Boil the galls of logwood together in twelve pounds of water for an hour, or till half the water has been evaporated; strain the decoction through a hair sieve, and add the other ingredients; stir till the whole, especially the gum, be dissolved; and then leave at rest for twenty-four hours, when the ink is to be poured off into glass bottles and carefully corked.
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"Mr. J. Horsley gives the following receipt:
Triturate in a mortar thirty-six grains of gallic acid with three and one-half ounces of strong decoction of logwood, put it into an eight ounce bottle, together with one ounce of strong ammonia.
Next dissolve one ounce of sulphate of iron in half an ounce of distilled water by the aid of heat;mix the solutions together by a few minutes' agitation, when a good ink will be formed, perfectly clear, which will keep good any length of time without depositing, thickening, or growing mouldy, which latter quality is a great desideratum, as ink undergoing that change becomes worthless. It will not do to mix with ordinary ink, nor must greasy paper be used for writing on with it."--Chemical News (1862).
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"New Indelible Marking Ink.--Dr. Elsner gives the following as a stamping ink for goods before undergoing bleaching, or treating with acids or alkalis. It consists merely of one ounce of fine Chinese vermilion and one drachm of protosulphate of iron, well triturated with boiled oil varnish."* * * * * * * *
"Put Aleppo galls, well bruised, 4 1/2 oz. and logwood chipped, 1 oz. with 3 pints soft water, into a stoneware mug: slowly boil, until one quart remains: add, well powdered, the pure green crystals of sulphate of iron, 2 1/2 oz. blue vitriol or verdigris, (I think the latter better) 1/2 oz. gum arabic 2 oz. and brown sugar, 2 oz. Shake it occasionally a week after making: then after standing a day, decant and cork. To prevent moulding add a little brandy or alcohol.
"The common copperas will not answer so well as it has already absorbed oxygen."* * * * * * *
"Pour a gallon of boiling soft water on a pound of powdered galls, previously put into a proper vessel. Stop the month of the vessel, and set it in the sun in summer, or in winter where it may be warmed by any fire, and let it stand two or three days. Then add half a pound of green vitriol powdered, and having stirred the mixture well together with a wooden spatula, let it stand again for two or three days, repeating the stirring, when add further to it 5 ounces of gum arabic dissolved in a quart of boiling water, and lastly, 2 ounces of alum, after which let the ink be strained through a coarse linen cloth for use.
"Another. A good and durable ink may be made by the following directions: To 2 pints of water add 3 ounces of the dark coloured rough-skinned Aleppo galls in gross powder, and of rasped logwood, green vitriol, and gum arabic, each, 1 oz.
"This mixture is to be put into a convenient vessel, and well shaken four or five time a day, for ten or twelve days, at the end of which time it will be fit for use, though it will improve by remaining longer on the ingredients. Vinegar instead of water makes a deeper coloured ink; but its action on pens soon spoils them."* * * * * * * *
"Beat up well together in an iron mortar the following ingredients in a dry state; viz. 8 oz. of best blue gall-nuts, 4 oz. of copperas, or sulphate of iron, 2 oz. of clear gum arabic, and 3 pints of clear rain water.
"When properly powdered, put to the above; let the whole be shaken in a stone bottle three or four times a day, for seven days, and at the end of that time, pour the liquid off gently into another stone bottle, which place in an airy situation to prevent it from becoming foul or mothery.
When used put the liquid into the ink-stand as required."Take 6 quarts (beer measure) of clear water, soft or hard, and boil in it for about an hour 4 oz. of the best Campeachy logwood, chipped very thin across the grain, adding, from time to time, boiling water to supply in part the loss by evaporation;strain the liquor while hot, and suffer it to cool. If the liquor is then short of 5 quarts, make it equal to this quantity by the addition of cold water. After which let 1 lb. of bruised blue galls, or 20 oz. of the best common galls, be added. Let a paste be prepared by triturating 4 oz. of sulphate of iron (green vitriol) calcined to whiteness, and let half an ounce of acetite of copper (verdigris)be well incorporated together with the above decoction into a mass, throwing in also 3 oz. of coarse brown sugar and 6 oz. of gum Senegal, or Arabic.
Put the materials into a stone bottle of such a size as to half fill it; let the mouth be left open, and shake the bottle well, twice or thrice a day. In about a fortnight it may be filled, and kept in well-stopped bottles for use. It requires to be protected from the frost, which would considerably injure it."Infuse a pound of pomegranate peels, broken to a gross powder, for 24 hours in a gallon and a half of water, and afterwards boil the mixture till 1-3d of the fluid be wasted. Then add to it 1 lb. of Roman vitriol, and 4 oz. of gum arabic powdered, and continue the boiling till the vitriol and gum be dissolved, after which the ink must be strained through a coarse linen cloth, when it will be fit for use.
"This ink is somewhat more expensive, and yet not so good in hue as that made by the general method, but the colour which it has is not liable to vanish or fade in any length of time."* * * * * * * *
