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Saffron Ink


Santak

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To make saffron ink, we need:

 

a. 2 grams of genuine saffron (for example, genuine Iranian saffron)

b. 1 new, unused red marker, soluble in water.

c. Water

d. 2 transparent glasses and an ink bottle with cap

e. Little saucepan

f. Gas-stove

g. Teaspoon and tablespoon

h. Resin or latex gloves

 

To make saffron ink, we do:

 

1. Put 2 grams of saffron into a transparent glass.

2. Boil water, and pour 80 grams of the boiling water on the saffron stigmas.

3. Cover the glass with something and wait until complete cooling. You should get a saffron infusion.

4. Open the glass; take a teaspoon, mix the infusion with saffron stigmas.

5. Pour water in a small saucepan; put the glass with saffron infusion in the saucepan. Water in the saucepan should be slightly above the level of the infusion in the glass.

6. Boil water in the saucepan.

7. During boiling open and remove the ink-source out of a new, soluble in water, unused red marker, remove transparent plastic layer and put porous ink-source material into the glass with infusion.

8. Mix them with spoon or any other instrument.

9. Add 20 grams of boiling water from the saucepan into the glass.

10. Wait until the water in the saucepan evaporates for 80-90 percent and water will remain only at the bottom of the saucepan. During boiling monitor the level of the ink in the glass - and as soon as the level reduced, take a tablespoon of water from the saucepan and pour into the glass to restore the level of ink in the glass to keep the amount of water in the ink. Because water (or ink) in the glass evaporates too. Ink solution in the glass should not be more than 80-90 grams; otherwise ink color will not be dense and deep.

11. Once a small amount of water left in the saucepan, get the glass out of the saucepan, quickly cover the glass and wait until complete cooling

12. After the solution gets cool, remove the marker fiber from the glass and squeeze out all the liquid of the fiber (porous ink-source material) into the glass. Once the fiber is dry, throw the fiber in trash.

13. Leave the ink solution for 5-6 hours, after 5-6 hours, pour the ink into another glass, take remaining in the first glass saffron stigmas and squeeze their liquid into the ink, just as did it with the fiber of marker, then throw the stigmas.

14. Saffron ink is ready; pour it into the ink bottle and close the bottle with cap.

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Edited by Santak

Write and enjoy the process.

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Very interesting. I'll try making some if I can!

I think you can. Nice elegant saffron color makes the writing process enjoyable. Saffron perfumes the pen with its deep warm smell.

Write and enjoy the process.

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Beautiful! Love the shading!

Find my homemade ink recipes on my Flickr page here.

 

"I don't wait for inspiration; inspiration waits for me." --Akiane Kramarik

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And there aren't clogging issues?

Before using you must strain the ink (it is enough to do what is described in the recipe) and use only ink, not the saffron stigmas. When you fill your pen, ink must consist of liquid only - no little saffron parts swimming in the ink. If we talk about pure genuine saffron, saffron parts don't remain in the ink after the stigmas have been thrown out. Also, you have to use water soluble marker according to the recipe.

Crocin is the chemical ingredient primarily responsible for the color of saffron. Crocin is a natural carotenoid chemical compound that is found in the flowers crocus and gardenia. It has a deep red color and forms crystals with a melting point of 186 °C. When dissolved in water, it forms an orange solution.

If you use water-soluble products such as crocin (infusion of saffron stigmas) and water-soluble marker ink, clogging issues will not happen.

Edited by Santak

Write and enjoy the process.

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Does the scent stay on the paper? I had tried a sample of De Atramentis Black Roses last spring and the only way I got any rose scent at all was to stick the open vial right up to my nose -- I didn't get any coming out of the pen (let alone on the page).

Also, is there some way to make this without having to buy and butcher a regular marker? And is it FP safe (I know you said to strain it, but still, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable putting this in any of my pens -- for the ingredients in the marker as much as for the saffron threads themselves).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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Does the scent stay on the paper? I had tried a sample of De Atramentis Black Roses last spring and the only way I got any rose scent at all was to stick the open vial right up to my nose -- I didn't get any coming out of the pen (let alone on the page).

Also, is there some way to make this without having to buy and butcher a regular marker? And is it FP safe (I know you said to strain it, but still, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable putting this in any of my pens -- for the ingredients in the marker as much as for the saffron threads themselves).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

This is what the Noodler's nib creaper flex is made for. It's a $14 pen. That's what makes it an excellent test platform. But, there's always glass and dip nibs.

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Does the scent stay on the paper? I had tried a sample of De Atramentis Black Roses last spring and the only way I got any rose scent at all was to stick the open vial right up to my nose -- I didn't get any coming out of the pen (let alone on the page).

Also, is there some way to make this without having to buy and butcher a regular marker? And is it FP safe (I know you said to strain it, but still, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable putting this in any of my pens -- for the ingredients in the marker as much as for the saffron threads themselves).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

No, the scent doesn't stay on the paper. Scent stays only with ink and with pen filled with ink.

Without marker the ink will be yellow, not orange. Marker strengthens, enhances the color of saffron. This is a sample of writing with saffron ink without red marker. As you see, the text is yellow. But yellow is not a saffron color, true saffron color is deep orange, besides, changing deep orange - light orange, medium orange, dark orange, all in one.

I used saffron ink in my Parker I.M. for 2 weeks, after this I changed ink to black, and now, my Parker I.M. writes without any problem. Saffron solution is water friendly, also water soluble marker ink is.

If you have concern, you may try it with any cheap, inexpensive fountain pen.

I have 240 grams of saffron ink. Tomorrow I will do an acid test on this ink and share with you all information about the results of the test. Ink without acid is metallic nib friendly, it doesn't corrode metallic nib.

post-96276-0-64241700-1356815432.jpg

Edited by Santak

Write and enjoy the process.

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Interesting color, however....

 

Saffron costs a mint to get enough to make paella. I'm not about to use it to make ink, especially for a pretty, but really impractical, not-too-readable color.

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/606/letterji9.png
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Let's look at the results of the acid test.

 

Take a small portion of the ink (3-5 drops) and add a small portion of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) in that fermented ink portion, if it sizzles and produces gas, then ink has high acidity.

 

We need: saffron ink, baking soda (sodium bicarbonate).

 

http://s019.radikal.ru/i625/1301/78/ad3977d21518.jpg

 

http://i011.radikal.ru/1301/86/aa96ff211c89.jpg

 

Now take small portion of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)

 

http://s018.radikal.ru/i512/1301/c6/7ff16db09127.jpg

 

This is saffron ink before adding baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)

 

http://s017.radikal.ru/i404/1301/61/1dedced6012c.jpg

 

And this is saffron ink after adding baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). Nothing happens.

 

http://s020.radikal.ru/i711/1301/1b/fc39b0606006.jpg

 

Lets compare the result with the result of vinegar acid test. This is grape vinegar.

 

http://s020.radikal.ru/i714/1301/d3/36fcb076ddda.jpg

 

And this is grape vinegar after adding baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). It sizzles and produces gas.

 

http://s002.radikal.ru/i198/1301/1f/697c606572da.jpg

 

http://s001.radikal.ru/i196/1301/66/041e5d181148.jpg

Write and enjoy the process.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Interesting color, however....

 

Saffron costs a mint to get enough to make paella. I'm not about to use it to make ink, especially for a pretty, but really impractical, not-too-readable color.

I don't know the price of saffron in the United States, but in Azerbaijan saffron costs 3.5 USD per gram, 98 USD per ounce. This plant is endemic to Azerbaijan and Iran.

Write and enjoy the process.

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I don't know the price of saffron in the United States, but in Azerbaijan saffron costs 3.5 USD per gram, 98 USD per ounce. This plant is endemic to Azerbaijan and Iran.

 

It can be expensive, but prices vary and depending on what kind of saffron you buy and where you buy it, it doesn't have to break the bank.

 

The most expensive is Spanish saffron; just a couple of "pinches" can easily cost more than US $10. Less expensive is Iranian saffron. A small bag of stamens as you show in your first picture ("Bahraman Saffron") would cost between US$20-25. I tend to buy it in this form from a local Iranian market. One small pack will last me a couple of months.

 

On a funny note, a friend recently gave me a box of spices purchased in Turkey. Among them is a bag of "Indian Saffron" -- it's turmeric! :)

Écrire c’est tenter de savoir ce qu’on écrirait si on écrivait. – M. Duras

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I don't know the price of saffron in the United States, but in Azerbaijan saffron costs 3.5 USD per gram, 98 USD per ounce. This plant is endemic to Azerbaijan and Iran.

 

It can be expensive, but prices vary and depending on what kind of saffron you buy and where you buy it, it doesn't have to break the bank.

 

The most expensive is Spanish saffron; just a couple of "pinches" can easily cost more than US $10. Less expensive is Iranian saffron. A small bag of stamens as you show in your first picture ("Bahraman Saffron") would cost between US$20-25. I tend to buy it in this form from a local Iranian market. One small pack will last me a couple of months.

 

On a funny note, a friend recently gave me a box of spices purchased in Turkey. Among them is a bag of "Indian Saffron" -- it's turmeric! :)

I haven't seen any normal Indian saffron in my life, all of so called "Indian saffrons" was either turmeric, or false saffron (made of whatever else). I bought that saffron ("Bahraman Saffron") in Baku.

Turmeric has a pleasant aroma and color, but only in cuisine :) For fountain pen it is more dangerous than indian ink.

Write and enjoy the process.

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