Lotsa copiers, what to use them for?

August 17, 2011 7:25 PM

Imagine that you have multiple colour and black and white office size copiers/mfps at your disposal. What would you use them for?
posted by swontario to Work & Money (3 answers total)

Copy toner (black for sure, I don't know about color) will transfer with acetone. You can make collages and all sorts of neat things. It's a really cool effect.

Method:

1) Print things (words, pictures, etc) you'd transfer. For direction-specific things (like words), make sure they're printed in a mirror image.

2) Make copies.

3) Get a large natural-bristle paintbrush and a can of acetone from the hardware store. Find a well-ventilated area to work in.

4) Put copy toner-side down onto your surface (can be wood, cloth, paper--NO plastic, though) and paint the back liberally with acetone so that it's saturated. Firmly press and hold for a few seconds as if it were a temporary tattoo.

5) Gently remove copy. Stand back and admire your handiwork.

You can leave it as-is or paint over it with highly diluted watercolor. It won't transfer completely, though, so your final result will have a lot of "noise".


In art class in middle school we had to paint something we liked in the style of our favorite artist. I made a gigantic hershey's syrup bottle full of tiny acetone transferred hershey's syrup bottles, Andy Warhol style. It was AWESOME. I made some enemies in the teacher's lounge, though, using their copy machine to make 100+ "frivolous" copies, so it's good that you have access to your own machines. Enjoy!
posted by phunniemee at 7:48 PM on August 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

Minicomics.

Lots and lots of minicomics with full-color covers.

It's one of the things I miss most about working in an office, honestly.
posted by Narrative Priorities at 8:55 PM on August 17, 2011

If they can be used as a computer printer, you need to check out Rasterbator. Here are a few ideas to get you started..
posted by Wild_Eep at 9:40 PM on August 17, 2011