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These three rocker blotters sit in my main writing area at home, next to each other. If I'm traveling, I generally put a small loose sheet of blotter paper in my travel notebook. They don't get used much, although you can see some ink spots on the top one, here. Most of the time, there really seems to be no point, as the ink tends to dry quickly. But this morning, I made a short entry in my journal, walked away from it for about half an hour, came back and noticed it still open, and shut the book. When I opened it again, some of the brown Noodler's ink with which I'd made the date header had transferred itself to the facing page, while the purple Iroshizuku ink that I'd used for the actual entry had not. The rule seems to be that if I do remember to blot something, it will probably turn out that I didn't need to. But if I forget, sometimes it turns out that I really should have. The still wet brown ink, by the way, was being used with a semi-dip pen, an Esterbrook Dip-Less. I say semi, because although you dip the pen, it uses a regular fountain pen nib and feed unit, and should act just like a fountain pen for writing. I don't actually put Noodlers in regular fountain pens any more, but I use it in a couple of these wells.

I'm struggling to get the best out of Diamine's new shimmering inks. I'm using Purple Pazazz and Shimmering Seas. I've tried different pens, but not getting a lot of shimmer (ad I did shake the bottle before filling). However, after rubbing down a couple of spills, I notice the shimmer there more - so is there a possibility that the shimmer is being hampered by layers of ink, as the particles end up on the page, rather than on the surface, where they can be seen by the reader. I was thinking that perhaps some blotting paper might help, or is the shimmer effect quite muted? (I can see it, but I struggle)