Recommend Me A Period-Looking Ink For Dip Pen?

[TheFountainPenOfYouth]

Finally found a nice dip pen from the 1800s. Can someone recommend an ink that is similar to the inks used for dip pens during the Victorian period?

 

Thanks!

 

Also any suggestions for a fountain pen ink that resembles the colour of writing in old letters?

[Inkling13]

Dip pens open a world of possibilities. Why not use homemade ink? Likely that was the ink used with dip pens, and you dont have to worry about clogs, being feedless. Sorry i dont have any recipes on hand. It would usually be a light blue-black IG ink, brown etc.

[Corona688]

Iron gall would be your best bet. They used lots of it. It's made from nearly any plant tannins - even dark tea works - plus nearly any soluble iron. When written, it reacts with air and darkens, becoming permanent. Find a recipe which uses what you have and try it.

 

There's also kinds still for sale.

Edited February 23, 2018 by Corona688

[Inkling13]

Also, black can be made from lamp-black, essentially the carbon builup from candles and oil lamps.

[Corona688]

They call that india ink, I think. Soot plus some sort of plant glue.

[TheFountainPenOfYouth]

Do modern iron gall inks eat through paper after a few centuries?

[Corona688]

Same thing. It doesn't eat the paper if you use the right amount of iron, which by Victorian times was well understood and regulated. Probably better to buy than make if you want your document to last 300 years.

[Runnin_Ute]

I believe Colonial Williamsburg sells ink, it comes as a powder I think and you just mix it with distilled water. (IIRC) Couple of different colors.

[TheFountainPenOfYouth]

Do you guys have suggestions for which iron gall inks I should buy? It seems only a very few companies make them while lots more make them themselves and sell it.

[CraigR]

a Google search for colonial ink recipe shows a number of references for making ink of that period. Sounds like a fun project.

[TheFountainPenOfYouth]

I did a bit of looking and I think I'm going to use Walker's Copperplate. It is a Victorian iron gall ink recipe.

[lapis]

Could you shell out a recipe? Thanks!

[Corona688]

Third link from colonial iron gall recipe on google, the iron gall website.

First link from iron gall from tea on google, Making Iron Gall Ink.

Edited February 24, 2018 by Corona688

[Inkling13]

You could also do walnut ink, comes in granulated form which you just add water.

[sidthecat]

Platinum makes iron gall inks in several attractive shades: I use their Forest Black in my 19th century dip pens. It has a substantial quality that is different from dye-based inks, and reduces feathering a lot.

 

All that said, my daily-use ink is a brown that reproduces the color of old, faded manuscript. It gives my most frivolous jottings the weight of ancient wisdom.

[TheFountainPenOfYouth]

Could you shell out a recipe? Thanks!

 

 

I don't have the actual recipe but you could buy the ink straight from the store!

[Inky.Fingers]

no need for all the fancy gall. use fountain pen ink. i do.

 

additionally, you can use any liquid, including paint.

[wallylynn]

The best known ig fountain pen inks are diamine registrar, essri, and r&k Salix. Platinum brand is new, kwzi is new. Lamy and Montblanc no longer makes ig ink.

 

Pilot, pelican, hero blue-black may or may not have ig, no one has been able confirm to the best of my knowledge.

 

Do also check the home made ink forum. I've made poke berry ink, black walnut ink, and lemon juice invisible ink.

[Corona688]

Pelikan BB is listed in the giant iron gall thread, and people have reported a batch of it going bad in the way you'd expect IG to, so very probably. The others, no idea.

[Inkling13]

The best known ig fountain pen inks are diamine registrar, essri, and r&k Salix. Platinum brand is new, kwzi is new. Lamy and Montblanc no longer makes ig ink.

 

Pilot, pelican, hero blue-black may or may not have ig, no one has been able confirm to the best of my knowledge.

 

Do also check the home made ink forum. I've made poke berry ink, black walnut ink, and lemon juice invisible ink.

Pilot has not been on any list of IG ink threads I have read, and it certainly doesn't behave like one, but it is remarkably water resistant especially for blue-black and blue. I couldn't tell you about Pelikan, or Hero.