A well-placed flyer can reach the eyes of thousands of people per day, regardless of which social media platform they use, if any.
If you make a flyer for an event, share the file online and encourage others to print them out too.
Before sharing, remove the metadata with Scrambled Exif on Android or Metadata Anonymisation Toolkit on Linux. Sending a copy to a friend? Send it over Signal.
The paint can mimeograph is really cool but it looks like the special waxed stencil paper is basically out of production (aside from a Japanese artist who makes it and is willing to sell it internationally). Do you know of another source? It sounds like it can be made diy but that is an extra step in making the flyers.
(I was thinking about how one might combine that old tech with a modern laser etching machine for some especially fancy stencil work.)
I have been thinking about this and looking for sources. The tattoo industry found a use for mimeograph paper to transfer guidelines onto skin. So there are sources for the paper on tattoo supply sites.
But your suggestion got me thinking about a hybrid method for the hectograph.
The gelatin layer in a sheet pan acts as a receptive surface for the ink on the transfer paper. It then releases a bit of the ink each time you make an impression.
I wonder if a laser cut stencil could be placed on the hectograph surface and ink paste squeegeed onto that. Remove the stencil and make multiple impressions. Sort of like the process for putting solder paste onto a board you are going to reflow solder?
This would bypass the need for the transfer paper entirely and allow creation of digital designs. Thanks for the inspiration. The only remaining piece to try this idea is finding the right ink formula.
The traditional smell of mimeograph comes from the aniline dyes, which are toxic AF and require care in handling and good air flow. But other inks may not do well on the gelatin. Aniline dyes are only slightly soluble in water which means the impression on the gelatin surface doesn’t wick away quickly and remains sharp long enough to make multiple copies. Overnight the ink gets absorbed and diffused, allowing the gelatin to be re-used many times.
Interesting ideas. Thanks for the inspiration.
I hope it works out! Laser etchers are great for stencils (I use them a lot for spray paint). They work best when cutting thick cardstock or thin cardboard which happens to be a far superior stencil material to the thin paper I used to use when I had to cut them by hand. It basically makes a superior stencil while also being way easier and faster than cutting (and glueing) all the finicky little details.
I think the downside to the method you’re thinking of (assuming I understand it and you’re not talking about a mimeograph stencil) is that you’d have to design it around avoiding islands, as with single layer spray paint stencils. Not a deal breaker by any means, but also perhaps not quite as detailed as the mimeograph paper could do.
I really like the idea of mixing these old and new techs so I’d love to hear about any progress you make
The second link for the even simpler hectograph gives some suggestions. Are you USA based?
If so, I found this supplier using the search term “mimeograph masters “.
https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/852830/SKILCRAFT-Mimeograph-Paper-Letter-Size-Paper/
That’s for 10 reams and it’s discontinued but it was the first clue for a US domestic supplier that isn’t exorbitant etsy prices, which seems a bit much, but I will keep digging to see if I can find a better source.
This link from the same site has a long discussion of the paper needed for the masters.
https://www.mimeographrevival.com/posts/stencil-paper/
It looks like paper that just has certain properties to hold onto the ink well enough without bleeding so it can then be used to make multiple impressions.
The hectograph method my mom used back in the day involved hand writing on the master sheet as it lay upon the prepared ink bed, then using the inked back side of the master to make enough copies of a worksheet for her classroom. So some experiments may be in order.