 
Or the diary of a demented kitchen witch: Part II
GO TO PART III
June
20, 2005
I
have a recipe from a living history village
that we visited not too long ago. I'm going
to use this as the basis for my first attempt.
The recipe calls for items in pounds ... not
going to happen because I don't need a three
gallons of ink that doesn't work. Here goes
nothin'.
1/2
c. distilled water (grocery store)
1/2 tspn. brown sugar (grocery store)
1/2 tspn. gum arabic (from local health food
store)
1/2 tspn. iron filings (from local science shop)
1 tspn. ground black walnut shells (local health
food shop)
There
were no instructions with the list of ingredients
and so all I have done is put everything in
a baby food jar, give it shake and placed it
on the counter. I am immediately impressed by
the black colour the walnut shells give the
liquid but I am a tad worried about the glob
of gum arabic that immediately formed rather
than dissolving into the water.
Well,
let's keep our fingers crossed kiddies ... we'll
check back in 7 days!
 July
12, 2005
One
word ... crap.
It
was pretty watery and not very effective. It
looked lovely in the jar, all dark and sinister
but when written upon the page ... well ...
blah. I was sort of hoping that air would darken
it up a little but no such luck ... just a pale
streak upon the paper.
I've
found a simple recipe which is similar and I
will try this one next ...
approx
1/3 c. nut shells
1c. water
2 ml salt 1/2 tsp.
2 ml vinegar 1/2 tsp.
3.
Put the water and crushed shells into a saucepan.
Heat until the water is boiling. Turn the stove
to low and cook for about one hour.
4.Add
the salt and vinegar to the ink.
5.Store
in the jar with the lid closed until ready to
use.
August
16, 2005
Another
word ... mold.
I
guess I should have used distilled water instead
of tap water, perhaps this would have helped
with the mold situation. In any case, the same
problem is arising - the 'ink' is simply too
light and watery. Attempt number three is under
way.
I
was charring some rue the other week and I happened
upon a lovely discovery which will be the basis
for my next experiment. When I went to wash
my hands after handling the black rue the tiny
bit on my hands, when combined with water, resulted
in a lovely black liquid! I suppose that this
would be similar to creating lampblack ink.
So, dear reader, this evening I began my third
inky experiment!
1/4
cup dried mixed herbs
1/4 cup (approx) distilled water
1 tbsp. vinegar
1/2 tspn. gum arabic
1.
I placed the herbs in a cast iron skillet and
turned up the heat. Immediately I see a problem
... the herbs should be similar in size because
the larger bits are taking MUCH longer to char.
2.
I remove a bit of the charred herbs and use
a pestle and mortar to grind them and add a
small amount of water. Problem number 2 arises
... the herbs are not charred enough. When you
really burn things well (just before they turn
to ash) they become like charcoal and will grind
nicely into a fine black powder, when you don't
they are a little bit woody and you won't achieve
the same effect.
3.
Defeated but still intent on continuing the
experiment I return the 'slop' in the mortar
to the skillet. I add a little more water to
the mix and a lovely loud, sizzling, billowing
cloud of steam arises from the pan ... very
effective visually and I am convinced that this
must be part of my recipe for making ink. I
add a little vinegar to help combat the mold
issue ...
4.
I sprinkle some of the gum powder over the slop
and mix it well.
5.
I put the whole mess through a filter and see
that the liquid is far too pale. At this point
I just want to see if the particles that are
there will remain suspended or will separate.
On
the whole I think that there is a lot of potential
for this technique and will try again, making
certain to char the herbs very well next time,
in a few days.
Will
keep you posted!
GO TO PART III (and finally some stinkin' ink!) 
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