Nostalgic Color - Mimeograph?

[ParkerDuofold]

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

LOL.

[mtmowl]

Hi all. The original colored mimeo sheets were coated with a water-soluble dye known as Gentian Violet, or Crystal Violet. It was widely used as an antibacterial/antifungal/anti tumor medicine for the last hundred years, and is coming back into favor in spite of its vivid purple staining.

 

You can buy it at your local drugstore in the US, in a 2% solution for topical application, but it has also been used in painting infected tonsils to cure Thrush, an oral yeast infection. I well remember my brother's vibrantly purple mouth!

 

The points here are that it's the right color, readily available (also as a powder), and that it's as safe as you're likely to find, unless you eat it with a spoon. It's even used as a fingerprint powder.

 

I don't know how the drugstore version would work in a FP, but I think I'm likely to give it a try in an inexpensive pen.

 

Hope this sheds some light.

Edited December 24, 2016 by mtmowl

[mmg122]

Manalto asked: Unable to wait for delivery of the WES (what does W.E.S. stand for?)

 

iirc...WES = Writing Equipment Society...A British entity.

[Manalto]

Thank you, MMG122 (may I call you MMG?); I had given up on learning that tidbit of information. A "writing equipment society" is so veddy veddy British.

 

I'm also a wee bit confused about WES Imperial Blue vs Imperial Blue (without the "WES" designation). Are they two separate inks, or is it just a case of sellers not bothering to include the WES? To add to the confusion, blues are notoriously variable when photographed, so it's not easy to tell by the color splotches. Playing it safe, I made sure my new bottle was listed as WES (from Goulet). It should arrive before the year comes to a close.

 

The original colored mimeo sheets were coated with a water-soluble dye known as Gentian Violet, or Crystal Violet. It was widely used as an antibacterial/antifungal/anti tumor medicine for the last hundred years, and is coming back into favor in spite of its vivid purple staining.

 

 

Thank you for this. A few years ago while I was in Cuba, where medicine is expedient rather than cutting edge, a veterinarian treated my cat's skin condition with Gentian Violet (essentially the same in Spanish, violeta de gentiana). I had a purple cat for a while but his condition cleared up nicely.

Edited December 24, 2016 by Manalto

[Barkingpig]

I grew up treating all horses minor nicks & cuts with a good swab of something in the tack room called "Blue Lotion," which when I just gave a Google, found still marketed under same name, & containing 85% "Methyl Violet." I do remember the lotion was more purple than blue; I can remember being a bit purple myself when it dripped from it's dispensing wand when applying to the horses.

[amberleadavis]

Hi all. The original colored mimeo sheets were coated with a water-soluble dye known as Gentian Violet, or Crystal Violet. It was widely used as an antibacterial/antifungal/anti tumor medicine for the last hundred years, and is coming back into favor in spite of its vivid purple staining.

 

You can buy it at your local drugstore in the US, in a 2% solution for topical application, but it has also been used in painting infected tonsils to cure Thrush, an oral yeast infection. I well remember my brother's vibrantly purple mouth!

 

The points here are that it's the right color, readily available (also as a powder), and that it's as safe as you're likely to find, unless you eat it with a spoon. It's even used as a fingerprint powder.

 

I don't know how the drugstore version would work in a FP, but I think I'm likely to give it a try in an inexpensive pen.

 

Hope this sheds some light.

 

 

I'll pull out the Gentian Violet - I bought some for other reasons and it does fade.

[pen2paper]

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

yes please :-)

the message above on my screen is correct for what was on the freshly printed pages in my primary school

faces brightened when papers handed out - everyone sniffed and smiled...

[MKeith]

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

 

I agree. This topic is a strong memory trip for me, as I was in grade school in the late fifties to mid sixties. The color and print style for one, but the smell triggers oh so many memories. I used to love that smell, and can almost smell it thinking about it now. I distinctly remember those math speed exercises on half pages that were mimeographed.

Edited December 25, 2016 by MKeith

[Manalto]

[amberleadavis]

James, that video lead me to seeing one of those duplicators in action.

 

[pen2paper]

which I watched too :-) thanks for a fun topic!

I may be (as a friend jests) older than dirt, (Grace Slick in one of my first concerts), but some basics of the past are sweet.

[ParkerDuofold]

Thank you, MMG122 (may I call you MMG?); I had given up on learning that tidbit of information. A "writing equipment society" is so veddy veddy British.

 

I'm also a wee bit confused about WES Imperial Blue vs Imperial Blue (without the "WES" designation). Are they two separate inks, or is it just a case of sellers not bothering to include the WES? To add to the confusion, blues are notoriously variable when photographed, so it's not easy to tell by the color splotches. Playing it safe, I made sure my new bottle was listed as WES (from Goulet). It should arrive before the year comes to a close.

.

Hi Menalto,

 

Don't sweat it, it's the same color; Diamine must have dropped the "WES" to simplify things... if you check the ink review section, you'll see that Kensington Blue is also a "WES" color, but no longer is labelled that way, either.

 

- Anthony

Edited December 25, 2016 by ParkerDuofold

[amberleadavis]

which I watched too :-) thanks for a fun topic!

I may be (as a friend jests) older than dirt, (Grace Slick in one of my first concerts), but some basics of the past are sweet.

 

 

My first concert was Beach Boys. It was an outdoor concert and it rained (in Las Vegas), they played through the rain, it was amazing and never to be repeated.

[amberleadavis]

Okay, here was Gentian Violet in the 2012 fade test.

 

http://sheismylawyer.com/She_Thinks_In_Ink/Tests/Fade/2012/Subjects/slides/75-2012-10-14_001.jpg

[amberleadavis]

http://www.sheismylawyer.com/2016_2_Ink/12-December/slides/2012-06-06-06_GentianViolet.jpg

[Manalto]

Thank you! It's a beautiful color and the one I was thinking of when I asked the original question. Gentian Violet must have had a role in ink formulas somewhere along the way.

 

That mimeograph machine brings back a memory - mostly the sound; I recall walking by MIss Powers' office, the school secretary, when it was churning out "dittos" and the smell of course - did we determine it's alcohol? I have a vague recollection of the machine in my school having a pebbly "Godzilla" paint finish in Band-Aid brown.

 

Merry Christmas and may your New Year be filled with aromatic gentian violet memories!

[mtmowl]

Thank you! It's a beautiful color and the one I was thinking of when I asked the original question. Gentian Violet must have had a role in ink formulas somewhere along the way.

 

That mimeograph machine brings back a memory - mostly the sound; I recall walking by MIss Powers' office, the school secretary, when it was churning out "dittos" and the smell of course - did we determine it's alcohol? I have a vague recollection of the machine in my school having a pebbly "Godzilla" paint finish in Band-Aid brown.

 

Merry Christmas and may your New Year be filled with aromatic gentian violet memories!

Yes, the sweet, alcoholic smell of fresh dittoes came from the solvent used to pick up the transferred GV from the back of the typed-upon master. It was usually methanol, or a methanol/ethanol mix, not exactly good to inhale in great quantities, but not especially bad in small quantities either. Many common materials (back in the Good Ol' Days) were a lot less healthful.

 

Getting a good whiff of solvent from fresh dittoes could get a small dose of alcohol into the bloodstream pretty quickly, which might have made those half-page math exercises less stressful for a moment.

 

Happy Holidays to all.

[tamiya]

Hi all. The original colored mimeo sheets were coated with a water-soluble dye known as Gentian Violet, or Crystal Violet. It was widely used as an antibacterial/antifungal/anti tumor medicine for the last hundred years, and is coming back into favor in spite of its vivid purple staining.

Gentian Violet was big in the 1970s, we used it a lot topically but mainly for pets.

 

Also to stain slides for microscope, if memory serves.

 

Antibacterial properties probably not as effective as other hospital scrubs as it's more a bacterial growth inhibitor than really killing off the bacteria permanently.

 

It was more an antifungal... soil drench? We'd pour in aquariums too where fish had come out in spots. The colour would fade away after a few days... don't know if it's actually broken down to other colourless chemicals or the dye fades by itself anyway.

 

Chronic topical usage supposedly linked to promoting tumour *growth* though, whether it's a proven carcinogen or just a biological irritant I've not followed up upon.

[tamiya]

Talking of using Gentian Violet as a colour dye had me thinking of Mercurochrome.

 

That could explain my odd affinity for punchy purples and lurid oranges in this later nostalgic stage of life. So I t's not just the scars from living thru the groovy Seventies, for I still dislike Lime Green.

 

I gotta try find some Mercurochrome and run it thru a pen.

 

 

freshly printed pages in my primary school faces brightened when papers handed out - everyone sniffed and smiled...

If one liked the music, why not go straight to Mr Tambourine man?

 

Heh, guess the secret is out why I always volunteered to do the cyclostyling

[amberleadavis]

Talking of using Gentian Violet as a colour dye had me thinking of Mercurochrome.

 

That could explain my odd affinity for punchy purples and lurid oranges in this later nostalgic stage of life. So I t's not just the scars from living thru the groovy Seventies, for I still dislike Lime Green.

 

I gotta try find some Mercurochrome and run it thru a pen.

 

 

 

If one liked the music, why not go straight to Mr Tambourine man?

 

Heh, guess the secret is out why I always volunteered to do the cyclostyling

 

 

Noodler's Dragon's Napalm is NT's attempt to make mercurochrome ink.