diff --git a/users/sterni/blipqn/blipqn.bqn b/users/sterni/blipqn/blipqn.bqn
index a9d904ca0..a18f68b2e 100644
--- a/users/sterni/blipqn/blipqn.bqn
+++ b/users/sterni/blipqn/blipqn.bqn
@@ -1,20 +1,42 @@
-MakeFlipdot⇐
+WithFlipdot⇐
 
-# - host (char*) argument:
-#   - Assume char is i8 (safe even if it's actually u8 if
-#     ASCII). We can't let •FFI check this for us since CBQN doesn't support
-#     specifying c7. We do this in MakeFlipdot
-#   - Needs to be zero-terminated, we also do this in MakeFlipdot.
-# - bitmap_len (size_t) argument: assume size_t is at least u32.
-ffi_send_to_flipdot ← "libflipdot.so" •FFI "i8"‿"send_to_flipdot"‿"*i8:c8"‿"u16"‿"*u8"‿"u32"
+t ← {
+  bool ⇐ "i8"
+  # needs bound checking in wrapper (no c7 in CBQN) and zero byte appended
+  charp ⇐ "*i8:c8"
+  # assume size_t is at least 32bit
+  size ⇐ "u32"
+  # used for struct flipdot *
+  hdl ⇐ "*"
+}
+
+ffi_flipdot_open  ← "libflipdot.so" •FFI  t.hdl‿"flipdot_open"‿t.charp‿"u16"
+ffi_flipdot_close ← "libflipdot.so" •FFI     ""‿"flipdot_close"‿t.hdl
+ffi_flipdot_send  ← "libflipdot.so" •FFI t.bool‿"flipdot_send"‿t.hdl‿"*u8"‿t.size
 
 Compact ← +´∘(⌽ × 2⊸⋆∘↕∘≠)˘∘(∘‿8⊸⥊)
 
 MakeFlipdot ← {
-  host‿port 𝕊 w‿h:
-  "Total pixel count must be divisible by 8" ! 0=8|w×h
+  host‿port‿w‿h:
   "Hostname must be ASCII"                   ! ∧´(@+127)≥host
+  "Total pixel count must be divisible by 8" ! 0=8|w×h
+
+  hdl ← FFI_flipdot_open (host∾@)‿port
+  Close ⇐ {𝕤 ⋄ FFI_flipdot_close ⋈hdl}
+
   shape ⇐ h‿w
   empty ⇐ shape⥊0
-  Send ⇐ {"sendto(2) error"!FFI_send_to_flipdot (host∾@)‿port∾(⊢⋈≠) Compact 𝕩}
+  Send ⇐ {FFI_flipdot_send hdl∾(⊢⋈≠) Compact 𝕩}
 }
+
+# Inspired by Go's defer. Will execute 𝔽 after 𝔾 (passing 𝕨 and 𝕩 to each)
+# even if an error occurs. If an error occurred, _defer_ will cause an
+# assertion failure with the error message after executing 𝔾. This looses
+# the original error location, though.
+_defer_ ← {
+  # At least in CBQN, •CurrentError may fail for namespace related reasons
+  s‿r ← (1⊸⋈∘𝔾)⎊(0⊸⋈∘(•CurrentError⎊("_defer_: Unknown Error occurred"˙))) 𝕩 ⋄ 𝔽 𝕩 ⋄ r⊣r!s;
+  (𝕨⊸𝔽) _𝕣_ (𝕨⊸𝔾) 𝕩
+}
+
+WithFlipdot ← {{𝕩.Close @} _defer_ 𝕏 MakeFlipdot 𝕨}
diff --git a/users/sterni/blipqn/examples.bqn b/users/sterni/blipqn/examples.bqn
index 85c5b479e..54b4f6012 100755
--- a/users/sterni/blipqn/examples.bqn
+++ b/users/sterni/blipqn/examples.bqn
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env BQN
 
-⟨MakeFlipdot⟩ ⇐ •Import "../lib/"⊸∾⍟("bin" (⊣≡(-∘≠⊸↑)) •path) "blipqn.bqn"
+⟨WithFlipdot⟩ ⇐ •Import "../lib/"⊸∾⍟("bin" (⊣≡(-∘≠⊸↑)) •path) "blipqn.bqn"
 
 examples ← ⍉>⟨
 "random"‿{𝕩.Send 𝕩.shape •rand.Range 2},
@@ -19,11 +19,9 @@ opts ← {
   host‿port‿width‿height‿example ← •args
 
   example ⇐
-  addr ⇐ host⋈•ParseFloat port
-  dim ⇐ •ParseFloat¨ width‿height
+  cfg ⇐ ⟨host⟩∾•ParseFloat¨ port‿width‿height
 }
 
 action ← examples (⊏⊸(⊑∘⊐) ⊑ ⊏˜⟜1)⟜< opts.example
 
-flip ← opts.addr MakeFlipdot opts.dim
-Action flip
+opts.cfg WithFlipdot action
diff --git a/users/sterni/blipqn/flipdot.c b/users/sterni/blipqn/flipdot.c
index 1bdd06c8f..aa1cb85fc 100644
--- a/users/sterni/blipqn/flipdot.c
+++ b/users/sterni/blipqn/flipdot.c
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 #define _DEFAULT_SOURCE          // see getnameinfo(3), for NI_MAX*
 #define _POSIX_C_SOURCE 200112L  // see getaddrinfo(3)
 #include <assert.h>
-#include <limits.h>
 #include <netdb.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <sys/socket.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
@@ -19,29 +19,53 @@ int resolve_addr(char *host, char *port, struct addrinfo **addrs) {
   return getaddrinfo(host, port, &hints, addrs);
 }
 
-// Send given bytes[len] to the host:port via UDP, returns 1 if all bytes
-// where sent and no locally detectable errors occurred.
-int8_t send_to_flipdot(char *host, in_port_t port_number, uint8_t *bitmap,
-                       size_t bitmap_len) {
+struct flipdot {
+  int sockfd;
+  struct addrinfo *addrs;
+};
+
+// Assumes all pointers in struct flipdot are not NULL which should be the case
+// for any struct returned by flipdot_open().
+void flipdot_close(struct flipdot *flipdot) {
+  freeaddrinfo(flipdot->addrs);
+  close(flipdot->sockfd);
+  free(flipdot);
+}
+
+// Returns NULL if some error occurred. Note that errno isn't necessarily set.
+struct flipdot *flipdot_open(char *host, in_port_t port_number) {
   char port[NI_MAXSERV];
-  int sockfd = -1;
-  ssize_t sent = 0;
-  struct addrinfo *addrs = NULL;
+  struct flipdot *flipdot = malloc(sizeof(struct flipdot));
+  if (flipdot == NULL) goto error;
 
-  if (snprintf(port, sizeof port, "%d", port_number) < 0) goto error;
+  memset(flipdot, 0, sizeof(struct flipdot));
+  flipdot->sockfd = -1;
+  flipdot->addrs = NULL;
 
-  if (resolve_addr(host, port, &addrs) != 0) goto error;
+  if (snprintf(port, sizeof(port), "%d", port_number) < 0) goto error;
+  if (resolve_addr(host, port, &flipdot->addrs) != 0) goto error;
 
-  sockfd = socket(addrs->ai_family, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_UDP);
-  if (sockfd < 0) goto error;
+  flipdot->sockfd = socket(flipdot->addrs->ai_family, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_UDP);
+  if (flipdot->sockfd < 0) goto error;
 
-  sent =
-      sendto(sockfd, bitmap, bitmap_len, 0, addrs->ai_addr, addrs->ai_addrlen);
-
-  if (sent != (ssize_t)bitmap_len) goto error;
+  return flipdot;
 
 error:
-  if (addrs != NULL) freeaddrinfo(addrs);
-  if (sockfd >= 0) close(sockfd);
+  if (flipdot != NULL) {
+    if (flipdot->sockfd >= 0) close(flipdot->sockfd);
+    if (flipdot->addrs != NULL) freeaddrinfo(flipdot->addrs);
+    free(flipdot);
+  }
+
+  return NULL;
+}
+
+// Send given bytes[len] to the given flipdot, returns 1 if all bytes were sent
+// and no locally detectable errors occurred, 0 otherwise.
+int8_t flipdot_send(struct flipdot *flipdot, uint8_t *bitmap,
+                    size_t bitmap_len) {
+  ssize_t sent = sendto(flipdot->sockfd, bitmap, bitmap_len, 0,
+                        flipdot->addrs->ai_addr, flipdot->addrs->ai_addrlen);
+
   return (sent == (ssize_t)bitmap_len);
 }