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Thread: Blotting Paper

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    Default Blotting Paper

    I bought a vintage blotter at the flea market last weekend. I got to looking at it and thought it looked a lot like construction paper. I went to the dollar store and got some construction paper and it seems to work just as well. Is blotter paper really construction paper marked as something else?

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    FPG Donor ♕ KrazyIvan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blotting Paper

    As long as the paper is absorbent, it will work as blotter paper.
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    Default Re: Blotting Paper

    Not tried this myself, so just guessing, but do you lose the sheen of a sheeny ink if you blot it?

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    Default Re: Blotting Paper

    Quote Originally Posted by Spideysgirl View Post
    I bought a vintage blotter at the flea market last weekend. I got to looking at it and thought it looked a lot like construction paper. I went to the dollar store and got some construction paper and it seems to work just as well. Is blotter paper really construction paper marked as something else?

    Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
    I'm not sure what "construction paper" would be, here in the UK. Maybe someone else knows?
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    Default Re: Blotting Paper

    Construction paper (aka sugar paper?) is rougher and more fibrous than blotting paper. It could work as blotting paper but the coloured sheets would make it harder to appreciate accumulated traces of different inks.

    I use an old A5 pad of cartridge paper (watercolour paper) to furnish A6 blotting sheets for my Hobonichi Techos.

    @ EoC: no appreciable loss of sheen if you don't blot immediately.

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    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blotting Paper

    Quote Originally Posted by Spideysgirl View Post
    ...Is blotter paper really construction paper marked as something else?
    No. Blotting paper is designed to draw a sufficient quantity of ink off the writing surface so as to prevent the blotted ink from returning to the writing surface, even with an immediate second application of the blotting paper.

    My guess is you bought an old advertising blotting card. Those usually perform better than modern blotting paper bought from art supply stores. I never tried construction paper, but given it's thin weight compared to classic blotting paper, I cannot imagine it would have the capacity to draw heavy ink blobs without returning the blotted ink to the writing surface.

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    Default Re: Blotting Paper

    Quote Originally Posted by Empty_of_Clouds View Post
    Not tried this myself, so just guessing, but do you lose the sheen of a sheeny ink if you blot it?
    Yes. If you are using an ink that shades, you usually end up with no shading after blotting. Blotting speeds up drying if you really need it. Just a side note: I have old leather bank register books that have blotting paper between each page of the book.
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    Default Re: Blotting Paper

    Blotter paper is heavier than construction paper in my experience.
    JBBPensPaper an Etsy store

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    Default Re: Blotting Paper

    To be honest, this is the first time I hear about something like this. I should check ... I'm pretty sure there are some differences between the two. I am currently doing some repairs, so it will not be difficult for me to check it, though I will have to wait a bit. At the moment I am repairing gutters, so paper is simply unnecessary here. I think that when I start doing repairs in the garage, I can check it out. It seems to me that this will happen in about a month, perhaps a little later. In any case, when I do this, I will write down my results in this topic ..
    Last edited by Veighag; October 7th, 2020 at 07:16 PM.

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    Default Re: Blotting Paper

    Blotting paper is its own thing. Paper manufacturers make it specifically. Other industries use it too.

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    Default Re: Blotting Paper

    I have/use blotting paper.
    JBBPensPaper an Etsy store

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    Default Re: Blotting Paper

    No, construction paper is wood pulp based paper and blotter paper is cotton based paper. Blotter paper is much more absorbent.

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    Default Re: Blotting Paper

    Quote Originally Posted by Wile E Coyote View Post
    No, construction paper is wood pulp based paper and blotter paper is cotton based paper. Blotter paper is much more absorbent.
    Here's an alpha cellulose (wood) based one.

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    Default Re: Blotting Paper

    Quote Originally Posted by Ole Juul View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Wile E Coyote View Post
    No, construction paper is wood pulp based paper and blotter paper is cotton based paper. Blotter paper is much more absorbent.
    Here's an alpha cellulose (wood) based one.
    That's because the Alpha Cellulose is high

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    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blotting Paper

    So far, the most effective blotting paper I've found are pages from obsolete photographic print-drying books, better than vintage blotting sheets and cards. You can buy them off eBay, and one should provide you with many years' supply.

    I bought used, but here's a seller selling them N.O.S., still wrapped, for only $8! (Still has the $33 sticker on them.) https://www.ebay.com/itm/Delta-1-Pho...s/283932452178


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    Default Re: Blotting Paper

    Quote Originally Posted by FredRydr View Post
    So far, the most effective blotting paper I've found are pages from obsolete photographic print-drying books, better than vintage blotting sheets and cards.
    You know, Fred, it was late and I should have headed off to bed. Then I saw this thread, and started looking on eBay, looking at my slightly-smaller rocker blotter, thinking about felt padding...

    So I went out to the garage, got the box of imported felt I have for covering timpani mallets and found some piano felt to cut a piece to soften my rocker. And then I looked and the only piece of blotter paper I've had on there was pretty used up, so I had to dig through another box of materials to find the pack of blotting papers I bought from Sam and Frank (Pendemonium) to cut a new piece. The sheets from there are odd because I can only get one piece out of every sheet so there is a lot of waste, but even still it would last me for years, I think...

    And then I ene up on eBay, still, and find a pack for about $10 plus almost that for shipping, and I'm thinking "Do I really need this? More than I'll EVER use?"

    I don't know. If I bought a book of this stuff, would anyone want to share in the cost for part of it (it doesn't say how many pages)? I don't mind spending money on stuff I like or would use but space is now at a premium and it seems folly, just because I am interested, to get this much.

    Yea, I'm rambling. My rocker blotter is happier this morning, though!
    "When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
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    Default Re: Blotting Paper

    BTW, Fred, while I was looking for various searches on "blotter", I came across the following, which appears to be nearly custom made (size-wise) for one of yours:

    "When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
    and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

    ~ Benjamin Franklin

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    Default Re: Blotting Paper

    Quote Originally Posted by Jon Szanto View Post
    BTW, Fred, while I was looking for various searches on "blotter", I came across the following, which appears to be nearly custom made (size-wise) for one of yours....
    For one of my...what? I only have one!

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    Senior Member Jon Szanto's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blotting Paper

    Quote Originally Posted by FredRydr View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Jon Szanto View Post
    BTW, Fred, while I was looking for various searches on "blotter", I came across the following, which appears to be nearly custom made (size-wise) for one of yours....
    For one of my...what? I only have one!
    Ah, my bad. In your other rocker blotter thread I thought all the photos you posted of them were still part of the collection. I'm not going to read anything else into... anything else.
    "When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
    and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

    ~ Benjamin Franklin

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    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Blotting Paper

    Quote Originally Posted by Jon Szanto View Post
    ... I'm not going to read anything else into... anything else.

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