Author Topic: Making your own walnut ink?  (Read 19357 times)

Offline RandalC

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Re: Making your own walnut ink?
« Reply #45 on: May 05, 2014, 06:40:14 PM »
Over on FPN, fibredrunk has a few threads about ink-making and has made walnut ink. She is a chatty sort and responds to messages. Might want to ask her for tips and lessons learned.

Enjoy,

Offline AndyT

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Re: Making your own walnut ink?
« Reply #46 on: May 09, 2014, 06:56:14 PM »
I finally got around to making up a trial sample from Vandyke crystals today, and won't be experimenting any further because the resulting ink was just exactly what I'd been hoping for.  These proportions make an ink which has some body, flows freely, shades prettily and keeps a tight hairline:

1g Vandyke crystals : 15ml water

That's about half a 35mm film canister's worth, by the way, which is quite convenient if you have some lying around.  The price works out as about £5 a gallon if you shop at Amazon.  :)

Offline Moya

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Re: Making your own walnut ink?
« Reply #47 on: May 10, 2014, 12:07:51 AM »
I love the crystals - I love the resulting ink, and I also love how easy they are to travel with! I often take a dinky dip full of crystals when I'm flying, and borrow a shot glass or cup to mix it up in at my destination; and then toss it when I leave.  I bought a medium jar from PiA and I think it will last me for years :)

Offline Erica McPhee

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Re: Making your own walnut ink?
« Reply #48 on: May 10, 2014, 01:28:19 AM »
Well this is really good to know since I spend a small fortune on the huge bottles on Norton's walnut ink!
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Offline garyn

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Re: Making your own walnut ink?
« Reply #49 on: May 12, 2014, 12:47:08 AM »
How dark should Walnut ink be?
I picked up a small bottle of Daniel Smith's walnut ink at FLAX in San Francisco (to help support the local stores).  When I tested it, the ink line was not as dark as the writing sample that Briana showed.  In fact I was rather disappointed at how light the brown ink looked on paper.  I was hoping for a medium density, rather than the light/faded brown that I got.
Maybe I need to get a bottle of Norton's walnut ink.
Gary

Offline Moya

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Re: Making your own walnut ink?
« Reply #50 on: May 12, 2014, 01:04:44 AM »
Hi Gary, here is a close up of some walnut ink from crystals on the page:  http://worthwhilethings.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/img_0554.jpg 

These are the crystals from PIA.  You can make the mixture darker or lighter just by putting more or fewer crystals in.  It does shade a little bit, but I actually really like that effect - ymmv :)

Offline garyn

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Re: Making your own walnut ink?
« Reply #51 on: May 12, 2014, 03:20:41 AM »
Mora, that is what I wanted my brown to look like.  Nice and dark.
Looks like I may have to try the Norton's ink and/or the walnut ink crystals.

I wonder if I can evaporate some of the water out of my walnut ink to make it darker.
Gary

Offline Moya

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Re: Making your own walnut ink?
« Reply #52 on: May 12, 2014, 03:50:02 AM »
I'd like to try the Norton's one day, but the crystals are so much cheaper and give such a lovely result that it's not high on my priorities list.  I definitely recommend them.

Try leaving the lid off for a few days and see how you go?

Offline Estefa

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Re: Making your own walnut ink?
« Reply #53 on: May 12, 2014, 03:56:01 AM »
You can definitely leave it open, it will get darker soon! I'd put some sort of very thin tissue on top so that you don't get dust inside the jar.
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Offline garyn

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Re: Making your own walnut ink?
« Reply #54 on: June 11, 2014, 06:39:00 PM »
From the acid nib damaging point of view, how are the crystals vs. Norton Walnut ink?
I would prefer to use the least damaging ink.
Gary

Offline Moya

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Re: Making your own walnut ink?
« Reply #55 on: June 11, 2014, 08:18:50 PM »
I've never noticed any nib damage from using walnut ink crystals (unlike some of my sumi, which eats them in days) - but I have no experience with the bottled.

Offline Linda Y.

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Re: Making your own walnut ink?
« Reply #56 on: June 11, 2014, 08:37:30 PM »
I've been using only bottled walnut ink and no noticeable damage whatsoever.

Offline tintenfuchs

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Re: Making your own walnut ink?
« Reply #57 on: September 28, 2014, 05:35:52 AM »
Sooo ... I made my first batch of walnut ink today (Christopher's recipe from this thread, since it seemed so easy) and here's what I learned, maybe it's of help to some of you:

Make lots: I only had 4 or 5 husks and that's definitely not enough. It's supposed to cook for an hour at least, and if you have only a few husks, the amount of water you put in the pot evaporates very quickly. Next time I'll definitely put in more husks and therefore more water, so that there's enough left even if half of it evaporates. I had to put in more water several times, which isn't really the point I think. The logical conclusion is that my ink is very light. I'll leave it open for a while and see if it darkens.

It does write very smoothly though. Not *quite* as well as the one I bought, but my hand slipped when pouring in the gum arabic, so there's probably too much in there.
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Offline SueL

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Re: Making your own walnut ink?
« Reply #58 on: September 28, 2014, 10:39:02 AM »
I'd love to see a writing sample of your home brewed walnut ink, Natascha.

Offline tintenfuchs

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Re: Making your own walnut ink?
« Reply #59 on: September 29, 2014, 03:00:10 AM »
I'm whipping up another batch right now, this time I let it cook for longer, stew overnight, now it's cooking again. I'll post once that is done, I'm trying to get a darker color :)
Natascha
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