Pomegranate Ink

[BlotBot]

Further update ~ the tea tree oil fumes do not give me headaches when I use 15 ml aliquots of the ink. Working with the master stock could be a different story. It is pleasant aroma in small doses. I was having a mold problem in a bottle of McCaffrey's red-violet iron gall ink, and the tea tree oil seems to have solved it.

Edited May 7, 2014 by BlotBot

[fiberdrunk]

I realized I never did post about my last pomegranate experiment in December/January. I made a batch with double the amount of pomegranates (and I included the seeds this time, as well as the peels), while leaving all the other ingredient amounts the same, thereby doubling the concentration of gallotannic acid. I was hoping it might darken the ink, but in fact, it seems to actually be a tad lighter than the original recipe:

 

I may add a little more iron sulfate and see if I can boost the newer batch. But I guess I managed to hit on the optimal balance with the original recipe.

[fiberdrunk]

It works! I used ferrous sulfate tablets from Walgreens. I have no green tint, only black. One pomegrante yielded about 3/4 cup of ink.

 

pomegranate ink.jpg

 

This turned out fantastic!

[fiberdrunk]

Further update ~ the tea tree oil fumes do not give me headaches when I use 15 ml aliquots of the ink. Working with the master stock could be a different story. It is pleasant aroma in small doses. I was having a mold problem in a bottle of McCaffrey's red-violet iron gall ink, and the tea tree oil seems to have solved it.

Glad to hear there's another alternative to preserve ink with.

[fiberdrunk]

Here's how this ink compares with other iron gall inks:

 

[serpent]

i was wondering since I want to use this ink in various fountain pens if I could substitute glycol or vegetable glycerin instead of the gum arabic?

[fiberdrunk]

i was wondering since I want to use this ink in various fountain pens if I could substitute glycol or vegetable glycerin instead of the gum arabic?

 

I've never used either one in an ink before, so I can't say. I think pharmacist has used glycol if I'm remembering correctly. If you give it a try, let us know how it goes.

[serpent]

will be starting my fermenting tomorrow so hopefully come september I'll let everyone know.

[fiberdrunk]

The Open-Ink Wiki will be deleted next month, as mentioned in this thread. I've posted all my working ink recipes there, so it's a shame it's disappearing. So I thought I'd feel out other venues. I posted my pomegranate ink recipe over on Instructables (I'm InkMakerNC over there). There's a related article on there by me called Principles for Stability & Longevity of Iron Gall Inks as well. It's possible to download a .pdf file of these articles from Instructables, though you do have to register and now there is a monthly subscription to do this (I get no kickbacks from this-- even I, a contributor, have to subscribe if I want to print off a .pdf). It's still free to view online, without registering, either way.

Edited July 9, 2014 by fiberdrunk

[fiberdrunk]

Pomegranates are showing up in the stores again. I'm going to try combining pomegranate rinds and CA live oak galls together during the fermentation stage. Pomegranate ink tends to lean towards a dark grayish black, while the CA live oak ink tends to lean towards a more brownish black. So we'll see what happens in two months.

 

 

[amberleadavis]

I'm looking forward to the results.

[dragos.mocanu]

http://i.imgur.com/niOdDKO.jpg

 

This is Day 0 for my first ink brew, and I have a couple of questions. I've used, about 1/3 of one pomegranate peel with distilled water (2 cups), and I've sterilized the jar (by boiling it for about 15 minutes), but I haven't sterilized any of the other utensils used: food processor and a steel spoon, both well cleaned. Do you think there's anything wrong that can happen? (I suppose not, since the brew is to became moldy in no time, that being a good thing ). And second, do I have to store the jar somewhere in the dark? I'd really like to see the day by day development.

 

Anyhow, I hope that by the end of November I'll have my first batch of iron gall ink.

Edited September 25, 2015 by Murky

[fiberdrunk]

http://i.imgur.com/niOdDKO.jpg

 

This is Day 0 for my first ink brew, and I have a couple of questions. I've used, about 1/3 of one pomegranate peel with distilled water (2 cups), and I've sterilized the jar (by boiling it for about 15 minutes), but I haven't sterilized any of the other utensils used: food processor and a steel spoon, both well cleaned. Do you think there's anything wrong that can happen? (I suppose not, since the brew is to became moldy in no time, that being a good thing ). And second, do I have to store the jar somewhere in the dark? I'd really like to see the day by day development.

 

Anyhow, I hope that by the end of November I'll have my first batch of iron gall ink.

 

I don't sterilize my food processer, so I think you're good. But make sure your final ink bottles are clean.

 

No, you probably don't need to store the jar in the dark while it's fermenting, but definitely keep it out of direct sunlight. Protect your finished ink, however, from UV.

 

Good luck! It's looking great so far!

Edited September 25, 2015 by fiberdrunk

[dragos.mocanu]

Day 8 and already I'm seeing a lot of progress

 

http://i.imgur.com/9lIFG7E.jpg

[ahayman]

Pomegranates are showing up in the stores again. I'm going to try combining pomegranate rinds and CA live oak galls together during the fermentation stage. Pomegranate ink tends to lean towards a dark grayish black, while the CA live oak ink tends to lean towards a more brownish black. So we'll see what happens in two months.

 

How did this batch turn out? The poms are in season again and I found this thread at the right time, it seems. I've got two mason jars going, each the two cup variation. Did the pith and seeds make a difference at all?

[fiberdrunk]

 

How did this batch turn out? The poms are in season again and I found this thread at the right time, it seems. I've got two mason jars going, each the two cup variation. Did the pith and seeds make a difference at all?

 

The ink turned out fine, but in the sunshine tests I've been doing on the ink samples, I noticed it browns faster than the pom-only or the oak gall-only inks. So I'd recommend not blending tannic/gallic acid plant sources if a more permanent end result is wanted.

Edited December 5, 2015 by fiberdrunk

[magnus919]

Have you tried other natural sources rich in tannic acids like persimmons or grapes? Green tea?

[fiberdrunk]

Have you tried other natural sources rich in tannic acids like persimmons or grapes? Green tea?

 

I've tried acorns but not with very good results (not enough tannic acid, even in the acorns with the higher concentration of it). I've tried adding iron sulfate to fermented black walnut infusion, too, but the iron sulfate ruined the flow (and black walnut does quite well all by itself as an ink).

 

Mickey here on FPN has made a lovely ink from rooibos chai tea in this thread. So it's definitely possible. I've been wanting to plant wild geraniums... their roots have almost as much tannic acid as that found in pomegranates, if they're harvested just before flowering time. But thus far, pomegranates are more easily accessible at this time of year.

[dcwaites]

Have you tried other natural sources rich in tannic acids like persimmons or grapes? Green tea?

 

I have used black tea and steel wool to make a Kitchen Ink. See here. I kept the two components separate, and just mixed a small batch when I wanted to use it.

 

Unfortunately, I didn't use any sort of biocide, so after some time, it developed, well not just SITB, but a whole bottle of crud.

 

The recipe needs to be refined to make it stronger and store longer, but it is a good start.

[fiberdrunk]

 

I have used black tea and steel wool to make a Kitchen Ink. See here. I kept the two components separate, and just mixed a small batch when I wanted to use it.

 

Unfortunately, I didn't use any sort of biocide, so after some time, it developed, well not just SITB, but a whole bottle of crud.

 

The recipe needs to be refined to make it stronger and store longer, but it is a good start.

 

You could try to put whole cloves or oil of clove in as a biocide next time. That's what I use and it works great.