Jane Austen Ink
Used the Jane Austen font to make the label.
12/3/10
The first iron gall ink I ever made last year was the recipe by author Jane Austen. In a letter dated October 14, 1813 to her sister, Cassandra, Jane instructed her sister in how to refill their ink bottle (at a time when she did the majority of her writing). These were her instructions:
Take 4 ozs of blue gauls, 2 ozs of green copperas, 1 1/2 ozs of gum arabic. Break the gauls. The gum and copperas must be beaten in a mortar and put into a pint of strong stale beer; with a pint of small beer. Put in a little refin'd sugar. It must stand in the chimney corner fourteen days and be shaken two or three times a day.
I had to adapt the ink recipe somewhat to what I could obtain in 2010. Beverly of Coarsegold, CA was kind to send me a couple of boxes of oak apples from her area. (Thanks again, Beverly!) Austen used "blue gauls," which are the blue aleppo galls from Turkey, which contain 50-70% gallotannic acid. Other kinds of oak galls, such as oak apples, contain somewhere around 20% gallotannic acid. So I had to make adjustments to the recipe to make sure I had the correct ratio of gallotannic acid to iron sulfate (an imbalance here can create an inferior and impermanent ink). Ideally the ratio would be 3 parts gallotannic acid to 2 parts iron sulfate. If you have access to blue galls, by all means use them and follow her amounts!
Austen no doubt used homemade beer in her ink. "Small beer" had very little alcohol in it, while "strong beer" had a lot. Both were probably considered cleaner than the water of their day. Alcohol does have some preservative effect for ink as well (though too much can cause excessive feathering of the ink). The Molson Golden Beer I used for the "strong beer" had a very strong, almost skunk-like odor, so be forewarned that this isn't the most pleasant smelling ink, at least with this brand of beer.
Without further ado, here is my adapted recipe:
12 ounces of fresh California oak apples (galls)
2 ounces copperas (aka iron sulfate)
1 ounce powdered gum Arabic
1 pint small beer (I used Bud Select 55 Beer, with 2.4% alcohol)
1 pint strong beer (Molson Golden Beer, with 6.04% alcohol)
A little refined sugar
Allow the beer to go flat overnight (otherwise it will be too foamy to mix with the other ingredients). Crush the oak galls to a chunky powder with a hammer, and add them with the beers into a 3-quart size glass jar. Add the iron sulfate, gum Arabic and a little sugar. Screw on the lid and shake well. Keep in a warm place for 14 days (I kept the jar about 3-4 feet away from a space heater). Shake 2-3 times daily. Strain/squeeze through 2-3 layers of cheesecloth. Bottle in sterile glass amber jars. Yields about 12 ounces of ink.
When freshly made, the ink is a pale, watery brown that will darken to black on the page within a couple of days. How fast this happens, and to what extent the blackness of the ink will be, will depend on the pH level of the paper it is written on and the pH level of the nib it is written with. This ink is always surprising me. When I write with it with a glass pen on acid-free paper, the ink remains dark brown. When I use a metal Speedball dip nib on acid-free paper, the ink turns very dark black within a couple seconds as it dries. It's fun to watch the transformation!
Please note that this ink is not for fountain pen use! It will corrode the inner workings of a fountain pen due to it's highly acidic nature. The gum Arabic will clog a fountain pen. To extend the life of this ink, do not dip a metal nib directly into the ink bottle (instead, use a paint brush to fill the ink reservoir on the nib). Not only will the acid in the ink corrode a metal nib, but a metal nib will cause a chemical reaction in the ink and shorten its shelf life. If sediment begins to separate out in this ink, it is no longer fit for permanent work. You can slow this from happening by keeping metal out of the ink, and keeping its exposure to oxygen to a minimum. I like to store a small working amount in a 4-dram glass vial, and keep the rest of my supply in a tightly sealed amber bottle. The vial is just large enough for a dip pen to fit into, and since it's a small amount, I don't worry about shortening the life of the ink as I'm apt to use this small quantity up quickly before it drops sediment.
How to refresh an iron gall ink: www.iampeth.com/lessons/about_ink/VitoloFresheningUpIronG...
Jane Austen Ink
Used the Jane Austen font to make the label.
12/3/10
The first iron gall ink I ever made last year was the recipe by author Jane Austen. In a letter dated October 14, 1813 to her sister, Cassandra, Jane instructed her sister in how to refill their ink bottle (at a time when she did the majority of her writing). These were her instructions:
Take 4 ozs of blue gauls, 2 ozs of green copperas, 1 1/2 ozs of gum arabic. Break the gauls. The gum and copperas must be beaten in a mortar and put into a pint of strong stale beer; with a pint of small beer. Put in a little refin'd sugar. It must stand in the chimney corner fourteen days and be shaken two or three times a day.
I had to adapt the ink recipe somewhat to what I could obtain in 2010. Beverly of Coarsegold, CA was kind to send me a couple of boxes of oak apples from her area. (Thanks again, Beverly!) Austen used "blue gauls," which are the blue aleppo galls from Turkey, which contain 50-70% gallotannic acid. Other kinds of oak galls, such as oak apples, contain somewhere around 20% gallotannic acid. So I had to make adjustments to the recipe to make sure I had the correct ratio of gallotannic acid to iron sulfate (an imbalance here can create an inferior and impermanent ink). Ideally the ratio would be 3 parts gallotannic acid to 2 parts iron sulfate. If you have access to blue galls, by all means use them and follow her amounts!
Austen no doubt used homemade beer in her ink. "Small beer" had very little alcohol in it, while "strong beer" had a lot. Both were probably considered cleaner than the water of their day. Alcohol does have some preservative effect for ink as well (though too much can cause excessive feathering of the ink). The Molson Golden Beer I used for the "strong beer" had a very strong, almost skunk-like odor, so be forewarned that this isn't the most pleasant smelling ink, at least with this brand of beer.
Without further ado, here is my adapted recipe:
12 ounces of fresh California oak apples (galls)
2 ounces copperas (aka iron sulfate)
1 ounce powdered gum Arabic
1 pint small beer (I used Bud Select 55 Beer, with 2.4% alcohol)
1 pint strong beer (Molson Golden Beer, with 6.04% alcohol)
A little refined sugar
Allow the beer to go flat overnight (otherwise it will be too foamy to mix with the other ingredients). Crush the oak galls to a chunky powder with a hammer, and add them with the beers into a 3-quart size glass jar. Add the iron sulfate, gum Arabic and a little sugar. Screw on the lid and shake well. Keep in a warm place for 14 days (I kept the jar about 3-4 feet away from a space heater). Shake 2-3 times daily. Strain/squeeze through 2-3 layers of cheesecloth. Bottle in sterile glass amber jars. Yields about 12 ounces of ink.
When freshly made, the ink is a pale, watery brown that will darken to black on the page within a couple of days. How fast this happens, and to what extent the blackness of the ink will be, will depend on the pH level of the paper it is written on and the pH level of the nib it is written with. This ink is always surprising me. When I write with it with a glass pen on acid-free paper, the ink remains dark brown. When I use a metal Speedball dip nib on acid-free paper, the ink turns very dark black within a couple seconds as it dries. It's fun to watch the transformation!
Please note that this ink is not for fountain pen use! It will corrode the inner workings of a fountain pen due to it's highly acidic nature. The gum Arabic will clog a fountain pen. To extend the life of this ink, do not dip a metal nib directly into the ink bottle (instead, use a paint brush to fill the ink reservoir on the nib). Not only will the acid in the ink corrode a metal nib, but a metal nib will cause a chemical reaction in the ink and shorten its shelf life. If sediment begins to separate out in this ink, it is no longer fit for permanent work. You can slow this from happening by keeping metal out of the ink, and keeping its exposure to oxygen to a minimum. I like to store a small working amount in a 4-dram glass vial, and keep the rest of my supply in a tightly sealed amber bottle. The vial is just large enough for a dip pen to fit into, and since it's a small amount, I don't worry about shortening the life of the ink as I'm apt to use this small quantity up quickly before it drops sediment.
How to refresh an iron gall ink: www.iampeth.com/lessons/about_ink/VitoloFresheningUpIronG...