Advertising Ink BlottersĬompanies began giving away blotter sheets with their advertising messages and contact details. Advertisers were quick to see an opportunity and capitalize on it. (Sorry!)īy the 1950’s, even though fashionable desk sets still included a rocker, many people had found that it was just as effective (and a little more convenient) to simply use blotting paper sheets and press them down on a page by hand. So far we’ve established that fountain pen users were the first rock ‘n rollers. ![]() They never quite gained the same popularity, probably because they didn’t work quite as well. These blotter rollers can also be found in antique shops and through online auctions, but not as commonly as the rockers. It could then be rolled over the page to absorb the ink. The basic idea was the same botting paper was wrapped around the roller and glued in place. The paper retained ink far better than felt, and could be replaced quickly and inexpensively.Ī variation on the idea of the rocker was another design in the form of a roller. This highly absorbent blotting paper (with the thickness of a card stock) was easily cut to size and attached to a rocker using a plate and screw. You may also recognize it as very similar to the paper used by watercolor artists. ![]() Bibulous paper is a fibrous paper that is also used in laboratories for test strips. Then, in 1856, the company of Joseph Parker and Son, began producing bibulous paper for ink blotting. ![]() This was a marked improvement, but the felt was expensive and tended to become stained before long and could leave marks. These had a piece of felt attached to a curved base, and were used by rocking the felt over the page so that it absorbed the freshly laid down ink. In the early 1800’s, the first “hand blotters” were devised. It worked to a degree, but you only need to go back and read some documents of that era to see that smudging was a problem. Gently vibrating the paper whilst the pounce or sand is on it ensures that little or no pounce or sand sticks to the handwriting and excess sand or pounce is shaken off before folding the paper.Before the invention of ink blotting paper, starting back in the days of quill pens, people would sometimes sprinkle salt on their writing as a way to quickly dry up excess ink. When using a quill or a steel nib, and with inks that are made up to match those typically in use during the 18th and 19th centuries, and provided the pen has been used with the fine strokes typical of handwriting of that period, the handwriting will be sufficiently dry within 10 seconds to allow the paper to be folded without blotting. Pounce is gently sprinkled all over the writing on the paper. The process is very effective for quickly drying ink, and although blotting paper has been available since the Tudor period, pounce or sand continued to be used throughout the nineteenth century because it was often cheaper.Īpplication Handwriting and calligraphy In the 19th century the pounce pots or sanders often had a shallow dish round the top so that pounce or sand could be returned to the pot and reused. It was also used to prepare the surface when drafting with Rapidograph pens on mylar, a common drafting medium in the late twentieth century. This was especially needed if the paper came " unsized", that is, lacking the thin gelatinous material used to fill the surface of the paper and make it smooth enough for writing with a quill or a steel nib. Pounce or sand is a fine powder, most often made from powdered cuttlefish bone or sandarac resin, that was used both to dry ink and to sprinkle on a rough writing surface to make it smooth enough for writing. ![]() JSTOR ( July 2022) ( template removal help)Ī pounce pot (or sprinkler) at the London Science Museum.Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.
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