Tuesday, October 20, 2009

What's in a name?

Someone recently asked me why I named this blog Ink Dots


Ink, is for the beautiful way a word appears on the page when it is written with an ink pen. One of my favorite Christmas presents ever is an elegant fountain pen which I use every day. There is something very romantic about the way the nib scrapes the paper and the purple ink flows, (yes I use purple ink) even if it's just a shopping list. The words milk and bread look so much better when they have little violet tails and swirls!


It reminds me of once upon a time when letters and diaries were scribbled by the light of the lamp. Last year as I was digging around in a thrift shop in Nappanee Indiana, I came across this old purple ink pot (above) made by Sanford's of New York and Chicago. I had to take it home to Australia with me, it was begging! How could I resist an octagonal faced charmer like this, with it's corked lid and brush? I don't know what the brush is for and I'm not sure how far back it dates. The Sanford Manufacturing Company first appeared in the Chicago Directory in 1873 but it's believed it was most likely established earlier than this. I like to imagine it's from the 1880s and in some Chicago attic there is a stack of faded purple love letters penned with it's ink. 


As for the Dots in my blog title, well that's me. Dot, Dotti, Dorothy. I go by all of these names. But you guessed that already right? Dots is also what the ink makes on its way to becoming words. Little splatters which join and blend and become the message on the page. My stories - my ink dots.