I want to make my own ink. I've heard of walnut hulls but I'm not sure how to do that and I would love to hear of some variation.

Thanks
~kassi~

I worked at a nature camp for years, and walnut dyeing was one of our staple activities. As I remember, we would collect fallen walnuts from black walnut trees. We then broke them up somehow - maybe with hammers? i can't remember - and boiled them with some water until the water was really dark brown. Then we strained out the walnut chunks and dipped fabric in it. I think maybe we used salt as a mordant. Maybe not - it is really pretty strong. It will stain your hands for days. The dye is sort of a poop-brown color.

We also tried making ink with it by boiling down the liquid and straining it really well. This made a lovely brown ink, but the ink gets moldy after a while, and on paper it fades a little (I think - again, can't quite remember). You could probably overcome the mold issue by adding a little rubbing alcohol or vinegar to the ink, but I haven't tried it.

i found 2 recipes for ink in one of my old American Girl craft books. they're for walnut ink and berry ink. i tried the walnut ink once, but i grew too inpatient with it and threw it out. but here goes.
shells from 8 walnuts
old kitchen towel
hammer
small sauce pan
1 cup water
strainer
small jar with lid
1/2 teaspoon vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1. wrap shells in towel, crush them with a hammer
2. put the crushed shells into the sauce pan and add water.
3. heat water until it boils. turn down and let water simmer for 45 min, the water should turn dark brown.
4. when mixture has finished simmering, let cool for 15 min. pour through strainer into jar.
5. add vinegar and salt, stir until the salt dissolves.
6. always keep the jar tightly covered.

so in theory, this should work, so good luck, if you want the recipe for the berry ink(which looks like ants would find it in 5 min.), just say the word.

i wouldnt think walnut hull ink would mold that quickly. walnut hulls are very tannic. it's a fairly lightfast dye on fiber, so i assume it's decently lightfast on paper.

i know sumi ink is made with the soot from vegetable oil lamps. there's a good National Geographic about it.

stella

I can't remember how long it took to mold - maybe it was a couple of months. But it definitely did. Perhaps you could store it in the fridge.