All this talk of ink blotters, ink wells, nibs, etc. has reminded me of “pen wipers”. I hadn’t thought of those in years. In my grammar school the girls in their sewing class (girls took sewing and cooking; boys took shop) would begin learning how to sew by making pen wipers for their brothers and other boys in the class. They were made by stacking-up about 5 or 6 round pieces of absorbant cloth 3 inches in diameter and sewing them together in the middle. The resultant pen wiper could then be used when you were finished writing with the pen to wipe the ink off the pen nib before it was withdrawn from the pen and inserted in backwards to protect the point. Writing was an adventure in those days!
I think citing Shelley Berman is itself a sign of nostalgia… 
I never really thought about it.
When I read the OP, I was able to figure out basically what it was just because the name is pretty self-explanatory. It blots ink. (although for some reason, my first thought was that it was a piece of forensic equipment. something about inkblot tests and police scanners. I don’t know. my mind works in weird ways.)
It looks like the sort of thing I would have seen in books and maybe at my grandmother’s house or something and never really paid much attention to the name. I’ve seen them before, though.
But if I were standing in a store with someone who said, “find me an ink blotter” my response would be, “What’s an ink blotter?”
Nah, we had to use fountain pens at primary school, too. I’m 22.
I use a fountain pen, but it doesn’t dispense enough ink onto the page to require blotting.
Maybe. But cuttlefish bone has a chalky texture and, when ground, would be hard to identify as anything that came out of a gastropod.
just because somebody doesn’t know about every single thing from past eras doesn’t mean they have no sense of it.
I mean, it’s the very rare kid my age* who has never heard of the Beatles, Audrey Hepburn, Jackie O… we know that two-dollar bills used to be around, we really do know what records are even though our parents always like to pretend we don’t. We know about washboards and Model-Ts and the Charleston are too, as well as disco, Watergate, ataris, MAS*H, and so on.
Just because I’ve never seen a mimeograph machine and have no idea what doesn’t mean I’m woefully ignorant of the world around me and what came before me. Not any more than my parents are ignorant for not knowing how to milk cows or spin wool or my grandparents are ignorant for not knowing medieval court dances. And I know it wasn’t directed at me specifically, but the same goes for my peers. Give us a little credit.
eta: *my age= 16
Ink pens taught how to deal with frustration. Writing a paper only to have an ink blob come out and ruin the page. Even a blotter would not be enough to pick it up and smearing was common.
Is a hair saver for keeping the hair that comes off in your brush/comb, to use the hair for a hairpiece later?
um… it’s Alexander Graham Bell
also “frigidaire”–this brand name for a very early refrigerator became another common term for the device (like xerox).
I’m 37 (but in denial - therefore denial is not just a river in Egypt!) and when in grade 5 I learnt cursive writing with an inkwell and an ink pen with real ink, and blotting paper. Also in grade 5 we students would sniff the paper handouts because they reeked of metholated spirits. My first job at age 17 had me gasping in wonder at the fax machine, and although I stand at 5 feet two inches in stupid shoes, during the 80’s with my hair, I was officially 5 feet 6 inches. I was also raised by my Nanna, who had an original Westinghouse washing machine, complete with wringer. I grew up with the saying “I haven’t laughed so much since Mum got her tits caught in the wringer”. I don’t use that saying now because people don’t really grasp the concept of feeding sheets and stuff through a wringer to get excess water out. I also try not to use the phrases “You’ve been done with the rough end of a pineapple” meaning extremely lucky - or “I couldn’t shit in the ocean without splashing the sides” (unlucky) or “I couldn’t shit up a down-pipe” (also unlucky). Because people look at me strangely. Or it could be my hair. I never did get over the 80’s.
Do you mean a ‘hairtrap’? That’s something you put in the plug hole to stop all the hair going down the sink and blocking the drains.
Don’t forget the slide rule. If you remember them.
Or you can get one for your computer:
http://www.antiquark.com/sliderule/sim/
How about adding machines?
A lot of the things mentioned before are still around:
letraset
http://www.letraset.com/design/shopdisplaycategories.asp?id=76&cat=Lettering
adhesive wax
http://www.misterart.com/g1648/Jiffy-Adhesive-Wax-Stick.htm
ruling tape
http://weigang.de/Shop-Details.shopdetails+M5c78999c62f.0.html?&L=1
mimeographs!! :eek:
http://bargain-barn.net/ – click on the menu
there’s one item with USB connection
gum eraser
http://www.artstuff.net/gum_erasers.htm
(different from the pink pearl: http://www.pearlpaint.com/shop~ocID~2500~parentID~2499~categoryID~2498.htm )
pounce
http://www.artstuff.net/cleaning_pads_and_pounce.htm
carbon paper – but I hope it comes with instructions
Mucilage
http://www.misterart.com/store/view/001/group_id/1807/Ross-Mucilage.htm
Leroy lettering
http://www.eclipse.net/~essco/draft/leroy.htm
planimeter
http://www.lasico.com/page4.html
Ditto. Except that I turn 44 next week.
I’m 35. I know what ink blotters are, how they work, and what they look like, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in person. I’m certain I’ve never used one.
Lust4Life, I’m curious: On how large a sample are you basing your generalizations about today’s lazy kids? How many such kids do you personally know?