Vinyl is velcome!

[michblk]

I can also remember the smell of testors glue and paints on my Aurora Kits.

BK

[Scatter]

I can also remember the smell of testors glue and paints on my Aurora Kits.

BK

Yup!! That's a good one. A little off subject here, but who among us in the 40ish age range can forget the smell of the ink they used to use in schools before there were Xerox machines?? They used to use Ditto machines,and the smell of that ink was incredible!! The entire class would smell the handouts before reading them.


"Kids now-a-days don't even know what they're missing with their fancy Xerox and digital copy machines, but students of a bygone era can recall the bluish-purple print and unforgettable aroma of a freshly printed page was a hallmark of school life the Ditto machine era.  (Perhaps "Ditto" wasn't the name your school used; some called it a "spirit duplicator.")

The process never involved ink, and involved elusive 'master copies' that the teacher would keep filed away, far away from the reaching hands of students.  The master would be typed on, drawn on, or written upon, and the second sheet was coated with a layer of wax that was impregnated with one of a variety of colors, usually a deep purple since the pigment was cheap, durable and had contrast with the paper.  As the paper moved through the printer, the pungent-smelling clear solvent was spread across each sheet by an absorbent wick.  When the paper came in contact with the waxed original, it would take just enough of the pigment away to print the image on the sheet as it passed under.

The ritual of sniffing the paper after it was handed out was practice carried out in classrooms from coast-to-coast, prompting a reference in 80s movie classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High.  As it turns out now, the ditto solvents and the aniline (the pigment that made the purple color) are highly toxic.  Of course, kids today don't have to worry about good ol' ditto paper.  After the quick efficiency of Xerox hit copy rooms and secretaries' offices everywhere, the smelly ditto machines were shown the door, leaving behind memories for the kids of yesteryear."

Ditto paper........



Ditto printer.........

[mike c]

Scatter, I used to help my teachers make dittos on those machines; I'll never forget the purple ink, the paper that seemed 'cold' after running through the machine... and you are absolutely correct, the aroma was like nothing else! NEVER in my memory did a single ditto sheet get passed out where every kid in class didn't sniff at it at least twice, with a goofy grin, before setting down names and dates... great memories!

Mike C.

[Scatter]

Scatter, I used to help my teachers make dittos on those machines; I'll never forget the purple ink, the paper that seemed 'cold' after running through the machine... and you are absolutely correct, the aroma was like nothing else! NEVER in my memory did a single ditto sheet get passed out where every kid in class didn't sniff at it at least twice, with a goofy grin, before setting down names and dates... great memories!

Mike C.

Teacher's Pet, or simply an addict attempting to gain unlimited access to the intoxicating aroma of the Ditto ink??

"Hi......I'm Mike, and I'm a Dittoholic."

[neonnoodle]

Yeah, they called the machine "the ditto machine" at my school...I remember there was a ditto transfer sheet...you would feed that into a manual typewriter with a sheet of paper and when you typed, the wax letters would transfer onto the underside of the plain paper.  This would give you a "negative image" on the underside, which would print a "positive image" onto numerous sheets when fed through the ditto machine.  This is old school copying, just a step removed from carbon paper...anyone remember carbon paper?  Does that stuff still even exist, I wonder?  For that matter, does erasable onion-skin paper still exist?  Remember that stuff?  You could type onto it but the ink wouldn't really absorb, and you could erase it off easily if you made a mistake.

[Bogey]

Yes.  And ditto machines were always a welcome sight, especially when the alternative was writing on one of these:

[mike c]

Teacher's Pet, or simply an addict attempting to gain unlimited access to the intoxicating aroma of the Ditto ink??

"Hi......I'm Mike, and I'm a Dittoholic."

Hehehe! A little from column A, a little from column B!
Neonnoodle, I've seen the same carbon transfer paper at better-equipped art suppliers, as well as the onion skin paper. They're used often by ceramics artists; it helps them get rough images onto tile, or a plate or cup, etc., before the painting begins.
And Bogey, I haven't seen a Big Chief tablet in 30 years. Thanks for posting that!

Mike C.

[toysoldierman2001]

I remember having a vinyl Frankenstein punching bag.I loved that thing until my older brothers decided to use it for a target for their bow and arrows!

[ChattyLMS]

Oh yes, I love the smell of freshly printed dittos!  Now, as Scatter said, there are only Xerox copies.  But the schools never ever have enough paper!  Some schools require each student to bring a ream of paper to school as part of the school supplies.  That is in addition to the paper that the district provides.  Some schools also have a code system on the Xerox machine so that you have to log in to print.  You only get a certain amount of paper for the year and that's how it's kept track.

Special school smells - I love the smell of Crayola crayons!  If I pass by them in the store I have to smell them.  I won't even buy the cheaper brands because they don't have that smell!

Vinyl - I know what that aroma smells like.  It's brand new trolls taken right out of the box.

[CreepysFan]

 Ditto on the Ditto paper smell.  Ahhhh....the memories.

[Dr.Terror]

MMMMM, love the smell of inflatable vinyl toys.  Especially if it involves a monster.

[neonnoodle]

Oh yeah, and for some reason the kids in school all tried eating PASTE.  You know, that stuff we would use to make construction paper designs and collages.  I tried some once.  This was in the 5th grade, over by the sink...they kept all the paste bottles by the sink.  Every classroom had a sink with one of those tall curved faucets.  The paste tasted like mint, for some reason.

[Monster Bob]

Huckleberry Hound/Yogi Bear Paste tasted great. So did Milkbones for small dogs. Mmmmm...

[The Drunken Severed Head]

Milkbone and paste sandwiches will served at the next UMA gathering.

On vinyl plates.

[mike c]

Fliers for said gathering to be copied on ditto machines.

Mike C.