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Hotline Cy: Decals, Tattos and History

Crouser Report OnLine March 6, 1996

Transmitted from Jacksonville, Florida

Hotline Cy will be presenting his Helen s Hotline seminar in Houston in Atlanta, March 10th and Dallas on July 10th. For further details, email Cy Stapleton at hotlinecy@aol.com. Complete schedule is found at the end of this report.

Sometimes You Hit A Home Run!!!

Hotline is always interesting to work but some days are better than others and today was one of those better days. I received a number of challenging inquiries and one of those led to a vendor who was already in the database, but not for the product I was looking.

A Florida reader wanted to print a set of decals for a model airplane and didn t know where to find the special paper that water decals are printed on. I faxed him that information a few days ago. Today he came back trying to find the special clear coating that has to be printed over the decal to keep the color in one piece when the decal is slipped off the special carrier paper.

I didn t even know it had to have a clear coating, but I called Larry Adams at Brittian s Tullis Russell (203-324-7536) to see if I could pick his brain. I had Brittian s in the database as providing the special paper for water decals. That conversation was one of the most informative I have had in a very long time.

It appears that Brittian s, an English company, not only produces the transfer paper for the water decals but also for many other uses. Most of the glassware you see that has color decals on it is done with Jerry s transfer paper. He also has the transfer paper for removable tattoos (Skin Cal) and one called Photo Cal that can be used in a laser printer. You create the image on your DTP equipment, print it on your laser printer or copier, then transfer the image to various types of ad specialties - such as coffee cups, etc. You can personalize almost anything for pennies - if I understand the process right.

But, back to the question at hand. It appears that the water decals can be printed offset as you would any other job, but it has to have the clear coating to hold the ink together. That clear coating comes from a Chicago company, Cudner & O Connor (800-621-7749). While the carrier can be printed offset, the clear coating needs to be applied by the screen printing process. That isn t difficult, though. Simply go to your friendly art supply house and purchase one of their little $25 or $30 screen print kits and follow the simple instructions. The reason that the clear coating needs to be applied by the screen process is that you can t get a thick enough film trying to print it offset.

The printable adhesive comes from National Starch (908-685-5000).

Now for the really nifty stuff. Using Brittian s Skin Cal you can print your own removable tattoos via offset. It takes a special soy ink that can be placed on the skin, but not-to-worry. That ink is available from Colorcon (215) 699-7501). The removable tattoo does not need to have the clear coating.

This isn t meant to be a tutorial, but an idea for those who are interested. I normally write about processes that I have tried, and give my readers a blueprint of how to do it. Since I don t have my printing company any longer I don t have any way to try these things out. I would hear about processes like this, find out what I could about them, experiment until I got something to work, then write about it. You are going to have to do the experimenting on this one.

At sometime in the near future I am going to get access to an offset press and come up with a blueprint of how to produce these removable tattoos in a small shop. When I do, it will be appear in the SHAREware column of Quick Printing Magazine. Til then, go ahead and get the jump on me and share your experience with me. - - -More- - -

If you would like a brochure describing how you can have the Helene s Hotline database on your own computer, Email me at hotlinecy@aol.com and give leave your fax number. The Hotline databases, BFP and Ad Specialty BFP give you the ability to easily shop numerous vendors for your outsourcing requirements. Can We Capture History? by Cy Stapleton

I have had an idea for a number of years about doing a video interview with old time printers. I m not talking about something that is professionally produced but a one-on-one interview with not only key players in our industry such as the world reknown type designer, Hermann Zapf, but with the little printer that is 90 years old, having started as an apprentice when he was 10 or 12 years old. Still living are some who were involved in the discovery of the diffusion transfer process, the development of the Photon phototypesetter, etc., but they won t be around long.

It should be more like a fireside chat or a home movie where the interviewers have a strong working knowledge of the history of the industry.

We perceive taking about four to five hours of video tape and have that professionally edited to between a half hour and 45 minutes, with the entire unedited interview also archived. The tapes should be put in the permanent care of some entity that can be responsible for their distribution.

A friend, Harry Benson in Houston and I, have had this dream for over a decade but neither of us have the finances to make this dream a reality. We would be interested to see if there are other printers who feel such an archive might have a place in our industry and have ideas as to how we might come up with the funding to make it a reality. Harry and I feel we could do several interviews each month. We would need to have a committee to help determine who we should interview, a secretary to handle the paperwork, and a professional editor to put the interviews together. While neither of us want to get rich off the program, we would need to be figured into the budget for our effort. We are looking at an estimated average budget of approximately $2,500 per interview plus any out-of-pocket travel expenses. This would include a part-time secretary, our compensation, original tapes, and the services of a professional editor to produce the final edited master. We perceive an original funding to do 100 interviews with the selections being made by a committee made up of industry members and including Harry and myself. The selection committee could work together via mail or email. Credentials should include a proven interest in the history of our industry. We should probably start with a time frame of about 1950 and earlier for most with strong consideration given to older industry leaders who have made major contributions since that period. While it is important to record the earliest days possible, it would be a shame to miss out on the major players in the quick printing industry just because it came along a couple of decades later. This is an area that would take a great deal of thought.

Between the two of us, Harry and I have the equipment that is required and both of us have a deep knowledge of the history of our industry. Does this sort of thing hit anyone s hot button?

If so, we would appreciate hearing from you. This project might not seem too important now, but can you imagine how important it would be today if we had available to us such an interview with Gutenberg, Aldus, Plantin, Franklin, and Isaiah Thomas when they made their contributions to mankind? Or even a pressman or typographer that worked during that period. We are beginning to stir up a little interest but nothing firm as of yet.

The Quick Printing Industry started less than four decades ago, but some of the major players in this industry have already left us. We need their thoughts, problems they encountered, etc. for future members of our industry. The longer we wait the less basic resource material we will have. While many have written books, in many areas a book can t compare to actually watching an interview with that individual.

If you have any ideas, I would like to hear from you. Just address your email response to hotlinecy@aol.com.

Til next time, God bless you and yours... cy

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