Union Ink Neon Blue (Solar Blue) anyone have experience?

[Frog]

I have a custy who specifically called for Neon blue on a small team job, and even ponied up a little extra since I had to buy a quart just for this.
It's available in both the Maxo and Mixo series, and since a few formulas call for it, I went with the Mixo.

It ain't neon at all!

Now, I know that even with fabric, neon blue does not have the pop of other neons, but is the Maxo Solar blue any better?

I do plan to call the Union area rep as well, but it's pretty early for a West Coast guy to be up.

[tonypep]

Neon blues do not exhibit flourescent characteristics under normal lighting conditions although some may pop under ultraviolet light sources. Thats pretty much regardless of brand. I do remember working with an ink company on phospherescent colors including blues, purples, reds, etc but it turned out some of the ingredients were known carcinogens.

[Roc]

Yes I have this ink and No it is not neon. Has a look that goes well with other
neon ink( I use Union for all my neon PADM Series). Seems like any darker
color does not reflect enough light to give a neon appearance.

[Frog]

My question is, will the Maxo be any significant improvement over the Mixo? I don't want to throw good money after bad.

And, welcome Roc

[inkman996]

Andy since you already have the mixo and of the job is not that big just build it up with the flash I think in the end it would look the same mixo or maxopaque

[Frog]

News Flash, and a dirty little secret!

I just got off the phone with my rep, and was informed that with Solar Blue (and all Fluorescents) The Mixo comes out of the same bucket as the Maxo! (at a couple of bucks more!)
He emphasized that this was only with the Neons (they are single pigments rather than mixes)

[StuJohnston]

Basically what Tony said, but here are words that I wrote before I actually read what he said.

I use a fair different numbers of inks and pigments and personally, I don't find neon blue to be very impressive overall. If you look at the pantone book or any ink swatch book from any manufacturer and compare to say neon orange, green or yellow, it looks pretty pathetic in regular light. I have the pigment from nazdar and even in powder form, it doesn't look very striking next to the other nazdar neon pigments I have.

On the subject of the mixo series specifically, I have only used one of the neon mixos (magenta I think?) but it only pops in sunlight. Another thought is, aren't the mixo/maxo series full of binders to keep them on top of the fabric? I would think that would cut down on the vibrancy as well.

What color is this on or next to?

[Frog]

Basically what Tony said, but here are words that I wrote before I actually read what he said.

I use a fair different numbers of inks and pigments and personally, I don't find neon blue to be very impressive overall. If you look at the pantone book or any ink swatch book from any manufacturer and compare to say neon orange, green or yellow, it looks pretty pathetic in regular light. I have the pigment from nazdar and even in powder form, it doesn't look very striking next to the other nazdar neon pigments I have.

On the subject of the mixo series specifically, I have only used one of the neon mixos (magenta I think?) but it only pops in sunlight. Another thought is, aren't the mixo/maxo series full of binders to keep them on top of the fabric? I would think that would cut down on the vibrancy as well.

What color is this on or next to?

Mixo and Maxo are just high pigment Opaque inks, originally designed for p/f/p, and I'm sure have all of the required and usual binders and all. The Mixo inks  also typically get based way down on light colors.
This job, is on silver poly ST350 Competitors, and I probably won't modify the inks, but will put the blue  through a 180, while the Orbit Yellow is going through a 140.