I’ll explain the death component later, but first, let’s decode the Blueprint itself.
Blueprints have been around for quite some time. Architects, engineers, designers, draftsmen, etc., have used them for years to duplicate their building design drawings. Multiple Blueprints would be printed - from original drawings - and used on construction sites to illustrate how the building would look when the building was built. Foremen, carpenters, plumbers, brick masons, everybody got a copy, or a Blueprint of the original design and followed the Blueprint to make sure the building would be built and look, when finished, precisely the way it was originally designed. Blueprints are nothing more than negative copies (in Blue) of original drawings. Which is what gave me the idea of printing Blueprints. I thought, if those guys can make Blue-copies from their original drawings, why can’t I? So I did.
My Blueprints were fabricated - like all Blueprints - using paper which has a solution of ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyaniade applied to the paper - this makes the paper light sensitive. First, I did a drawing on vellum or translucent paper - really any flat material which allows light to pass through will do. Then, the light sensitive, or Blueprint paper was placed under the drawing in a printing frame, exposed to strong light and printed in a huge, over-heated, very loud Blueprint printer. The paper was then washed in pure water - distilled water is the best - and dried. Bingo! You’ve got a Blueprint! (All of this Blue print printing was done by the Blueprint printer. I can draw, but when it comes to ominous thingumajigs, oversized motorized contraptions or foreboding mechanisms I leave that to my betters.) But it is a really cool process - or was anyway. When the print comes out of the printer the white areas of the original drawing appear blue, black appears white. Sort of a reverse of the original drawing. I usually did a drawing as a negative to get a positive blueprint or visa versa - depending on my mood at the time.
So why are these the last Blueprints? Because our government - under the guise of the Patriot Act - has made ferric ammonium citrate so expensive and the acquisition paperwork so extensive that Blueprint printers can’t afford to print them. Apparently our government - in all its wisdom - is afraid the Blueprint printers are going to make a bomb out of the ferric ammonium citrate and blow up something. So the Blueprint is no more. These are the last that I, or anyone can, or will produce. As far as I know, the last Blueprint printer stopped printing Blueprints in October of 2007.
Enjoy your freedom while you can. Your end product may be the next to go.
Yours, etc., etc.,
dr. jay
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