walnut ink in the UK

[claire lander]

Hi All

I wonder whether any of you British Calligraphers could recommend a good brand of Walnut ink - either pre-mixed or crystals. So far I have just used Blots Iron Gall - great but am looking to broaden my spectrum a little bit at a time ;-).

Thanks! (sooo incredibly beneficial this wealth of knowledge!)

Claire

[katerina]

Hello Claire!
I really love this shop
http://www.kalligrafie.nl/winkel/contents/en-uk/d3.html
it is dutch, but have very fast shipping service!
As you can see the walnut pigment are really cheap and also available in several colors (I really don't know as this could be possible, but I've tried both the green and the blue and they are great! )

[claire lander]

Thanks Katerina :-), ooh that site does look good - water stain pigment?! interesting...

[claire lander]

having re-read my post - I initially wondered whether there were any UK sellers, mainly for saving my pennies for purchases rather than shipping - (otherwise it might seem a bit weirdly specific my request for British! and indeed on reflection I meant living in the UK - gosh!! foot extracted from mouth...)

:-)

[katerina]

I was thinking about custom fees, for that reason I linked a EU shop and not only a Uk one.
In Uk I've bought from scribblers, blots and penmandirect.
I don't know if there are many other sellers ..
Maybe take a look at this post: http://theflourishforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=2200.0
If you live in London, I've recently discovered that exist a wonderful shop called
Cornellisen & Son, Great Russell Street, LDN.
I've only peeked pics on IG so I really don't know what they really have in shop!

[prasad]

HI Claire,
If you are interested in Walnut ink, the best UK option is to head to a hardware/wood dyes and paint store and buy Van Dyke crystals. 

Andy from this forum will jump on to this soon enough and can probably tell you exactly where to buy it too.

He swears by it and from what he says, it is very cheap and gives a great brown colour.  I think they cost about £10-12 for a kilo of crystals.  You will need about 1 teaspoon full for 40 ml of ink 

Happy writing
-Prasad

[claire lander]

Ah great thanks Katerina :-), and Prasad :-)

Cornellisen has come good (Van Dyke stocked), so both of your infos and the very helpful post link included were spot on :-) (I suspected the info I wanted was here somewhere)

[AndyT]

For crystals, your best bet is to buy a quantity of Vandyke crystals from Amazon or Ebay.  They're dirt cheap and make excellent ink if you dissolve them in water at a rate of about 1g to 15ml.  And yes, it really is walnut ink.  [edit: Prasad beat me to it!  ]

J&T sometimes sell walnut ink, but it's out of stock at the moment.

[ericp]

Andy from this forum will jump on to this soon enough and can probably tell you exactly where to buy it too.

Ha ha, and it only took twelve minutes 

[claire lander]

Thanks Andy :-)

[prasad]

Hi Claire,
A quite reasonably priced option

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Van-Dyke-Crystals-Dyck-Natural-Wood-Stain-Dye-Traditional-Water-PICK-WEIGHT-/291417384928?var=&hash=item43d9d467e0:m:mXB1gxBQzaxSRVUmu5EoMrg

Happy writing
-Prasad

[claire lander]

Thank you Prasad!

This is the same one I found and it is now waiting in my virtual basket :-)...

Best wishes

Claire

[evjo]

Do black walnut trees grow in the UK? 
We made ink from black walnuts and it is my favorite thing to write with.  Not waterproof, but really smooth.
A bit smelly though.

[KrzysiekS]

Do black walnut trees grow in the UK? 

There is something I cannot understand.

• We speak of walnut ink as an ink made from husks of black walnut (Juglans nigra), a plant that is native to North America.
  
• But we mention Leonardo DaVinci as a prominent user of walnut ink, DaVinci died in 1519, only 29 year after Columbus voyage, and before major overland expeditions.

Does it mean that walnut ink can be made from husks of different species of genus Juglans especially from husks of Juglans regia?

[AndyT]

Yes, apparently it can be made from J. Regia husks, but black walnut probably has a stronger dye component.

Is it certain that da Vinci used walnut ink?  Inasmuch as I've thought about it at all, I assumed it was sepia.