Has anyone made iron gall ink in powdered form?

[jbb]

Has anyone made iron gall ink in powdered form? All you do is add water and POOF! ink! Wouldn't that be a fantastic thing to tuck-in to snail mails???? I'd like to try it. Any reason I shouldn't throw all my oak galls into the food processors to get them to a fine powder right now? How does this account for fermenting the oak galls & water? [BTW, This is dip pen only ink.]

Here's a recipe I found online:

http://www.evanlindquist.com/othermedia/oldinkrecipes.html
Ink Powder.For an ink powder take 1 pound nut-galls, 7 ounces copperas, and 7 ounces gum-arabic. Pulverize and mix. This amount of ink powder will make 1 gallon of good black ink. Two or three powdered cloves should be mixed with each pound of powder, to prevent moulding.
Dick's Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts and Processes, [no date] circa 1870

[woosang]

Great idea ESP to post ink :-)

[Uncle Red]

There was commercial ink powder for fountain pens in the 1890 - 1930 time range. Unopened containers of powdered ink come up for sale on Ebay sometimes.

Some reenactor sites sell powdered ink for dip pens

http://jas-townsend.com/product_info...roducts_id=376

[woosang]

There was commercial ink powder for fountain pens in the 1890 - 1930 time range. Unopened containers of powdered ink come up for sale on Ebay sometimes.

Some reenactor sites sell powdered ink for dip pens

http://jas-townsend.com/product_info...roducts_id=376

Cool, thanks :-)

[jbb]

I'm having some success with this.

[fiberdrunk]

I love that you tried this! I've only ever bought ink powder before. But I love the convenience and your idea of sending some in letters!

I bought some vintage Thayer's Wonderful Compound Jet Black Ink Powder (from the 1800's) on eBay last year:

7069170189_18b557b9ec_c.jpg

It came with this leaflet, which has some ink and other recipes ("receipts"):

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[fiberdrunk]

One other thing, there is a commercial powdered ink called Ziller's Glossy Black. It's not as permanent as a powdered iron gall ink, though. Still lots of fun, though.

2850_2807_large.jpg

The original Ziller Glossy Black Ink in powder form returns. A favorite for pointed pen for years, this ink is unsurpassed for copperplate, Spencerian, and off-hand flourishing, with fine hairlines and brilliant shading. Add boiling water to the neck of the jar and mix well by stirring. (Do not shake.) Stir before each use. For pointed pen with a steel nib.
Non-waterproof. Makes 1oz.

[fiberdrunk]

How does this account for fermenting the oak galls & water? [BTW, This is dip pen only ink.]

No, you wouldn't be fermenting a powdered ink recipe. And while you have the advantage of an instant ink, this type won't be as permanent as a fermented one. But no matter, enjoy it today-- it'll still outlast any dye-based ink by far!

[jbb]

That Ziller ink was recommended to me but I have not used it.

Have you ever used logwood? blue vitrol? is there a natural red color you've tried? There are all these ingredients I am only just becoming familar with.

[fiberdrunk]

That Ziller ink was recommended to me but I have not used it.

Have you ever used logwood? blue vitrol? is there a natural red color you've tried? There are all these ingredients I am only just becoming familar with.

I've never used logwood because it compromises the permanence of iron gall ink. Many recipes use it, though, and it does make a very black ink.

I accidentally used blue vitrol (copper sulfate) in an iron gall ink recipe once... I got it mixed up with iron sulfate, LOL! Oops! Ink still happened, but it wasn't a very good result I got. Ended up with an olive green, if I remember right.

Haven't tried red, though I did try to make dragonsblood ink once. I had the incorrect resin, though, and it didn't dissolve well. It smelled lovely, though!

[jbb]

Haven't tried red, though I did try to make dragonsblood ink once. I had the incorrect resin, though, and it didn't dissolve well. It smelled lovely, though!

What is Dragonsblood ink and why so I suddenly feel like I have to have some of it?

[fiberdrunk]

Haven't tried red, though I did try to make dragonsblood ink once. I had the incorrect resin, though, and it didn't dissolve well. It smelled lovely, though!

What is Dragonsblood ink and why so I suddenly feel like I have to have some of it?

Hee! Yes, you should make it, with that seal!

Dragonsblood is a tree that produces this red resin. It's popular with wiccans for their spell books because it looks like blood. There are recipes all over the web. You need to use the correct resin, though (specifically Dracaena cinnabari). And it takes a very high percentage of alcohol to dissolve it. Read this .pdf from Kremer Pigmente about the differences in varieties. Kremer sells it, too, here. It's not a lightfast ink, however, so if that's a concern, you might want to avoid it.

Here's a list of recipes for "magick spell inks". (I'm not a wiccan, by the way, I just like inks! And they have some interesting ones!)

[fiberdrunk]

By the way, getting back to powdered inks, here's the U.S. government standard for powdered iron gall ink.

U. S. Government Standard Ink
Recipe in Popular Science (January 1935, p. 54)

11.7 g tannic acid
3.8 g gallic acid
15 g iron sulfate
3 cc hydrochloric acid (or muriatic acid, or 2 cc sulphuric acid) – used to prevent sediment forming
1 g carbolic acid-- a preservative to prevent mold*
3.5 g china-blue aniline dye (water-soluble)
1000 cc distilled water

*Have corner drug store make up a solution containing 5 or 10 cc of water, the entire amount being substituted for the 1 gram called for in the formula

1. First dissolve the tannic and gallic acid crystals in about 400 cc water.

2. In another beaker, containing 200 cc water, place the ferrous sulphate and the hydrochloric or sulphuric acid.

3. The dye then should be dissolved in 200 cc of water placed in a third container.

4. When all three solutions are ready, mix them together and add the carbolic acid solution and enough additional water to bring the total solution up to about 1000 cc in volume. A part of this water can be used to rinse out the containers.

5. Pour the resulting ink into a bottle, leaving practically no air space at the top, and stopper it tightly. The ink is then ready for aging, a process that may vary from 12 hours to several weeks. The longer the ink ages, the freer it will be of suspended particles. A good ink will show no sediment after standing for 24 hours.

Skin-tight cappings may be placed on bottles by dipping the corked necks into a hot mixture of cooking gelatin, glycerin, and water.

Note: the article also mentions using methyl violet dye for a violet ink (quantity not given) or nigrosine dye for a blacker ink. However, pharmacist (from FPN) mentioned trying methyl violet dye and he had disastrous results with it. Also, pharmacist doubles the dye (or halves the water) so that the color is improved for fountain pens. The original recipe is formulated for dip pens otherwise.

eta: By the way, I have more government standard powdered ink recipes if you want them.

[jbb]

Here are my recent results with powdered Iron Gall Ink:

http://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread....l-Ink-homemade

[woosang]

Here are my recent results with powdered Iron Gall Ink:

http://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread....l-Ink-homemade

In my box shipped from the USA, is a lovely surprise of a packet of powdered iron gall ink from Jill. Thank you very much!!! And your writing is stunning as always !! I can't stop looking at it ImageUploadedByTapatalk1370249129.776288.jpg

[Uncle Red]

Here's another option

http://www.johnnealbooks.com/prod_de...d=ink+crystals