These conversion laboratories can be erected quickly and efficiently almost anywhere, usually in hotel or motel rooms in cities where rock concerts are scheduled or in recreational vehicles that follow certain rock bands on their concert tours, most notably the Grateful Dead Band.13 Sheets of paper usually are prepared with colorful designs or artwork of many different characters or images. The designs often are applied commercially by printing companies using off-set lithography, screen printing, or silk screening. Photocopiers also can be used to reproduce distinctive designs onto sheets effectively. Otherwise, the designs can be applied by rubber stamps or hand-drawn. Some LSD paper samples contain only one elaborate design per sheet.
Major traffickers use methods developed in the printing industry to perforate the paper sheets.
The printing inks generally are insoluble in the solvents to ensure that the image does not run. Because this production procedure is inexact, the potency of LSD can vary from sheet to sheet and even from square to square. The LSD application process is performed in this order to minimize loss of product. If the LSD is applied to the sheets prior to adding the designs, the bloated sheets of paper could jam printing or photocopying machines, wasting the valuable drug-soaked paper. In addition, there is a certain amount of waste inherent in commercial printing or photocopying operations.