Where is the ink blotter

Pull the side panel off of the printer where the service station is to gain access the major pad. However, you will need to do a complete disassembly and check all of the pads to prevent it from overflowing. There’s a pad on the platen, and in the base as well.

Unless you’re willing to remove the print mech to get both components out for service (and clean the one that runs across the paper path), scrap it and get another one. These cheap printers are flat out built to be disposable — the MG series is the worst of the bunch for this. Buy something that’s actually economical to run this time around if you get rid of it.

A good rule for deciding if major work like this is worth it is based on the price — did you get it for almost nothing or was the printer free? Those two signs usually indicate the printer is beyond repair and was built to be used and discarded. The ink is also a red flag — the cheaper the printer, the worse the ink cost is. The MG series fails in both areas as they are low cost and use expensive tri-color ink. While the “free” printer is rare, a lot of cheap printers did come from deals like this over the years, but now they usually sell for ~$30-50 brand new.
When I say I see these things at Goodwill and other thrift stores all the time due to the cost of ink, I am not kidding - I used to buy them as SCANNERS because of how cheap they are since nobody wants them. Canon models aren’t as common since they’re pretty forgiving about non-OEM ink (outside of Creative Park which *doesn’t* like disabled monitoring since that’s how Canon knows), but 95% of the time if it’s there, the printer was cheap, and the ink was expensive, and the person who donated it buys new ones when they run out of ink. I have even seen NIB old models before! They got the rebate for the printer and DUMPED IT because they know.