Were the Blue Green Ripples more yellow or more green when they first produced?
Thanks
That is an excellent question. And I don't know the answer. To be honest, I am not sure what Waterman called this color. I called it Blue Green because that is the name used by Fischler & Schneider in their blue book, where I first saw it. I wouldn't be surprised if Waterman simply called it blue ripple - but I will try to look it up in their catalogs and get back to you.
I have always thought, and I could be completely wrong, that there were a limited number of colors of hard rubber. First was black, then red. Then they mixed them together and got mottled - this was used by several companies. Later companies used different mixing methods and got several different versions of what looked considerably more like wood.
1) Waterman called it wood grain
2) Conklin had mahogany
3) Wahl called it rosewood
A lot of companies went to celluloid. Waterman, being sort of stuck in its ways, wanted to keep using hard rubber. Some other colors of hard rubber were developed. These were also pretty limited - in fact, it was only yellow and blue.
So, it appears to me:
1) Olive ripple was made by mixing black and yellow
2) Blue Green ripple was made by mixing blue and yellow
3) Rose ripple was made by mixing red and yellow
If you have ever mixed paints, you know that mixing yellow and blue results in green. With the blue green, only a small amount of yellow resulted in a blue green look in some cases, especially around the edges where the colors mixed. If there was more yellow, it looked a little more like blue yellow.
I may be completely wrong about this. I have never really seen any definitive information about it. I would be more than happy if someone corrects me.
Regards, Allan Goforth