Is there a way for me to make ink at home?

I really like calligraphy. I have only ever found black calligraphy ink, though. If I can only make black, that's ok, too I guess. I think that making it myself (especially from natural ingredients that people back a century or two would still have) would be fun. I already make my own quills and paper. I was just wondering if there were any...um...would you call them recipes? for making inks (especially cool colors) that aren't too labor intensive or expensive? I've heard of walnut ink and pomegranate ink? What colors do those turn out? How do you do it?

Is there a way for me to make ink at home?
It is calligraphy only if it is carbon black. Anything else is, by definition, colored ink, not calligraphy ink.





Here's some recipes:





Homemade Ink from Berries (this is a fun project for kids as well as adults)


It wasn’t that long ago that ball point pens were high-tech. Before that, there was the fountain pen, and before that the ink pen and quill. True ink could be very expensive so many pioneers had to make their own. Inks were made at home from many different ingredients depending on what color was needed or wanted.


According to different sources, they used berries, powdered roots, nuts, and even chimney soot. Here is a simple recipe for making a good quality ink from berries. The final color of your ink will depend on what kind of berries you chose to use.





Ingredients:


½ cup of ripe berries (blueberries, cherries, blackberries, strawberries, elderberries, raspberries, etc.


½ teaspoon vinegar


½ teaspoon salt





Tools:


measuring cups and spoon


strainer


bowl


wooden spoon


baby food jar





Directions:


1. Fill the strainer with the berries and hold it over a bowl.


2. Using the rounded back of a wooden spoon, crush the berries against the strainer so that the berry juice strains into the bowl.


3. Keep adding berries until most of their juice has been strained out and only pulp remains.


4. Add the salt and vinegar to the berry juice. The vinegar helps the ink to retain its color and the salt keeps it from getting moldy.


5. If the berry ink is too thick, a tablespoon of water.


6. Store in baby food jar.


7. Only make a small amount of berry ink at a time and when not in use, keep it tightly covered.





Any colored substance that can be finely ground to make a pigment can be used for ink. For example rust on iron. The collected soot from a candle (called lamp black) is what calligraphy ink is made from. You can also experiment with fabric dyes like Rit.





Have fun!



super nanny