Quill Thrill: Recipes for homemade ink

The fall 2005 issue of Historic New England magazine includes an article on making your own quill pen. Following are companion recipes for homemade ink.

Berry Ink

Materials

• Small bowl
• Spoon
• Fine strainer or sieve
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup of berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, fresh or frozen and thawed, Small jar with lid if using thawed berries, save the juice)

Instructions

1. Place some of the berries in the strainer over a bowl
2. Mash the berries with the spoon so the juice drips into the bowl
3. When the berries are completely mashed, scrape any juice from the bottom of the strainer into the bowl.
4. Empty the strainer. Continue to mash a few berries at a time into the strainer until you have used all the berries.
5. If you have juice from thawed berries, add this to the juice from the mashed berries.
6. Add the vinegar and salt to the berry juice and stir until the salt is dissolved. If the ink seems too thick, add a little water.
7. Pour the ink into the small jar. It will spoil quickly so keep the tightly covered jar in the refrigerator when you are not using it.

Walnut Ink

Materials

• Shells from 8 walnuts
• Small strainer
• Kitchen towel
• Small bowl
• Hammer
• Small saucepan
• ½ tsp vinegar
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup water
• Small jar with lid

Instructions

1. Fold the towel in half and place the walnut shells into the center of the folded towel. Use the hammer to crush the shells in the towel.
2. Place the crushed shells into the small saucepan. Add the water.
3. Heat the walnuts and water on a stove until the mixture boils. Lower the heat and continue to gently boil (simmer) the mixture for 45 minutes. The water will turn dark brown.
4. After 45 minutes, turn off the heat and let the mixture cool for 15 minutes.
5. With an adult helping, pour the mixture through the strainer into the small bowl.
6. Add the vinegar and salt to the mixture and stir until the salt is dissolved.
7. Pour your walnut ink into a small jar.
8. This ink dries very quickly, so keep the ink jar tightly covered when you are not using it.

Note: Walnut ink stains fingers and cloth, please be careful when you use it.

Invisible Ink

Invisible ink is a liquid that is either invisible when it is used or disappears quickly. The writing can be read by using a method that darkens the ink. Heat fixed inks are the simplest type of invisible ink. When the ink dries, the paper will appear blank. If the paper is heated, by a flat iron or placing the paper near a light bulb, the writing will appear. This works because the inks contain carbon. When heated, the carbon will become dark and allow you to read the message. Many common liquids can be used as disappearing inks: lemon or lime juice, milk, onion juice, apple juice, vinegar.

The use of invisible ink is a type of steganography. This is the science of writing secret messages so that no one can see the message unless they know to look how to look for it.

Materials

• Lemon or lime juice, milk, onion juice, apple juice or vinegar
• Small bowl or jar
• Toothpicks or cotton swabs
• Paper
• Flat iron on low/delicate setting, light with 100 watt bulb, or heating pad

Instructions

1. Pour one of the liquids into the bowl or jar
2. Dip the toothpick or cotton swab into the juice
3. Write on the paper
4. When the ink dries, the writing will disappear.
5. Ask an adult to help you read the writing. Gently iron over the paper, using a flat iron set at the lowest setting. If the writing does not appear, turn the iron up just a little. You can also turn on a heating pad to high heat, let it warm up, and when warm, place the paper under the heating pad. Or you can turn on the light and hold the paper close to the light bulb. Do not touch the paper to the light bulb.
6. Remember to turn off all appliances when you are finished.