Make Ink From Berries

1. Step 1

Buy some fresh raspberries (1 cup) or thaw out a 12 oz. package of frozen
raspberries.

2. Step 2

Get out a glass or metal bowl. Don't use plastic because the berry juice will stain it
permanently. Put your strainer over the bowl. Put the raspberries in the strainer and
squeeze all of the juice out, leaving the pulp in the strainer.

3. Step 3

Add 1/2 teaspoon of vinegar. If you have ever dyed Easter eggs you know that
vinegar helps keep the color in the dye you mixed with water. The same concept
applies here. Mix together the berry juice and the vinegar.

4. Step 4

Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Salt is used as a preservative. If you are going to use your
ink more than one day you will need the salt to keep it preserved. Mix together all 3
ingredients.

5. Step 5

Pour your ink in to a baby food jar and close the lid. Your ink is now ready for you
whenever you need it.

Instructions
Things You'll Need:

 Source of Carbon
 Water
 Shellac

1. Step 1

Find a source of carbon. Completely charred charcoal (un-burned charcoal contains

wood chips and sawdust), wood or bone will do. If you have hurricane or oil lamps,
harvest the lampblack with a brush. Ashes from burned charcoal and wood will
contribute potash, a substance that helps bind your ink.
2. Step 2

Pulverize the carbon in a stone or porcelain dish, using a ceramic or metal pestal.
You should end up with a very fine dust that leaves a light coating when blown off
the surface of a piece of paper. Place the dust in a ceramic or other hard-surfaced,
non-metallic bowl.

3. Step 3

Add a bit of distilled water and stir your ink until it forms a consistent wash. You can
also use denatured alcohol or vinegar to liquefy your ink. Water will evaporate more
slowly than alcohol or vinegar and give you more time to perfect your solution. More
carbon will produce a blacker ink and less will produce a lighter ink. Since you can
dilute ink when you are ready to use it, keep your solution as thick as possible as
you mix it.

4. Step 4

Use a touch of sieved shellac or ground shellac flakes as a carrier for your ink so
that it can be loaded onto a brush or pen. If you've used charred pine wood, your
carbon dust will already contain some resin that will act as a binder. The Chinese
used gelatin, which dries very slowly compared to shellac. Gum Arabic, which has
the added advantage of being water soluble, can also be used.

5. Step 5

Store your India ink in an airtight bottle or let it dry into cakes to use with calligraphy
or artist's brushes. Ink will get stale due to the organic nature of the carriers, so use
your liquid ink within a month or so of the date in which you make it. Dry and cake
ink tends to last longer. Store-bought ink has preservatives to prolong the life of the
ink.

Instructions
Things You'll Need:

 6 black walnuts; using 3-week aged walnuts is optional

 1 paring knife
 4 cups of water
 2 small stainless steel pots
 utensils you won't mind staining and/or throwing away: slotted spoon, strainer
 old nylons or cheesecloth
 several empty baby food or jelly jars
1. Step 1

Begin by filling the stainless steel pot with water, cover it and bring it to a hard boil,
and then reduce heat to medium. While you are waiting, proceed to step 2.

2. Step 2

Wearing latex gloves to protect your skin from the ink, use the paring knife to pit the
walnuts and shred the flesh around the nut. If you are using green walnuts, this is
easier said than done, and as soon as you cut into the flesh it will begin to bleed a
very strong black ink.

3. Step 3

Add all of the shredded walnut flesh to the boiling water. Reduce the mixture, stirring
occasionally, until it is the desired consistency. This may take about an hour.

4. Step 4

Allow the ink to cool. Place the cheesecloth or nylons over the smaller pot and pour
the ink through to remove the pulp and the finer particles.

5. Step 5

Estimate the volume of your ink and add denatured alcohol to make up 5% of the
volume to prevent mold.

6. Step 6

An anonymous fine example of black walnut ink!

Store your ink in one or several baby food or jelly jars!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions
Things You'll Need:

 Small glass jars with lids

 Mixing spoon
 8 oz. honey
 Egg Yolk
 1 oz. of Gum Arabic
 Candle
 Glass plate
 1/2 cup laundry bluing
 Water
 Five regular tea bags
 Water
 Corn Starch

Black Ink

1. Step 1

Mix the honey and egg yolk together in a glass jar.

2. Step 2

Add one ounce of gum arabic to the mix. Gum arabic is hardened sap from two
different varieties of the acacia tree. Gum arabic is used to thin the consistency of
ink. You can purchase gum arabic easily on the Internet or at art stores.

3. Step 3

Hold a plate above a lighted candle, until a black slick appears on the bottom, called
lamp black. Take a bit of the mixture and rub it on the slick. The mixture will pick up
the color. Scrape the mixture off the plate and return to jar. Repeat process until the
ink looks dark enough.

4. Step 4

Mix well. Add 1/8 teaspoon of water to the mixture. Close lid and shake.
Blue Ink

5. Step 1

Pour one ounce of laundry bluing into a glass jar. Laundry bluing is sold at many
large discount stores and on the Internet. Laundry bluing is used to enhance the
color of clothing.

6. Step 2
 Slowly add water to the bluing. It will change shades as you add the water, so keep
adding water until you get the intensity of blue you want.

7. Step 3

Store in glass jar with lid.

Brown Ink

8. Step 1

Steep five tea bags in 1/2 cup hot water for ten minutes. Remove tea bags.

9. Step 2

Pour tea into glass jar. Add a bit of cornstarch to thicken. Keep adding cornstarch
until ink is good consistency.

10. Step 3

Store in glass jar with lid.

Instructions
Things You'll Need:

 Ink
 Oven
 Container for the sand
 Sand
 Quills
 Small sharp knife
 Paper

Preparing the Quills

1. Step 1

Buy quills. Usually either turkey or goose feathers can be bought at craft shops or
online.

2. Step 2

Place a can of sand in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until the sand is hot.
3. Step 3

Remove the can of sand from the oven and place the quills point down in the sand.

4. Step 4

Leave the quills in the sand until it cools.

5. Step 5

Strip some of the feathers off the quills to clear a space for your hand.
Cutting the Quill Pen

6. Step 1

Measure how you'd like to hold the quill pen. The quills tend to be curved so decide
which quill fits your hand the most comfortably.

7. Step 2

Cut the end of the quill off with a sharp knife. The cut should be diagonal, down and
away from the top.

8. Step 3

Use the knife to make a slit in the top of the pen at the tip. This slit should run the
vertical length of the tip.

9. Step 4

Slice a scoop from the underside of the pen. It should be about half the pen's
diameter, centered under the slit.

10. Step 5

Carve out slivers on both sides of the slit at the tip of the quill to make the point. It
should look like the tip of a fountain pen.

11. Step 6

Dip the quill tip in ink and start writing.