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Hi Trish!<div><br></div><div>Too bad we didn't see this soon after it was published so we could ask her sources. Walnut makes a fun project, but despite her claiming it was used as an ink all through the middle ages, I have yet to find a single recipe or reference to it as ink. Wood stain, fabric dye, yeah, but not yet ink. Maybe they did, so I keep asking, but nobody else I've spoken with has seen it documented either.</div><div><br></div><div>Of course, a lot of us play with it anyway.... Its pretty, and makes just the same color as Bistre, which is a real medieval color made from burnt beech wood.</div><div><br></div><div>The gum arabic is very safe. It is a food ingredient. It is used in ink as a binder so the ink will stick to the page. Same thing watercolor paints use. I think you can buy the crystals at an Indian food grocery store here in town. It is sold as "edible gum." If you go into an Arabic grocery store and ask for gum arabic, they try to sell you chewing gum. "Gum" just means it was the sap of a tree, in this case the acacia. </div><div><br></div><div>My only reservation about its use with a child is the intensely strong staining power. Just pounding the blackened hulls on my porch stained the concrete for a couple of years.</div><div><br></div><div>I boiled mine in a cast iron kettle. Run it through a sieve first to get the chunks out before you strain it through cloth. Regular cloth is better than cheese cloth for this. You need fine mesh, and cheese cloth isn't that.</div><div><br></div><div>RanthulfR</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br><div><div>On Apr 20, 2010, at 12:44 PM, Trish wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;color:#000000;"><span>I saw this ( <a target="_blank" href="http://quazen.com/recreation/crafts/how-to-make-walnut-ink/">http://quazen.com/recreation/crafts/how-to-make-walnut-ink/</a> ) article on making Walnut Husk (Hull, whatever) ink. </span><br>I just wanted to know if anyone in the barony has done this before and what sort of results you've come up with.<br><br>I have squirrels that like to litter my front yard with the things, and I thought it would be a great project to do with CJ (he enjoyed using the clean pasta sauce jars filled with husks as estimation jars and counting them). I boiled some down yesterday and the liquid I have (after straining it with cheesecloth and a coffee filter) is very dark and does not let light through. The article suggests just letting it sit for a month or so. I have seen another article that suggests adding vinegar and gum arabic. <br><br>Any suggestions would be welcome (but please consider I'm going to let CJ, a 3 year old, "paint" with it as well so no overly toxic suggestions please).<br><div> </div><font size="4"><span style="font-family: garamond,new york,times,serif; color: rgb(64, 0, 127); font-weight: bold;">~Trish</span><br style="font-family: garamond,new york,times,serif;"><a rel="nofollow" style="font-family: garamond,new york,times,serif;" target="_blank" href="http://www.trishstuff.com">http://www.trishstuff.com</a><br></font><div><br></div> </div><br><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">_______________________________________________</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Barony mailing list</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="mailto:Barony@cynnabar.org">Barony@cynnabar.org</a></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="http://lists.cynnabar.org/listinfo/barony">http://lists.cynnabar.org/listinfo/barony</a></div> </blockquote></div><br><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Randy Asplund</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">www.RandyAsplund.com</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Maker of Medieval books and </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Illustrator of Science Fiction & Fantasy</div><div>(734) 663-0954</div><div>2101 S. 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