Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1900-08-30
ART or GROWING 5loTs.
An Interesting Experiment and the 1ms
PIGMENTS For irving II.

AhyhUB
This paper concerns blots-biots Of
Ink made on hlottins paper. grown
and cultivated with care. until. per-
haIs after many hours close atsen-
Ten, they have assumed shapes OF deli
case Pattern and extreme beauty. |
Il The reader has never before heard
beautiful Ink hIots-and, certainly.
Tie words should appear ~paraioxical
let him read IN and ma. he lie will
fHecome 20 fascinated with the idea
t}at be will take mp the hobby Of
caitivat.nc hlots with enthusiasm.
II must he explained that the blots
uuder discussion are not made 10y
pHerrly finding 4 pen with ink and al
lowing the drops 10 fall IN paper:
they are grown and watched with anx-
inos carr until they attain their full
n.eaS--e Of be2uty and form They
may he mad. with ordinary black,
o. llncilack writing ink. or with col
cred inks. or with mixtures of several
Minds Of inks. and as n blot grows,
tie colors Of the ink sometimes form
into different colored ~concentrie rings.
each colbr-rin- being sharply divided
from tie next.
In order 10 grow beautiful blots you
only require a small basin. an ink
bottle. a piece Of glass tubing or a
firm straw. Il piece of soft lampwick.
| and. Of course, some ink and blotting
,aopr. Tie ink bottles is placed in
The basin and is filed with ink. The
wick is inserted in the tube, which Is
placed in the ink bottle. II Is kept
iii an upright position by n lid OF paper
or Tin. with 4 hole in the centre. The
lletting paper i then placed over the
basin SO that lis centre touches the
slightly protruding wick. The blot
ting paper. thus fed by the wick. alb
sorls tho ink. while the blot grows
in the form of a circle and gradually
wiienS owing TO the force of canil-
larry attraction. In less than an hour
it will probably be four inches across:
il ma finally attain a diameter OF
about twelve inches.
1t must not no supposed that there
Is anything at all difficult in the way
of blot growing. If YOU have not 4
basin, a wick or a tube at hand, dis,
penSe with the basin. put IL extern
norary ~wick-say q piece from a tow
els ~fringe-in any eXtemporary tube
a piece OF 4 quill pen. for instance
and place the wick and tube in the
ink bottle: rrang matters so that on
end Of the wick touches the ink ant
the other end touches the blotting pa
per. and wait for the bio to develop
lonr interest will grow with tn
llots. Ii Will be observed that th'
edges of the circles into which tn,
tlots form are sometimes Serrated O
daintily s~callopcd: although some ink
preserve a perfectly smooth outlin
for each Of the two. three or nor
concentric circles into which the
may break. II becomes abSorbingl
Interesting to observe the different d.
v~elOpmentS caused by various inks
: every new experiment yields a me-
result.
When the bio has been grown wit
n certain kind of ink. il is interestin
\ 70 dilute the ink with water and the
! to grow another bio and note the di
ference. which will often he surprisin,
Or this experiment may be varied |
: feeding a blot with plain water aft,
Z it has been grown with undiluted inl
blot to spread in IL most remarkab
: and unexpected manner.-Pearson
. Weekly.