which I have you to thank.

[ParkerDuofold]

"Violet pansy" is redundant, Anthony. A pansy is a violet and vice versa. The French is, roughly, "thinking violet."

Thank you for this bit of info, as you can clearly see I know zilch about botany... and even less about the French language.

 

I guess it's just like when people used to say "pizza pie"; when pizza means tomato pie... adding the extra pie was also redundant.

 

Enjoy the ink... it's a nice purplish color in its own right.

 

- Anthony

Edited December 21, 2016 by ParkerDuofold

[Manalto]

I guess it's just like when people used to say "pizza pie"; when pizza means tomato pie... adding the extra pie was also redundant.

 

 

Extra pie is never redundant, just like extra beer never is.

 

It's like the British custom of saying "two weeks' time" (or "three years' time" etc.) What else would it be? Two weeks' liverwurst? Lately I've heard Americans saying it. We're such an insecure people. Sigh.

[ErrantSmudge]

I'd also suggest Aurora Blue as a purple-tinged blue that could pass for the color of mimeograph ink.

Edited December 21, 2016 by ErrantSmudge

[ParkerDuofold]

 

 

I remember Gestentner machines even in college.

 

And though I remember Imperial blue looking sheets when the machine was freshly loaded, everything looked like that watercolor violet at the end of the run.

Hi Amber,

 

It depends what pen you use; my experience has been if you put WES Imperial in a wet writer, you get that deep, "freshly loaded" color; put it in a dry writer and you'll get that more washed out color you'd get after several copies.

 

- Anthony

[cattar]

Would be fun to have that fresh mimeo scent in the ink as well.

 

Violette Pensée is really lovely wordplay for an ink color name.

Violette in French, as in English, can be either the color violet/purple or the flower pansy.

Pensée can be translated as either thought/thinking or the flower pansy.

So the phrase could be

purple pansy

pansy pansy

thoughts of pansy

thoughts of violet

I think of the color as the last one.

[Manalto]

So, Anthony was right and it's supposed to be redundant. Sorry, Anthony. I'm going to go back to my corner, be quiet and breathe the mimeograph fumes.

[WaskiSquirrel]

Noodler's Concord Bream matches well with what I remember of mimeographs as well as the mimeographs I have in my possession. But, I was in school in the 1980s, at the tail end of the mimeograph era. When I started teaching in 1999, the school still had a mimeograph machine with a hand crank, but I never used it. In 2006, when I started at my current school, there was a modern mimeograph: it printed black, it used a photocopier type scanner, but it "cut" the image and it used a liquid ink. It was very fast, but I don't miss it.

 

Thanks for the memories! When I was student teaching, my supervising teacher told me about a former student who always volunteered to run the mimeographs for her (back in the days of hand cranked mimeographs). She never understood why until one day she stepped out into the hallway as he was returning from running mimeographs. He held them up to his nose and inhaled deeply. Yep! He was a big fan of mimeographs.

[ParkerDuofold]

So, Anthony was right and it's supposed to be redundant. Sorry, Anthony. I'm going to go back to my corner, be quiet and breathe the mimeograph fumes.

LOL. Don't sweat it... with some foreign languages; sometimes the explanations can be as confusing as the questions. LOL.

 

I'm going to go back to my corner and quietly breathe in the glue fumes... I'm out of mimeograph ink.

 

- Anthony

[ink-syringe]

I'd also suggest Aurora Blue as a purple-tinged blue that could pass for the color of mimeograph ink.

 

 

This is actually not so far off, also: MB Royal Blue but in a drier output.

 

But the closest I have is Sailor Ultramarine, which never looks in person like it does on the internet. It is way more

purple to the naked eye. While Aurora Blue and MB Royal Blue are blurples that lean blue, Ultramarine seems to have more purple in it.

 

but do a google search for mimeograph and hit image you will see everything from a truer powdery blue like Skrip to nearly straight up violet.

 

So there is going to be more than one rite answer. heh

[sciumbasci]

http://pw20c.mcmaster.ca/files/pw20c_images/00000620-4.jpg

 

 

http://pw20c.mcmaster.ca/files/pw20c_images/00000620-4.jpg

 

Seems close enough to me

Edited December 22, 2016 by sciumbasci

[Manalto]

According to my monitor, a 50:50 berry blend would be the right flavor.

 

Unable to wait for delivery of the WES (what does W.E.S. stand for?) Imperial Blue, last night I loaded up some PR 'Tanzanite' in my Sheaffer Legacy with the stub nib. (Why did I wait so long? What fun!) It's the right color of the first, deep, intensely-saturated, dripping wet volatile copy fresh off the mimeograph - the Arizona sky when the photographer polarizes and underexposes a stop.

[ink-syringe]

Everberry+Wahlberry=mimeoberry

[Manalto]

Everberry+Wahlberry=mimeoberry

 

Delicious! (Hey, what's in this drink?)

[inkstainedruth]

"Violet pansy" is redundant, Anthony. A pansy is a violet and vice versa.

 

Not necessarily -- try looking at a gardening catalog sometime!

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: Isn't it amazing what people get nostalgic for? I keep looking on eBay for "rat finks" with whiskers that *don't* cost $20 or more... I am probably an idiot for paying $13 for one from the 1960s that DIDN't have whiskers (but did have painted eyes, even though it's bigger than the one I had out of a gumball machine as a kid).

Edited December 22, 2016 by inkstainedruth

[Manalto]

You're right, a pansy is always a violet, but not vice versa. That ship, however, has sailed.

[PS104]

If they can add perfume to inks can't they add eau d' mimeo