A Recipe "to Make Excellent Ink", By Sir Isaac Newton

[fiberdrunk]

Fiberdrunk, I just looked at your flickr site and am blown away. Wow!!!! :clap1: :clap1: :clap1:

 

Thanks! I'm a bit obsessive, I guess, lol.

[mhphoto]

Definitely subscribing to this thread. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

[escribo]

I have millions of oak leaves on the ground with galls on them, but they look like this:

http://s19.postimage.org/4iunix1db/P9200011galls_a.jpg

My concern is that they are red or red-brown, not blackish. The large galls that form on twigs & such are much darker, but I read not to use those.

 

Maybe I need to go gall hunting when the leaves are freshly fallen (March-April)?

[N2theBreach]

I have millions of oak leaves on the ground with galls on them, but they look like this:

http://s19.postimage.org/4iunix1db/P9200011galls_a.jpg

My concern is that they are red or red-brown, not blackish. The large galls that form on twigs & such are much darker, but I read not to use those.

 

Maybe I need to go gall hunting when the leaves are freshly fallen (March-April)?

 

Hmmmm... Is that a Southern Live Oak (evergreen) or a deciduous oak, like a White or Red Oak? More importantly, does it even make a difference? I just looked them up and was surprised that they are both of the same genus--Quercus.

[WOBentley]

Any updates on the brewing progress? My Galls came in from John Neal...curious to see how it is going!

[johntdavis]

This is so cool. I'll definitely be watching this closely.

 

I definitely think there's a market for antique/historic inks. I'm a lawyer with a computer science degree. I'd gladly buy a production quality (that is, stable) bottle of Newton Ink. Probably Jane Austen, too.

 

Now i'm curious what other interesting recipes might be scribbled into the margins of manuscripts...

[Seele]

This is so cool. I'll definitely be watching this closely.

 

I definitely think there's a market for antique/historic inks. I'm a lawyer with a computer science degree. I'd gladly buy a production quality (that is, stable) bottle of Newton Ink. Probably Jane Austen, too.

 

Now i'm curious what other interesting recipes might be scribbled into the margins of manuscripts...

 

I feel a lot of people would do that too, the main thing is that they need to be completely compatible with fountain pens, which are a lot more demanding than feather quills!

[johntdavis]

This is so cool. I'll definitely be watching this closely.

 

I definitely think there's a market for antique/historic inks. I'm a lawyer with a computer science degree. I'd gladly buy a production quality (that is, stable) bottle of Newton Ink. Probably Jane Austen, too.

 

Now i'm curious what other interesting recipes might be scribbled into the margins of manuscripts...

 

I feel a lot of people would do that too, the main thing is that they need to be completely compatible with fountain pens, which are a lot more demanding than feather quills!

 

I realize it's even more of a niche market, but in the case these inks aren't FP-compatible there's always dip pens. They seem a bit hardier.

 

I think if you could get a 100 percent reproduction of color/shading/writing characteristics with an FP friendly formula that'd be just as good for retail. Yes, there are some that would want full authenticity, but many people are happy enough saying this ink behaves/looks just like what Newton used!

 

 

[fiberdrunk]

My Newton ink is finished!

 

Writing sample on Sugarmade paper (acid-free sugarcane/bamboo):

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8189/8088858817_441e11f08d_b.jpg

 

Writing sample on Strathmore 100% cotton (acid-free):

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8191/8088859125_0579d2710d_b.jpg

 

My observations: I think I botched the measurements, so ignore the chart I posted earlier in this thread if you're going for historical accuracy. This made a very thick, creamy ink base, almost paint-like, which didn't flow very well until I added distilled water (I tried adding additional alcohol in varying amounts like his recipe said, but that messed up the flow even worse). His recipe has a very high ratio of gum arabic to the other ingredients, much higher than I've seen in other recipes. I really think he made an iron gall ink "base," hence the comments at the end of his recipe about the need to add additional wine or strong beer as you use it (so I recommend filling up a small working jar with the ink base and additional water, and leave the undiluted ink base in a sealed bottle with no air space inside). There was so much gum arabic that I had trouble opening the jar (the stuff is glue-like), so wipe your jar lids carefully before sealing and don't shake the jar, at least not without wiping the threads afterwards right away, before storing!

 

The ink color is a brownish black on the Sugarmade and a grayer black on the Strathmore. It's dark black on Hammermill Ultra Premium Inkjet paper (sorry, no scan of that one). These scans were done about 30 minutes after writing. We will see if they continue to darken. The ink goes down quite pale and then darkens as it dries, which is typical iron gall ink behavior. By the way, this is a highly waterproof ink. Though I may have messed up my historical measurements/conversions, ink still happened.

 

I plan to attempt this again, with more careful attention to measurements, but it will be at some point in the later future. I've got a batch of acorn ink and oak apple ink currently fermenting to tend to first.

Edited October 15, 2012 by fiberdrunk

[mhphoto]

VERY COOL!

 

Thanks for taking the time to do this little experiment! It's truly wonderful to see what the ink Isaac Newton write with might've looked like. I do wonder if there are any documents of his that were written with this ink available anywhere.

[fiberdrunk]

I found some digital scans of his notebooks, but have no idea if they were all written with this same ink recipe. The following shows a brown ink (no holes in the paper... that's a good sign!), probably aged iron gall ink:

 

Isaac Newton’s Personal Notebooks Go Digital

 

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/wp-content/fpngallery/newton/newton4.jpg

 

This one looks blacker:

 

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/wp-content/fpngallery/newton/newton6.jpg

 

Here is a link to his chemistry journal (color scanned), which the ink recipe came out of (so can we assume he used this ink in this notebook? I assume as much, since he mentioned in the recipe itself that he is writing with the same ink.) The ink is quite black throughout.

Laboratory Notebook. Here's the link to the actual ink recipe page, from pg. 23 of the notebook.

Edited October 15, 2012 by fiberdrunk

[N2theBreach]

Wow.

 

I have to wonder if you're the first person to have used this ink since he did? Yeah, it's been there for others to see, but who outside of this network would be likely to do it? That is just too cool. Thanks!

 

Good luck with your "fall" inks.

[fiberdrunk]

Here's an improved chart, adjusted more for American measurements. I don't claim to be an expert on historical measurements, so if anyone catches something that's not quite right, let me know! I set this up so you could make smaller quantities of ink, if you prefer.

 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8195/8090825465_cf139ef9ae_b.jpg

Edited October 15, 2012 by fiberdrunk

[fiberdrunk]

Here's another writing sample with this ink, this time with a metal flex nib (which I'm not good with as a hook-over southpaw). You can see the ink is becoming nice and black.

 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8323/8091601140_e72890ba42_b.jpg

 

Paper: Caliber 100% Tree-Free Paper (sugarcane/bamboo)

Ink: Sir Isaac Newton's iron gall ink recipe

Pen: Metal dip pen (Birmingham Pen Co. #203 silver alloy flex)

[WOBentley]

Fiberdrunk...this is so COOL!!!!!

I am going to try this (I already got my galls from John Neal)...really excited about your results. You must be pretty happy with the results.

Edited October 16, 2012 by WOBentley

[fiberdrunk]

Fiberdrunk...this is so COOL!!!!!

I am going to try this (I already got my galls from John Neal)...really excited about your results. You must be pretty happy with the results.

 

Yes, it's really fun getting such a tangible connection with history. I'm writing my friends letters with this ink right now. I hope you'll post your results, too.

[J.R.]

I love stuff like this! I'm very impressed his writing is still black and has not faded to brown. Definitely a good and stable recipe! Thanks for sharing!

 

eta: I've done similar recipes, such as the Jane Austen recipe and Dr. James Stark's recipe (he was a chemist in the 1800's). The Jane Austen one browns over time.

 

I checked your Flikr recipes, and was impressed to find someone working on "homemade" versions. Kudos ! In your cold-process walnut ink, you added vodka to kill the fungus/beasties... Back when I was repairing pocketknives, I attempted to make a walnut dye to penetrate bone (knife handles), with little success, until an old-timer told me to add an oz. of DMSO to the batch. It's a penetrant, readily available at any farm store. NOTHING could live in that solution, and it might not dilute the solution like the vodka ? I'm just thinking out loud... I am, by no means, a chemist. Bleedthrough might be a problem, tho'. It's just a thought.

 

Take care,

JR

[mrcharlie]

DMSO will allow chemicals in a solution that includes it to permeate your skin. I do not think it is a good idea to use it in ink. Make sure to research it and know what you are doing before using it.

[Aquinata]

Just discovered this thread--I may have to get my hands inky and try this!

 

Many thanks!

[cbaytan]

LOL, Newton's inks? If ambition is the durability, why did you stop there? how'bout 4500 years old Egyptian ink recipes? They are on the net.

 

http://www.ehow.com/how_8307774_make-ancient-egyptian-ink.html