The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-12-27
cuLTIvATiNe INK BLoTs.
Peculiar Pastime Which Affords
Amusement For some People.

Peculiar Pastime which Affords
Amusement For Some People.
This paper concerns blots-blots Of ink.
made OH blotting paper, grown and cn:ti-
waited with care, until. perhaps after
many hours close attention, they have
assumed shapes OF delicate pattern and
extreme beauty.
II the reader has never before heard Of
beautiful ink blots-and, certainly, the
words would appear paradoxical--let him
read on and maybe he will become so
fascinated with the idea that he will take
up the hobby Of cultivating blots with en-
thusiasm.
1t must be explained that the blots I'M
der discussion are not made by merely
filing a pen with ink and allowing the
drops to fall on paper. They are grown
and watched with anxious care until they
attain their full measure of beauty ana
form. They may be made with ordinary
black or blue black writing ink or with
colored inks or with mixtures Of several
kinds Of inks, and. as blot grows. the
colors of the ink sometimes form into diff
ferently colored concentric rings, each
color ring being sharply divided from the
next.
In order to grow beautiful blots, you
only require small basin, an ink bottle,
a piece of glass tubing or firm straw, a
piece Of soft lamp wick and. Of course,
some ink and blotting paper. The ink
bottle is placed in the basin and is filled
with ink The wick is inserted In the
tube, which is placed in the ink bottle.
and is kept in an upright position by
lid Of paper or tim with hole in the CEN
ter. The blotting paper is then placed
over the basin so that its center touches
the slightly protruding wick. The blot
ting paper. thus fed by the wick, absorbs
the ink, while the blot grows in the form
of a circle and gradually widens. owing
to the force Of capillary attraction. In
less than an hour it will probably he four
inches ACROSS. 1t may, finally attain
diameter of about II inches.
1t must not be supposed that there Is
| anything at all difficult in the way OF
blot growing. II you have not basin,
wick or a tube at hand. dispense with
the basin. put any extemporary wick.
say a piece from a towels fringe. in amy
extemporary tube. piece Of quill pen,
for instance. and place the wick and tube
in the ink bottle. Arrange nntters so
that one end of the wick ssacncs the ink
and the other end touches the blotting
paper and wait for the blot to develop.
Your interest will grow with the biots.
1t will be observed that the edges of the
circles into which the blots form are
sometimes serrated or daintily scalloped.
although some inks preserve perfectly
smooth outline for each of the two. three
or more concentrc circles into which
they may break. 1t becomes absorbngly
interesting to observe the different de-
yelopments caused by various inks.
Every new experiment yields new re-
suit.
When the blot has been grown with
certain kind Of ink. it is interesting to
dilute the ink with water and then to
grow another blot and note the difference.
which will often be surprising. Or this
experiment may be varied by feeding a
blot with plain water after it has been
grown with undiluted ink. The water
will often cause the original blot TO
spread in most remarkable and unex-
pected manner.-Pearson's Magazine.