PMS 3015 in Tubes?

Hi Gang
I’m looking for PMS 3015 in tube form (hate to buy a can from Van Son) and have looked in the usual places - Dave Robison, N.A. Graphics, Old City, and this is a bit too custom for them. Am I missing anyone else who might do custom colors? Thanks for any help
Steve

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That color wouldn’t be hard to make. With this particular color you have an advantage because the formula has black in it, meaning the color’s chroma (purety) has been purposely cut down. This allows you to cut some corners which might otherwise cut down the chroma, but in this case you don’t care because the chroma has already been cut down.

I’m assuming you have a PMS book, so you know what the Pantone formula is. (PMS and Pantone are registered trademarks of Pantone, Inc.).

Start with Cyan (or pro blue), and add a little reflex blue. (If you don’t have reflex blue, you could probably use rubine or magenta, but use less of that because it is a stronger red). The purpose of the reflex, or the rubine if you use that, is to kill some of the green shade of the cyan. Since your purpose is to kill the green shade, if you didn’t have reflex or rubine, you could probably use just about any red (but not orange). I assume you have a red of some kind.

The formula calls for a small amount of black, but you may not need it, depending on how much ink you apply when you print. This will also depend on the red you use. I would start without black. If you did need to make the ink a little darker, you could add black but only a tiny amount because if you overshoot, you’ll be starting over.

I’m sure you have black, if you need it, and for this you could use any black. Some black has blue in it, but since you are making a blue, (and not a perfectly pure blue at that since the formula has black in it), any black will be fine.

If you don’t have pro cyan or pro blue, here’s your excuse to buy it (buy pro blue, it’s stronger than pro cyan). Then, eventually, if you keep buying a base here and a base there, you will have most of the bases and can make most colors yourself.

http://www.southern-ink.com

You can order from the website. Put in your color number and they will ship you a tube already mixed for about $15. Very good Letterpress inks. They are also very nice on the phone and will work with you on issues. They even told me that they can custom-make the ink to your desired consistency.

I’m selling ink in 4 oz tins for $5.00 per tin. I do not have PMS 3015 premixed but I’m willing to mix a batch for an additional $5.00. Your total cost would be $10.00, plus $7.00 for shipping.
I have other colors such as Process Cyan, Magenta, Yellow,etc.. You can pack three tins to a small flat rate box…shipping still only $5.00.
Please use Pantone Black if you decide to mix this yourself and err on the light side.

I second Southern Ink … they came through when I needed a tad of black to print on copper. Best of luck + keep us updated.

Thanks everyone, this was time-sensitive so I ended up ordering from Van Son. I should be able to use the ink on other projects in the future. Dave Robison at Ink in Tubes also does custom mixes with some lead time. I’ve mixed my own inks in the past but have several things going on right now and just don’t have the time. Hopefully this post will help others looking for custom mixes in the future. Thanks again!
Steve