blotter paper

[tntaylor]

Can anyone tell me the proper or best way to use blotter paper?

 

I've tried googling for information, but the sites that pop up seem more geared for acid-heads than fountain pen users. :blink:

 

Although I've never actually used ink blotter paper before, I have the feeling (brought on by reviewing journal entries and seeing how many pages have dots of ink from the opposite page splattering the text) that I should start.

 

So, any info/direction would be muchly appreciated!

 

t!

[Guest Denis Richard]

Hello Mrs.T

 

It's pretty simple and straightforward. For loose sheets/pieces of blotter, simply put it flat on the page where ink is fresh and dab a little without moving it. Moving it does not even really matter, as the stuff absorbs before you really a chance to smudge anything.

 

Imagine that it is sponge and that you are cleaning a little water on a kitchen counter or something like that.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Denis.

[tntaylor]

Hmmm, the fog begins to lift...

 

How long does a section (piece? square? not sure what it's called) of blotter paper tend to last? Do they become ink-logged and encrusted and unusable? Can they be cleaned, should they become overly inked? Are there various grades and qualites of blotter paper or is it all fairly standardized?

 

t!

 

(Thanks for the info, Denis!)

[Guest Denis Richard]

In my experience, they are usually lost before they become unusable due to ink saturation. Or they are so torn that they end up being merely pulp. I don't know if there are grades (I guess there are...).

 

I recently got a poster size sheet (at the local art store), and I predicty that this will last me for many many years. A good $2.79 investment

 

I cut it and started printing some vintage ads on them with my inkjet printer so that they are less boring. You can see them in the pics here.

Edited October 12, 2005 by Denis Richard

[Ann Finley]

Or t!, you can get an antique rocker blotter (they aren't all sailboats).

http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/4600/everythingbutmypens3qv.jpg

Also, you may come across some printed antique & other blotters like those in the picture. Of course you can always make your own "antique" blotters, if you have time on your hands like Denis! (Really, Denis, I like your blotters--printing them yourself is a great idea.)

 

Best, Ann

[tntaylor]

I cut it and started printing some vintage ads on them with my inkjet printer so that they are less boring. You can see them in the pics here.

You printed those?! Niiiiice. Does that not somehow affect the absorbability of the paper?

 

t!

[wimg]

I cut it and started printing some vintage ads on them with my inkjet printer so that they are less boring. You can see them in the pics here.

You printed those?! Niiiiice. Does that not somehow affect the absorbability of the paper?

 

t!

Hi T!,

 

It would only affect the side that is printed on, and even then likely only marginally. Since the stuff is relatively cheap, and lasts almost forever, it is a nice way to enhance the blotter paper you use...

 

Warm regards, Wim

[tntaylor]

Or t!, you can get an antique rocker blotter (they aren't all sailboats).

http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/4600/everythingbutmypens3qv.jpg

Ann, I was completely thrown by the scale of your picture. I've seen that sailboat rocker blotter before, but I'd thought it was kind of large. So, I thought that the box next to it, in your picture, was huge (somehow, in my mind, I had decided that those were pens, not converters, in the drawer). Then I realized that the glass containers were inkwells and that REALLY threw off my perception.

 

t!

[Guest Denis Richard]

I cut it and started printing some vintage ads on them with my inkjet printer so that they are less boring. You can see them in the pics here.

You printed those?! Niiiiice. Does that not somehow affect the absorbability of the paper?

 

t!

As Wim said, not sensibly. It still absorbs well, even on the printed surface. Cool thing is that the back of the blotter cleans the innards of the printer

[tntaylor]

Ok, I feel well schooled, now.

 

Off topic (but on subject...or is it the other way around?) why are office desk blotters (the ones that often are green felt-topped or come in the form of a calendar) called blotters? They don't blot anything, do they?

 

t!

[JeffTL]

I suspect it has something to do with the fact that they keep ink from seeping through your paper onto the surface of the desk.

[Guest Denis Richard]

I think Desk Blotters originally were filled with sheets of blotting paper, instead of felt. That would allow you to turn the page you just wrote on face down on the blotter, et voila !

 

Just a hunch...

[Blade Runner]

I buy an 18" x 24" pad of 70lb drawing paper made by Bienfang and cut to size for my Crane and Co. desk/writing pad. If I have something that needs blotting I turn the sheet onto the paper lined desk pad and press. After a while the blotting paper acquires an interesting appearance.

 

Regards,

Jeen

[Michael Wright]

Are there various grades and qualites of blotter paper or is it all fairly standardized?

You can certainly pay different prices for blotting paper. It can be hard to find here in the South Wet Pacific, and on one occasion of shortage I paid over NZ$6 at a rather chi-chi art supplies place. Normally, at normal shops, it's less than NZ$2.

 

It does come in different compositions. I remember some pink fluffy stuff at school in the 1950s which absorbed ink quickly, but became loathsome and soggy fairly soon (at least, in the hands of schoolboys). OTOH, when we had a good penshop here, the manager sourced the absorbent stock used for beer coasters and cut that up. Very substantial, but not so rapidly absorbent. In general, I think, the closer the texture, and so the slower the absorption rate, the more care you need to make sure you don't smudge with it.

 

I can remember when all tablets of writing paper had a sheet of blotch just under the top cover, and indeed my first bank had chequebooks with a sheet of blotting paper in them ..... [blithers off in anecdotage, things not the same, going to the dogs, younger generation, ballpoints etc. etc.]

 

Michael

[heidi]

I called all the local art supply stores around here (I'm in Chapel Hill, NC), and no one has blotting paper (unsized paper/watermark paper/blotter paper/absorbent paper)... Is it also called something else? I might try a camera store next (I think they use it to blot their prints)...

[Goodwhiskers]

The less saturated the ink is, the less I need to blot it, unless the document paper is slow to absorb water-based ink and I'm in a hurry with the document. For example, the material for the ridges of the imitation intaglio pattern on USPS money orders is not absorbent at all, so even Noodler's Black needs blotting on those (it's still absorbed between the ridges, so it remains secure and legible).

 

My mini-rocker blotter with an elephant handle (from Levenger, but sold out and not restocked for at least a year) fits handily in a little pocket in my bookbag / soft briefcase. It's three fingers wide. When I wrap my hand against the blotting surface, it fits between the base of my palm and my fingertips. It hasn't been convenient to pull out for signatures on credit card receipts, though.

[pvdiamon]

I called all the local art supply stores around here (I'm in Chapel Hill, NC), and no one has blotting paper (unsized paper/watermark paper/blotter paper/absorbent paper)... Is it also called something else? I might try a camera store next (I think they use it to blot their prints)...

Did you try Staples or Office Depot? I thought I saw one of them had desk size blotter paper at one time.

[TotosMom]

Heidi, you can also try Pendemonium. I got a pack from Sam a few years ago and I'm still using it!! But, I like the idea of running it through a printer to create images on the other side. Very cool!

 

Dorothy