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I love fountain pens! I've been using them all my life and try to have my kids use them too (with some success so far). But, so called "rocking" (or rocker) bl

by bambax 9y ago

I love fountain pens! I've been using them all my life and try to have my kids use them too (with some success so far). But, so called "rocking" (or rocker) blotters are increasingly hard to find, so much so that I decided to design and produce my own. (It's a beautiful sheet of metal with a bent plastic part to hold the blotting paper). But I wonder if there really is a market for it? Do people still use fountain pens, and of those who do, how many would buy a blotter? Anyone knows where to find that kind of information?

poink 9y ago
Fountain pen-related stuff seems to do pretty well on Massdrop.
- cyberferret 9y ago
  Agreed. Massdrop actually re-ignited my fountain pen obsession after years of me trying to pretend I wasn't obsessed about them...
- olympus 9y ago
  Massdrop does pretty well in the "stuff I only needed one of but ended up chasing a dragon" categories: - Everyday carry tools/pocket knives - Mechanical keyboards - Headphones - Pens/pencils There seems to be a common type of person that wants to have different stuff than the mainstream, and they all start by buying Benchmade knives, Ducky keyboards, Grado headphones, and a Lamy Safari.
brandmeyer 9y ago
This isn't true for all fountain inks, but the ones that I use dry quickly enough that blotting just isn't necessary.
- bambax 9y ago
  It not only depends on the ink but on the paper, and the usage. When writing long documents there's no problem, but when signing contracts (or initialing them) a blotter is very necessary because there's no time for the ink to dry before another paper comes on top of it. Also, it's a cool object ;-)
hungrynerd 9y ago
There's a HUGE market. In fact the Japanese market alone is large enough that Pilot/Sailor/Platinum don't even release all their new pens to the US market. Try going to the forums - fountainpennetwork.com or fpgeeks.com to get interest in your blotters. I've seen rocking blotters sold by J. Herbin, so they still exist.
- bambax 9y ago
  Thanks!

by bambax 9y ago

poink 9y ago

Fountain pen-related stuff seems to do pretty well on Massdrop.

cyberferret 9y ago
Agreed. Massdrop actually re-ignited my fountain pen obsession after years of me trying to pretend I wasn't obsessed about them...
olympus 9y ago
Massdrop does pretty well in the "stuff I only needed one of but ended up chasing a dragon" categories: - Everyday carry tools/pocket knives - Mechanical keyboards - Headphones - Pens/pencils There seems to be a common type of person that wants to have different stuff than the mainstream, and they all start by buying Benchmade knives, Ducky keyboards, Grado headphones, and a Lamy Safari.

brandmeyer 9y ago

This isn't true for all fountain inks, but the ones that I use dry quickly enough that blotting just isn't necessary.

bambax 9y ago
It not only depends on the ink but on the paper, and the usage. When writing long documents there's no problem, but when signing contracts (or initialing them) a blotter is very necessary because there's no time for the ink to dry before another paper comes on top of it. Also, it's a cool object ;-)

hungrynerd 9y ago

There's a HUGE market. In fact the Japanese market alone is large enough that Pilot/Sailor/Platinum don't even release all their new pens to the US market. Try going to the forums - fountainpennetwork.com or fpgeeks.com to get interest in your blotters. I've seen rocking blotters sold by J. Herbin, so they still exist.

bambax 9y ago
Thanks!