This apothecary label is based on one of the businesses established in Chaosium's version of Arkham. Paste your prescription or substance identification into the upper half, print, trim to size, and apply to your bottle or packet. Right click and hit "Open Link in New Tab" to download the full sized version.
I think you are pretty much there. The smudginess in this case would be due to the fact that it is in essence a red mask overprint on white paper. The viscosity of the ink and the speed of the press would leave a bit of blurring if the pressman was a little sloppy on a minor job and wasn’t wiping properly. You see that on early rotary and offset presses. Also the porousness of the paper would lend some softness to the ink transfer. After all, a prescription label is meant to be written on and so they wouldn’t be using a heavily glazed paper.
ReplyDeleteFor a bit of random ink spatter you can use Photoshop to make them unique. Also just cutting out the label just a little crookedly would lend it a little authenticity if you follow the sloppy pressman scenario. A single sheet in the guillotine slightly crooked and you get a few messed up labels. You (the pharmacist) can write on them with a common fountain pen with blue or black ink and then you have great prop. I can see you have been looking carefully at printed products from the period – good eye.
I've used "inner Glow" in Photoshop to try to simulate the flexographic printing process, and rubber stamps. Give it a try.
ReplyDelete-MJ