A drawdown is a process of comparing two inks by placing samples of them side by side and spreading them across a page. Once spread, any amount of color disparity will be noticeable with the naked eye. One would seek to compare an unknown ink sample with a known ink sample.

Applications include:

• Checking for contamination in an ink.


• Ensuring that the correct ink is in the appropriate cartridge.


• Comparing two different inks for color match purposes.

Materials Required:

• Scraper


• Paper


• Adhesive Tape


• A blunt knife (like a butter knife)


• Some paper towel


• Some sort of plastic

Instructions:

1. Take a piece of white paper and fold it in half.

2. Put that paper on your piece of plastic.

3. Place a stretch of adhesive tape along the top of your page.

4. Dip your knife into your ink bottle, or you can use a syringe to draw a little bit of ink out from a cartridge you are testing.

5. Tilt the knife vertically to let some ink pour off it onto the tape on the paper.

6. Wipe the knife and get the next sample.


7. You will want to position them fairly close to each other so that they are almost touching.

8. Take your scraper and press it against the top of the page, then quickly slide it down the page to spread the ink samples.

9. Compare the two inks.