Category: General discussion
Later topic: Metal Type news
Earlier topic: Printing round coasters in two colors.

Colors of Letterpress inks

Hi, I see Vanson letterpress (rubber based I believe) for sale from Vanson, but they only have black in this style.

Where do people get other colors, like pantone registered, or what do they use to mix their own?

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Rubber base is on its way out. I have been using Southern Ink for my Pantone mixes. It is not my favorite—there are some viscosity inconsistencies that are sometimes difficult—but they are very reliable in getting the ink to me.

https://southern-ink.com/mixed-pms-colors-blends/

I’ve always used oil-based ink for printing invitations and posters and never used rubber-based ink. I buy mine from Oldham Ink Group.

The Oldham Group
4647 Leston Street Ste 609
Dallas, TX 75247
Toll-Free: 800-468-4649

Casey
Inky Lips press

I can second Southern Ink. They’re affordable, helpful, and friendly, and I’ve never had any problems with their inks.

Here in the UK the basic Pantone numbers are widely available, and the basic set can be mixed by weight, as
per the book, and any half decent minder can do it pretty well and get the number called for. Mind you , agency folk ”passing on press”, and calling for ”more lift” do provide
a different problem! .

I like the Ideal Duplicator ink line from MixMasters in Lynn, MA. A blend of rubber and oil that doesn’t dry too fast on press.

Forgot to mention, MixMasters can not only mix a PANTONE color for you, they can take a color number you have and tell you how to mix it into a different color (within reason).

  • Geoffrey
  • on 28 Jan 25 (22:54)
  • Updated 28 Jan 25 (23:05)

A few anecdotes:

harrildplaten - agency folk doing a press approval definitely presented a challenge. For them, we didn’t always try to get the colour perfect because we knew they would want it changed anyway, to justify their job and/or meet their aesthetic tastes, no matter that it was getting farther from the standard.

mindhue - what you describe, in the trade is called “working off” leftover ink. That works well, as long as the colours to be used are clean and pure enough to make the new colour, or the new colour is not very clean (such as a brown).