![]() Later, it was called Prussian blue because it was used to dye uniform fabric for the Prussian army. Initially, Dippel called the color Berlin blue as a nod to his city of residence. Although the process requires several steps, it became a big hit with the pre-computer crowd of the 19th and 20th centuries it was still faster and cheaper than creating large-scale drawings by hand. The reproduction is a negative image that appears white against a background turned a specific shade of indigo by the reaction of the chemical compound. After rinsing the paper in cold water to halt the chemical reaction and allowing the paper to dry in the dark, you're left with a nearly identical duplicate of the original drawing. Wherever the light can't shine through the top paper (because of the lines from the original drawing), the blueprinting paper remains white. ![]() Within a matter of minutes, the chemical-coated paper will be transformed into blue ferric ferrocyanide - with one important exception. Place the drawing atop the paper coated in the chemical solution, expose the papers to a bright light and wait for a chemical reaction to take place. Then, you saturate a piece of regular paper with an ammonium potassium mixture and let it dry. Here's how it works: First, you create a drawing and transfer it to vellum paper or tracing cloth, both of which are so thin they are practically see-through. The process, called cyanotype, was adopted by early photographers and led to the first book illustrated by photography and then became the darling of architects and engineers. This photosensitive solution could be used to reproduce documents in a process similar to developing a photograph from a negative. In 1842, an English photographer, chemist and astronomer named John Herschel discovered that combining ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide created a chemical reaction and a compound called blue ferric ferrocyanide (or Prussian blue). Thankfully, as the years and technology progresses, the strength of this perfume is changing to something a lot more faint.A blueprint's signature hue is tied to a chemical process. The mix of all the above categories make up the signature perfume of a print shop. Adhesives are used to bond the plastic coatings to the material they are being bonded to. This is when they emit their signature smell. Toners are heated up to make them bond to what they are being printed on. Just like inks, the toner used in our digital and vinyl wrap presses have a bit of smell to them when they are in use. Dilute this cleaner with tap water and you have a powerful cleaner for the press. To get these veggie inks off the rollers in the press, we use a cleaner that is pretty similar to a household cleaner, Varsol. Just like if you spilled canola oil in your house, you would want to use a grease/oil cutting cleaner to get your surface clean. Subsequently, the cleaners needed to clean these inks up can be reduced. ![]() ![]() Now that the industry has gone away from petroleum based inks, this solution can be a lot less potent than it used to be, reducing it's smell. Fountain solution is a tap water and concentrate mix that is used in a printing press to keep the ink where you want it and away from where you don't on the sheet of paper. Likely the second most common thing that gives a print shop it's signature smell is the cleaners and solutions used to make the print happen. This makes the staff of the shop a lot happier as they don't go home smelling like a press! Thankfully, since the early 90's the trade has made the transition from petroleum based inks to vegetable based inks which has made them both substantially less odorous, but also considerably less toxic and safer. Certainly in years past this would have been the predominant smell in any print shop. ![]() Inks for the offset presses are likely the thing someone would smell when they come into the shop to pickup their printed material. Here at JB, we have two presses and a digital/vinyl shop that add their own little part to the overall experience. I say most because the aromas coming from the shop are mostly tied to a printing press and not all shops have their own press on site. Most print shops in the industry have a fairly unique smell to them. Something we hear a lot here at the shop is customers asking what they smell when they come in the door. ![]()
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