2
« on: September 11, 2016, 10:11:47 AM »
Hi AndyT, Ashok ash0kgiri and all my fellow scribblers. Andy knows firsthand that I have indeed gathered fallen black walnuts and made walnut ink from scratch. I did that 2 years ago then gathered nuts last year but never made the ink. It was fun the first time though, and I highly recommend it. It had an earthy aroma when all was said and done. But for all the bother (and mold) I'm enjoying crystals, too.
I don't know if the crystals you can get here in the States from either John Neal Books, or Paper and Ink Arts are "VanDyke" crystals or something else. Andy sent me some VanDyke crystals a while back and I made up a batch and it seems much the same as what I bought domestically. As already noted, a tiny bit of the crystals goes a looooooong way.
As for mold, the 'natural' stuff definitely got funky after sitting a while, even though I layered alcohol on top. But one of our guild members here in Atlanta is a professional baker for 30-4- years. She turned me on to Calcium Propionate, a substance used to prevent mold from growing on bread. Years ago she decided to try it in ink and has had success. It's available online from Amazon or eBay and like VanDyke crystals, a tiny bit goes a long way. The one thing I'm not sure about is if it changes the color of the ink--when she mentioned the stuff, it was about sumi ink.
One thing most experienced calligraphers recommend for inks prone to mold is decanting into smaller containers or dinky dips. Of course you want to either pour or use a sterile eyedropper when going into the mother bottle.
While we're talking about ink, no-one has mentioned McCaffery's Penman's Inks which come in a variety of colors. The classic Black is an oak gall ink and will indeed attack your nibs but the look is worth it. They're delightfully watery like walnut ink, make beautiful hairlines, and some of his most recent formulas for the colors, one of which is a brown similar to walnut, come with the added pleasure of having a mild fragrance of cloves. Because of their translucence and fragrance, these inks have become my favorites when being waterproof is not a requirement.
I hope this helps!
Show Posts
)