The vastly disparate penalties for possessing LSD affected the choice of medium for the acid-taking community. United States, the court found that Congress had intended to include the weight of the carrier medium for LSD in its sentencing guidelines, regardless of whether it was in liquid form, on blotting paper, or the much heavier sugar cubes. In the United States Supreme Court case Chapman v.

After LSD became illegal, first in California in 1966, the use of blotter paper as a medium became more common. History LSD and blotting paper Įarly in its history, LSD was distributed in liquid form, sometimes applied to sugar cubes, or in pills, capsules, or gelatin 'window panes'. San Francisco collector Mark McCloud founded the Institute of Illegal Images, which includes over 33,000 sheets of blotter art. Cartoon characters were often exhibited, and many examples contain religious and mystical imagery or pay homage to figures in the psychedelia subculture.īlotter art has been exhibited at art galleries and undipped blotter is often sold online. Blotter art also appears on blotter paper carrying other potent substances, and on undipped (drug-free) sheets.īlotter art frequently incorporates themes common to psychedelic art, using bright, contrasting colors and repeating patterns in its designs. Individual pieces, separated along the perforations, were sold as 'hits', with a carefully calculated dosage in micrograms, so users could plan the intensity of their 'trip'. Images may be of various sizes but sheets are often 7.5-inch (190 mm)-square and perforated into a 30 by 30 grid.

The use of graphics on blotter sheets originated as an underground art form in the early 1970s, sometimes to help identify the dosage, maker, or batch of LSD. The delivery method gained popularity following the banning of the hallucinogen LSD in the late 1960s.

Art form on the medium of LSD blotter paper Nine tabs of ' Eye of Horus' blotterīlotter art is an art form printed on perforated sheets of absorbent blotting paper infused with liquid LSD.

Blotter art frame 7.5 by 7.5 inch