recipe for making black ink?

[Brother Gabriel-Marie]

Hello!
Does anyone have a recipe for black ink? How about for waterproof black ink? I have seen several recipes, but I would like one that someone can tell me they have actually tried and used successfully.

Thanks!
Brother Gabriel-Marie

[George O'Hanlon]

Here are recipes that I have tried and used:

Iron-Gall Ink
Gallnuts, 5 grams
Ferrous Sulfate, 1 gram
Gum Arabic, 1 gram
Water, 200 grams

Grind the gallnuts to a fine powder and immerse in half of the water. In a few weeks, mold will cover the top surface. Skim off the mold and pour the liquid through a filter. Dissolve gum Arabic in a small amount of water and add it to the liquid. Dissolve the ferrous sulfate in water and add it to the liquid. Add 1 gram of carbolic acid to keep mold from forming.

The second recipe containing shellac is more waterproof:

Shellac Ink
To 18 ounces water, add 1 ounce powdered borax and 2 ounces bruised shellac, and boil them in a covered vessel, stirring them occasionally till dissolved. Filter, when cold, through coarse filtering paper; add 1 ounce mucilage; boil for a few minutes, adding sufficient finely-powdered indigo and lampblack to color it. Leave the mixture for 2 or 3 hours for the coarser particles to subside; pour it off from the dregs, and bottle it for use.

Dick's Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts and Processes, c. 1870

[Brother Gabriel-Marie]

Wow! Thank you Mr. O'Hanlon. Sorry it took me so long to respond! I am quite interested still, and plan to try my hand at it. But what are gallnuts, and what is borax? Is there a natural source for borax and carbolic acid? I want to make everything from scratch like in the medieval times.

[George O'Hanlon]

Gallnuts are the round galls (abnormal outgrowths of the plant tissues) produced on the shoots of various species of the oak tree.

Borax, gum Arabic and ferrous sulfate are available from Natural Pigments. Carbolic acid is another name for phenol, which is also available from Natural Pigments.

[Ridgely]

This proves astoundingly helpful. Thank you. I'm just wondering how to get the gallnuts. I think they frown on DIY oak-tumor harvests in Central Park; do you know of any commercial sources for these?

[Orp]

Hi

Kremer Pigments has them, look under 'Oak Apple' in the Leaves and Stems section.

[Ridgely]

Orp, you are beyond fabulous, thank you. Looks like a Saturday adventure is in the works. Which will be a nice change of pace - this last Saturday was spent on the couch, pouring over Doerner and Panofsky and otherwise drawing indoors.

[Brother Gabriel-Marie]

Dear all:

With the new forum and all, and seeing I haven't visited here in a very long time, I figured I would renew my interests here and make a post. I am a mushroom-hunter, and since I started this here topic on how to make black ink, I figured I would make a report. Coprinus Comatus is an edible mushroom also known as Shaggy Mane. They grow alongside paths and sometimes driveways, and I find them in a certain place in our woods. If you put them in a cup, the entire mushroom will "melt" into a watery black liquid. I put this liquid in a pill-bottle and capped it and let it sit there for several months where it thickens somewhat. The result is a thin brownish-black liquid that you can use like a watercolour. I tested in my sketchpad and the ink has remained there now for oever two years with little fading. I don't know how it will work in the sun, however. And I must tell you that it doesn't smell the greatest either. But it does work!

-Brother Gabriel-Marie

[llawrence]

Dear all:

With the new forum and all, and seeing I haven't visited here in a very long time, I figured I would renew my interests here and make a post. I am a mushroom-hunter, and since I started this here topic on how to make black ink, I figured I would make a report. Coprinus Comatus is an edible mushroom also known as Shaggy Mane. They grow alongside paths and sometimes driveways, and I find them in a certain place in our woods. If you put them in a cup, the entire mushroom will "melt" into a watery black liquid. I put this liquid in a pill-bottle and capped it and let it sit there for several months where it thickens somewhat. The result is a thin brownish-black liquid that you can use like a watercolour. I tested in my sketchpad and the ink has remained there now for oever two years with little fading. I don't know how it will work in the sun, however. And I must tell you that it doesn't smell the greatest either. But it does work!

-Brother Gabriel-Marie

I've read about this, Brother Gabriel-Marie, and it's interesting to me that you've tried it! Do you happen to have posted any pictures of your ink in use online?

[Brother Gabriel-Marie]

Llawrence, no, there isn't anywhere online, but here is a sample. It looks just like a watercolor wash of brown+black, unless you let it sit and dehydrate a bit, in which case it becomes a bit more substantial. Watercolors don't scan very well, so this picture really doesn't do any justice. It seems to keep well enough in my sketch book, but not much air passes there, you know, and no sunlight.

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