Using Blotting Paper

[inkstainedruth]

I bought a a really pretty rocker blotter on Ebay awhile back (a BiN from a business in the UK) but keep forgetting to put it up by where I keep my journal. Mostly I don't need it, but some inks dry really slowly (currently I have been buying the Markings line by CR Gibson, because they are relatively inexpensive but have pretty FP friendly paper, with almost no showthrough). When you write three pages a day, you're going to be turning pages and the wetter inks do smudge onto the previous page regardless (for very wet inks I can't close the journal until the ink is really dry).

The problem with the J Herbin paper is that I can't cut it down efficiently -- either one dimension or the other will just be the wrong size, so I will have wastage. Or I'll have to remember to do what someone on FPN suggested, which was to save the leftover pieces (which are generally about the size of return address label) for signatures.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Tom Aquinas]

i have a blotting board on one desk, and several years ago I was given a Selangor Pewter rocker (an elephant which faces the door of my study). I find that I do not need them so much with M and F nibs, but B and Italic nibs I do need a blotter.

 

EDIT: My letter paper pads all have blotting paper , and I use that paper for cutting sheets for the rocker, if they are clean enough.

Edited September 23, 2013 by Tom Aquinas

[Centopar]

I buy A5 blotting paper from Amazon UK. I use full sheets at the desk, and cut it in half to fit a few sheets in the flap at the front of my Midori Travellers Notebook. As Bo Bo mentions, if you want the full effect from shading inks you're best off exercising patience rather than blotting.

 

A note: I was in New Orleans last week, it was 100% humidity, and most of the pens I'd brought were quite wet writers. My ink WOULD NOT DRY. I was very thankful for my anal-retentive, always-to-hand bits of blotting paper while I was there.

[Felix1]

I haven't bought blotting paper since I was an undergrad...every lab has a plentiful supply of Whatman blotting paper in various sizes and thicknesses.

 

http://www.whatman.com/BlottingPapers.aspx

 

For a frame of reference, 24 pound printer paper is ~ .0045 inches thick; GB003 is roughly seven sheets of paper thick and works quite nicely, GB003 is about three sheets thick.

 

 

[EKE]

I never blot unless I need to, if I have to close my journal in a hurry. I keep a blotter card in my journal for that eventuality. I just lay the card on top of my writing and close the journal.

[DrCodfish]

I purchased a large amount of desk-sized(19"x24") blotters from Ebay and cut them to various sizes to suite my needs. I cut several pieces to fit my various journals

so I don't have to wait for ink to dry to close them. I have some larger for general blotting. I cut some in half anf use as a backing for letter-writing. Very handy.

 

" I cut several pieces to fit my various journals so I don't have to wait for ink to dry to close them."

 

I do this, I'm a lefty overwriter so blotting is essential. I keep track of life and it's parts in several different journals so I keep a fitted blotter in each.

 

I get blotting paper with orders from John Motishaw and R Binder. I have been tempted to buy a few vitage advertising blotters that are available on eBay, but a friend gifted me a pack of the Herbin blotters and I think that should be enough to see me to the grave.

 

I aslo bought one of those cute little black elephant rocker blotters for my desk.

[Wahl]

Years ago I bought a pack of 50 from Pendemonium, great quality, it will last me forever.

 

I only use it when necessary, but it´s always close.

[Newjelan]

I always have a sheet of J. Herbin blotting paper in an A4 or B5 notebook and a sheet of the Visconti blotting paper in A5 or smaller notebooks. I don't use them that much even though I like wet nibs and use high quality paper. However, occasionally they're useful when I'm in a meeting and need to turn the notebook page quickly.

[Namru]

Once a pad of Basildon Bond is exhausted, I just take the blotting sheet and stick it in a Rhodia pad or notebook. I only use blotting paper when the luxury of time isn't available to allow the ink to dry.

[RobertP]

Picked up 5 sheets of "almost" A2 size blotting paper (445mm x 570mm) for a couple of quid from Ryman's in Brighton over the weekend.

 

That will last me for a few years now! Cut 'em down to a bunch of A5 and A4 sheets and I'll be armed for any accidental splills, page-turning when I can't wait those 5 long seconds for the ink to dry, nib cleaning and any potential inky mishaps

[fpconverted]

Art stores which cater artists will have them as they are used in water color paintings.