Old Ink Recipe

[Struthious]

(if this doesn't belong here, please let me know which forum, if any, I could relocate this to)

[Titanic9990]

That's really cool! I would just love to see pictures if someone took it upon themselves to make a batch of this recipe. At about the ninth line down in the ink recipe part I got a bit lost lol

[Ghost Plane]

What is "copias" or "copyas"? Not in my dictionary. I've got everything else, including major sun :hmm1:

[Titanic9990]

i think its actually copras, the strange letter is seen in the word "three" as the "r" so i assume its the same. from what i saw online copra is the dried meat of a coconut which is then usually used for making coconut oil. Apparently one can just cut open a coconut, let it sun dry (good thing you have "major sun" lol) and the brownish inedible stuff is copra(s). might want to research more though, I'm not 100% positive if this was the implication of the text. However it would provide a source of oil in the ink. I love reading old texts!

[atypical]

Copperas is iron(II) sulphate, the source of iron in iron gall ink.

[Ghost Plane]

Thank you! That makes a lot more sense. And with oak trees all around me, the galls will be no problem.

 

And it's certainly easier to get for those of us getting a tad old to climb coconut palms!

 

Now all I have to do is approach a neighbor's old clunker BEFORE he applies Bondo. :roflmho:

[Titanic9990]

Hmm... srry bout that -coconuts seemed a tad odd for an old english ink recipe :roflmho: anyway at first i had guessed copper (being that there was galles just before), but oh well -please post or send me pics when you finish it (at least it sounds like you're ready to make a batch )

[TMA]

Thank you! That makes a lot more sense. And with oak trees all around me, the galls will be no problem.

 

And it's certainly easier to get for those of us getting a tad old to climb coconut palms!

 

Now all I have to do is approach a neighbor's old clunker BEFORE he applies Bondo. :roflmho:

 

If you do want to make your own traditional iron gall ink, read around here on the FPN first.

 

Breaking up the galls and letting them ferment for some time (up to a few weeks) creates lots of gallic acid which helps with the process. Whether you then add beer, wine or vinegar is up to you*, but if you let the beer or wine go off, you will get some vinegar anyway.

 

One of the problems with making traditional iron gall ink is that there were many different recipes, and some will end up damaging paper, whilst others won't.

 

As for copra, rather than cop'ras (or copperas), you could extract the coconut oil (which can be used for many purposes, like making coconut ice** or soap) and burn it to collect the soot. Mix the soot with water and gum arabic to make a very fine (as in excellent) india ink.

 

 

 

*For some reason, neither cider nor mead ever seem to be added, perhaps they always got consumed before they could go off...

 

** Copha is the solid form of coconut oil.

Edited April 25, 2011 by TMA

[AlanE]

Are we sure that is written in English !!!

[PDW]

...

 

One of the problems with making traditional iron gall ink is that there were many different recipes, and some will end up damaging paper, whilst others won't.

 

 

Paper? What about the poor pen?

[TMA]

...

 

One of the problems with making traditional iron gall ink is that there were many different recipes, and some will end up damaging paper, whilst others won't.

 

 

Paper? What about the poor pen?

 

Basically, you won't be using this ink in anything other than a dip pen, and preferably a stainless steel or bronze one at that.

[mana]

Are we sure that is written in English !!!

 

That book was written in 1587 so that would be the language used by a certain William Shakespeare, i.e. Early Modern English. Fun isn't it? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Modern_English

[opus7600]

Hmm... srry bout that -coconuts seemed a tad odd for an old english ink recipe

 

Not so odd. They could have been carried to England by a sparrow.

[WanderingAuthor]

Although there are still a few archaic turns of phrase, I transcribed the page, then modernised the spelling, tenses, and so on. This is the result:

 

"Precepts of Writing

 

The writer must provide him these seven: paper, ink, pen, penknife, ruler, desk, and dustbox, of these the three first are most necessary, the four latter very requisite.

 

Choice of paper

The whitest, finest, and smoothest paper is best.

To make ink

Put into a quart of water two ounces of right gum Arabic, five ounces of galls, and three of copperas. Let it stand covered in the warm sun and so will it the sooner prove good ink. To boil the said stuff together a little upon the fire would make it more speedy for your writing: but the unboiled yields a fairer gloss & longer endures. Instead of water, wine were best for this purpose. Refresh your ink with wine, or vinegar, when it wears thick.

 

From the Petie Schole by Francis Clement"

[CatBookMom]

You might send a PM to fiberdrunk; she's made up several different old ink recipes, including variations on iron gall inks, one of which she found was Jane Austen's recipe. Enjoy!!

[fiberdrunk]

You might send a PM to fiberdrunk; she's made up several different old ink recipes, including variations on iron gall inks, one of which she found was Jane Austen's recipe. Enjoy!!

 

Thanks for the mention! You can read about my ink-making adventures here.

[CatBookMom]

You might send a PM to fiberdrunk; she's made up several different old ink recipes, including variations on iron gall inks, one of which she found was Jane Austen's recipe. Enjoy!!

 

Thanks for the mention! You can read about my ink-making adventures here.

 

I love the historical research that you've done, not to mention figuring out where to find the somewhat-obscure ingredients, way beyond ordinary home-crafting!

[ljwahl]

Although there are still a few archaic turns of phrase, I transcribed the page, then modernised the spelling, tenses, and so on. This is the result:

 

"Precepts of Writing..."

 

Thanks for this excellent transcription!

[kwpalzang]

I dabbled a bit (a lot) in authentic(-ish) medieval calligraphy which helped me to read this rather fluently. See? So things like this actually may not be such a waste of time!

[pharmacist]

I sent a bottle of my home-brewed iron gall ink to a forum member in France and hopefully he will comment on it later on. I tried several formulae before it was optimized so it flows exceptionally from a fountain pen. I am using this ink now for more than half a year in my fountain pens and the ink flows very well. The only pen that has problem with flowing is my Mont Blanc FP, that seems to retard the flow after a few lines of writing and you will have to wait a few seconds before the ink touches the tip of the pen. But this problem also happens with my Lamy Blue-Black iron gall ink in this particular FP, so this MB FP seems to be very tricky with the ink used in it.

 

It is based on the former standard writing ink (double strength) or Deutsche Urkundentinte specifications, with some modification to make it flow properly from modern FP's.