HEKTO

from Fancyclopedia 2

A means, more or less, of reproduction. The basic hekto is a pan of rather firm gelatin; a master copy prepared with special hekto carbons or hekto ink is placed on this, and much of the pigment on the latter is deposited on the former. Sheets for copy are placed face down on this, smoothed out, and then removed; on each one some of the ink comes off -- enough, you hope, to make a legible copy. As the Greek root 'ekatos suggests 100 copies may be obtained in theory; but experience warns that after about 70, "copies" begin to resemble paper with an unusually large water-mark. Legible limit is about 50 (the original FAPA membership limit was determined thusly), best color for long runs being the well-known purple [methyl violet]. All the colors of ditto can be used by hekto, plus some delicate shades available in hekto pencil form which don't hold up for the spirit process. Besides the primitive pan hekto, various film (gelatin on stiff paper) devices and mechanical gadgets for applying the paper smoothly to the jelly are available, but hardly worth it; they don't increase the length of the run.