Honus on Canvas - An experimentation with t206 ink colors and layering

[dabroiler]

First and foremost, I wanted to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude for this website and the net54baseball community. Since joining last year, I feel like I have learned more about the hobby and (specifically) pre-war cards than I have learned in my whole life.

With that said, I have become absolutely enamored with the Monster. Not just because of the endless ways to collect... or the amazing checklist of Hall of Famers, derelicts, and felons... but because of the artwork, which (IMHO) may be the best artwork ever distributed through mass production.

But so little is known about who the artists were... or even how these lithographs were specifically produced. So with a global pandemic and many nights over a glass of my favorite IPA or whiskey... I set out to research and develop my own best guess at how Baseball's Mona Lisa was printed.

Before we get started, a few notes...
1. I am not an artist.
2. This is not an attempt to reproduce a believable copy.
3. Acrylic paint behaves MUCH different than ink and cardstock (so see #2).
4. I am simply a guy who wanted to create a Honus for my man cave... and wanted to do so in such a way that simulates how the lithograph colors behave (ie: overlap, gaps, ghosting, mixing of colors, layer, etc).
5. There are no canvases that have the same height to width ratio as a t206 card. So yes, I am using a 20x10 canvas. Please ignore the borders... or pretend that this is a "big boy" cut... or printers scrap

After several hours of research, I landed on the following print layers (in order):
1. Yellow
2. Black
3. Brown
4. Buff
5. Light Blue
6. Dark Blue
7. Grey
8. Pink
9. Red

Note: Honus does not leverage dark green. For argument sake... the entire uncut sheet would likely be Yellow, Black, Brown, Buff, Light Blue, Dark Blue, DARK GREEN, Grey, Pink, and Red

I could go into a TON of detail on why I picked these colors and this order... and would be happy to discuss further in this thread (Q&A style)... but for the sake of time (and the effort of typing) I will summarize my sources.

1. Scot A. Reader's "Inside t206" found here: https://oldcardboard.com/t/t206/Insi...al-edition.pdf (to understand the process of printing a t206)
2. The Ink Color thread from the net54baseball.com archives found here: https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=148581 (to see examples of color variations and member arguments about the process)
3. Specifically, the El Encanto proof posted by atx840 in this thread (shows available lithography colors used during this period)
4. Jeff Burdick's Honus Wagner example found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T206_H...eball_card.jpg (to understand which colors were used in Honus and to judge how the colors overlap and which likely came first)
5. Google image search for a wide range of color variations of t206.

To begin the process, I painted the canvas to simulate aged cardstock. This is out of necessity to make the card look 110 years old... and it is necessary to do at the beginning so that imperfections in the "paper" can show through the "ink".

After that, I applied a mixture of mixing medium to acrylic paint to make it semi-transparent. I would then apply each layer over the previous layer. In the case of almost all paints... the layering of two colors (yellow and pink for example) would result in a near-perfect match (like the yellow-orange in Honus' background). There were a few instances, however, where I would have to come back in and touch-up colors to match better to the original. This was the case with any lighter pigment, because the mixing medium would have a clouding effect over the previous layer which made the previous layers appear "milky". For this reason, I had to re-paint the dot-matrix (black) 3 times.

This process was repeated until we reached a final image. I am only sharing with the group, as I think this could be an interesting topic for discussion. I also have some thoughts on the printing process given the challenges with black throughout the process. Thanks for amusing me and letting me share

Final art (colors appear darker on this site for some reason):



-BK

[Casey2296]

Good stuff and interesting research. I dabble in oil painting (a regular Vincent Van Don't), so the use of color layers has always fascinated me. I'm just beginning to understand how the printing ink process regarding baseball cards works. All good stuff and thanks for posting.

[Pat R]

I don't know the exact order but red was much earlier I think right after
brown and I think there was more than one layer of a few colors and a second
layer of buff was one of the last colors.

You can see that red was early on many of the missing ink scraps like the yellow brown scraps.

Here's my Doolan with mis-aligned lips and a line of excess red running down to the left.

Doolan.jpg

Doolan 1200 dpi - Copy.jpg

there is also red on this Clymer that's missing other colors.

Clymer.jpg


and this Downey has the red team letters but is missing red/pink in other areas

Downey missing ink.jpg

I think Steve B has a better idea and explanation of the order but I don't
think he even knows the exact order.

[dabroiler]

Originally Posted by Casey2296

Good stuff and interesting research. I dabble in oil painting (a regular Vincent Van Don't), so the use of color layers has always fascinated me. I'm just beginning to understand how the printing ink process regarding baseball cards works. All good stuff and thanks for posting.

Thanks for the kind words! This was my first time layering acrylics. The hardest part is getting the right amount of mixing medium for the right level of transparency. Definitely test in small areas and adjust. Good luck if you decide to dabble with a similar project!

BK


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[dabroiler]

Originally Posted by Pat R

I don't know the exact order but red was much earlier I think right after
brown and I think there was more than one layer of a few colors and a second
layer of buff was one of the last colors.

You can see that red was early on many of the missing ink scraps like the yellow brown scraps.

Here's my Doolan with mis-aligned lips and a line of excess red running down to the left.

Attachment 434101

Attachment 434102

there is also red on this Clymer that's missing other colors.

Attachment 434103


and this Downey has the red team letters but is missing red/pink in other areas

Attachment 434104

I think Steve B has a better idea and explanation of the order but I don't
think he even knows the exact order.

Thanks, Pat!

Definitely great insight...and I’ll have to check out Scott B’s opinion.

This stuff fascinates me. I agree that red looks like it may come earlier based on your example.

You hit the nail on the head with multiple layers. I personally feel that multiple layers of buff and pink could have been run based on how the colors mixed in this painting alone.

I also find one thing interesting in all of this. So much of what we know is on color variation misprints. But this assumes they ran quality control in between each plate/color change. It’s possible they didn’t look in between the 8-12 presses and then just tossed a sheet when colors got low and they noticed at the end of a run. The explanation of yellow and brown (and even red) being more prevalent in color misprints could be explained by the fact that buff, blue, grey, pink, and light blue were more commonly used on each card design and ran out first.

If I personally could Re-order the colors based on what makes sense with layering colors...I would start lightest...and finish with the darkest colors. In that case, yellow, buff, light blue, pink, dark blue, dark green, red, brown, black. But obviously there are no yellow/buff/light blue color variations.

Anyways... sorry for the ramble...I appreciate the dialog and love your Dolan example (wish I had one like that!)

BK


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[steve B]

Originally Posted by dabroiler

Thanks, Pat!

Definitely great insight...and I’ll have to check out Scott B’s opinion.

This stuff fascinates me. I agree that red looks like it may come earlier based on your example.

You hit the nail on the head with multiple layers. I personally feel that multiple layers of buff and pink could have been run based on how the colors mixed in this painting alone.

I also find one thing interesting in all of this. So much of what we know is on color variation misprints. But this assumes they ran quality control in between each plate/color change. It’s possible they didn’t look in between the 8-12 presses and then just tossed a sheet when colors got low and they noticed at the end of a run. The explanation of yellow and brown (and even red) being more prevalent in color misprints could be explained by the fact that buff, blue, grey, pink, and light blue were more commonly used on each card design and ran out first.

If I personally could Re-order the colors based on what makes sense with layering colors...I would start lightest...and finish with the darkest colors. In that case, yellow, buff, light blue, pink, dark blue, dark green, red, brown, black. But obviously there are no yellow/buff/light blue color variations.

Anyways... sorry for the ramble...I appreciate the dialog and love your Dolan example (wish I had one like that!)

BK


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Lightest to darkest is how it's supposed to be done.

But, it may not always be done that way.
For instance if a blue is mostly Opaque, and you want green it may be better to put yellow over the blue. *
What we can't know is where in the process any of the color oddities were removed or even if they were production items and not make-ready sheets or some variety of progressive proof.

Then there are cards that are consistent production varieties that could be taken as missing colors. (A good example is Dygert, who comes normally with and without red lips)

QC would have been done regularly during the days work. The place I worked at pulled an example from the press periodically to check registration and print quality. My brief time on a press I did it about every 5-10 minutes, the experienced guys only did that on finicky jobs. A case of having an easier job the better you got at doing it.


I believe the brown/yellows are most likely a progressive proof of sorts. Yellow would naturally be first, but why brown and maybe red? Because seeing the registration between a light blue and yellow would be somewhat difficult. Seeing it between any light color and a dark color is easier.
And since the plates were laid down by hand with Transfers, the first QC check is if the individual positions on the plate were located acceptably. Too far off, and you'd never get acceptable registration.
The ones with red- unless they all have those red traces, would be from a make ready sheet saved to be used for checking and adjusting the registration of red to the rest of the sheet. Red is printed left and low on the one Pat showed. I wouldn't consider it acceptable, but they did let worse out the door, so who knows what their standards were.

Clymer likewise is one I believe to be from a make-ready sheet.
Just with an additional color.

Downey is a neat card and illustrates a different point. They often used a peach/light tan color under the pink for faces.
Most legitimate color missing cards appear to be missing not only an obvious color, but a second color as well. This is true for Downey, as not only is the pink missing, but the peach as well. Even without seeing the back, I believe this is a production card that skipped a couple steps. It happens, we turned a corner to indicate the start of production sheets and the end of the make ready sheets. If the adjustments were good, we might remove the excess make-ready sheets if there were a lot of them. No point wasting ink on "junk". **

The cards I've looked at closely where they have doubled colors, like light blue/blue or pink/bright red all have the darker version over the lighter

*There are examples even in more modern printing, some 1981 fleer star stickers have a lighter blue printed over the black layer on the front. Rushed work? Put the wrong plate in the wrong spot in a multi-color press and just went with it? A puzzle for sure.

** This to me is possible evidence that some T206s may have been printed on a two color press, which was a cutting edge technology at the time. The printing company and the company that pioneered the multi color presses were close, so it's possible. Other than the prevalence of paired colors both in being missing and in registration I'm not sure how I'd prove that. There are also cards having only one color out of register, so it's not certain. (It's also possible that some series or print runs were done one way and some another.

[steve B]

BTW, that painting and the animation of the process is very cool.

[Aplyon86]

I have nothing of value to add other than to say this looks awesome. Love the thought process behind it too. Thanks for sharing!

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[dabroiler]

Originally Posted by steve B

Lightest to darkest is how it's supposed to be done.

But, it may not always be done that way.
For instance if a blue is mostly Opaque, and you want green it may be better to put yellow over the blue. *
What we can't know is where in the process any of the color oddities were removed or even if they were production items and not make-ready sheets or some variety of progressive proof.

Then there are cards that are consistent production varieties that could be taken as missing colors. (A good example is Dygert, who comes normally with and without red lips)

QC would have been done regularly during the days work. The place I worked at pulled an example from the press periodically to check registration and print quality. My brief time on a press I did it about every 5-10 minutes, the experienced guys only did that on finicky jobs. A case of having an easier job the better you got at doing it.


I believe the brown/yellows are most likely a progressive proof of sorts. Yellow would naturally be first, but why brown and maybe red? Because seeing the registration between a light blue and yellow would be somewhat difficult. Seeing it between any light color and a dark color is easier.
And since the plates were laid down by hand with Transfers, the first QC check is if the individual positions on the plate were located acceptably. Too far off, and you'd never get acceptable registration.
The ones with red- unless they all have those red traces, would be from a make ready sheet saved to be used for checking and adjusting the registration of red to the rest of the sheet. Red is printed left and low on the one Pat showed. I wouldn't consider it acceptable, but they did let worse out the door, so who knows what their standards were.

Clymer likewise is one I believe to be from a make-ready sheet.
Just with an additional color.

Downey is a neat card and illustrates a different point. They often used a peach/light tan color under the pink for faces.
Most legitimate color missing cards appear to be missing not only an obvious color, but a second color as well. This is true for Downey, as not only is the pink missing, but the peach as well. Even without seeing the back, I believe this is a production card that skipped a couple steps. It happens, we turned a corner to indicate the start of production sheets and the end of the make ready sheets. If the adjustments were good, we might remove the excess make-ready sheets if there were a lot of them. No point wasting ink on "junk". **

The cards I've looked at closely where they have doubled colors, like light blue/blue or pink/bright red all have the darker version over the lighter

*There are examples even in more modern printing, some 1981 fleer star stickers have a lighter blue printed over the black layer on the front. Rushed work? Put the wrong plate in the wrong spot in a multi-color press and just went with it? A puzzle for sure.

** This to me is possible evidence that some T206s may have been printed on a two color press, which was a cutting edge technology at the time. The printing company and the company that pioneered the multi color presses were close, so it's possible. Other than the prevalence of paired colors both in being missing and in registration I'm not sure how I'd prove that. There are also cards having only one color out of register, so it's not certain. (It's also possible that some series or print runs were done one way and some another.

Steve -

Thanks so much for the reply. It's awesome to have additional knowledge and context from someone who has directly worked with a press and seen how QC operates with print runs. I'm so glad you mentioned the possibility of skipping steps, because I definitely feel that many color variations can represent the presence of two colors that (in theory, because who really knows) probably were not sequential. I haven't even considered the possibility that the t206s could have also been one of the first to leverage a multi color press. That would certainly open a whole other can of worms.

Thanks for your comments and cheers!
BK

[dabroiler]

Originally Posted by steve B

BTW, that painting and the animation of the process is very cool.

Thanks again, Steve! The main goal was to have a Honus for the man cave... and I don't have $3.5M burning a hole in my pocket

The rest was just a fun experiment. I think I may do some more. Happy to share more... and certainly love the dialog more than anything.

[dabroiler]

Originally Posted by Aplyon86

I have nothing of value to add other than to say this looks awesome. Love the thought process behind it too. Thanks for sharing!

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Thanks so much, Allan. I truly appreciate it.

[slantycouch]

Glad you shared this, Billy. Cool to see the process. Nice work!

[dabroiler]

Originally Posted by slantycouch

Glad you shared this, Billy. Cool to see the process. Nice work!

Thank you, Chris. I love the prints on your site!


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[atx840]

Very cool way of tackling the project, and impressive results.

[dabroiler]

Originally Posted by atx840

Very cool way of tackling the project, and impressive results.

Thank-you, Chris...I really appreciate it. The process was fun so I’ll probably do more at some point.


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