Pickles by Brian Crane for March 04, 2023

Roscoe isn’t liking what he’s smelling either.

open a window, Opal, in order to ventilate the house of mimeograph ink

Never liked the smell and would get dizzy and nauseous.

Roscoe’s also getting wind of it.

Today’s comic plus the many comments yesterday reminiscing about the smell (quite a few people said they liked it like Nelson, some even “loved” it!) I’m very curious to actually smell a mimeograph/it’s ink! I don’t know where I’d find one though lol

You ever glue PVC pipes together? I like high, but not that one. I now ventilate when I glue PVC

I like that he’s reading Kitty Capers while snuggling with Roscoe.

nice Opal!

get the kids high and they’ll love your book

The blue or purple mimeograph ink comprising a blue or purple dye-stufi or its base, linoleic acid, a small proportion of phenol, magnesium carbonate, mineral oil and Turkey-red oil. From https://patents.google.com

Just remember to blame Earl, Opal…this was his idea (see yesterday’s “Pickles”)

addicting actually

Kids get high

Loved the smell

Oh no! The smell is making Roscoe feel sick… or is it that the book is about a cat?

That would be ME…I always LOVED the smell of fresh printed papers in school!

Roscoe acts if it’s affecting him. Yawn!

And that’s how it starts

Uh-oh! Nelson’s getting high from fumes. I remember that feeling from mimeographed stuff.

When I was in elementary school, everyone would volunteer to distribute the freshly run-off hand-outs, inhaling deeply as they passed them out.

In my first teaching job as a TA, I remember having to use and create them, sometimes by hand, sometimes on a typewriter — what a pain/mess — that ink did NOT come out.

I remember the blue Mimiograph writing!

According to Google, “Black mimeograph ink can be moderately toxic if swallowed but does not pose health hazards under normal conditions of use. Stamp pad inks are similar except that the blue, purple, brown, and green inks may produce eye irritation on contact.”

Spirit duplicators (Ditto machines) smelled wonderful, not mimeographs. And the “ink” was usually purple. Mimeographs used an ink that did not dry in the middle of the drum – smelled terrible (as noted above) and would smear. Had to use a very rough paper that would absorb it. Ah for those days of printing!

The mimeograph used ink, it was the ditto copy that had the solvent smell so many people remember. You also had electrostatic copiers that used dry powdered ink and heat to fix.

How many kids with huffing problems got started with mimeograph and ditto fumes?

Ditto ink smelled good but it was never that potent.

If that’s the case, the druggies will have them off the shelf in no time.

I remember that smell…just like the smell of gas….

Intoxicating….LOL

Nelson will, now, be able to relate to “Comfortably Numb”

So is Roscoe!

Too bad we don’t have scratch and sniff comics.

Do mimeographs still exist?

I never really noticed the smell much. I mimeographed the service programs for my church when I was a Scout for one of my service badges. I got pretty good at it, so parishioners started coming to me to have their anniversary and wedding announcements printed. It was a very small town with no other printing services available for about a hundred miles. Even after receiving my patch, I continued doing it until another Scout was ready to take my place.

I remember that and also loved the smell. Not to the point of getting dizzy though.

I remember those days in school.

Cheaper than drugs during those hippie days of the early ’60s at UW-Madison.

Oops. Needs a PG rating.

I remember that mimeographs smelled, but I don’t really remember what they smelled like. I bet smelling it again would bring back a flood of memories!

Do they still have mimeograph machines?

Uh oh

Ahhhhhhhhh………. memories

I remember the mimeos, and the smell of the ink that everyone seemed to love. Never was aware that you could get high from it, but then, I was always a little out of the loop on such things.

So the book is called “kitty caper”, starring Muffin. No wonder Roscoe looks bored.

Another route to success.

The purple letters smelly copies came from a spirit copy (ditto) machine. A real Memeograph machine gave black type and little smell.