Black Walnut Ink

Black walnuts heating on the fire

One of the reasons I gathered black walnuts the other day was to make ink from their husks.  Although the name would make you guess the ink color to be black, it is actually a lovely brown.  Black walnut ink is a historic ink, along with inks made from oak galls and logwood.

 I am planning on bringing my black walnut ink to the  reenactment of the  150th Battle of Chickamauga in September 2013.  I like the idea of using a homemade "make do" ink to illustrate a time when the people of the area were stretched near their limits to obtain supplies and manpower.

The husk is the outmost green covering (although it may have turned brown or even a rotten black when you harvest it).  It has a pungent tannic smell and will stain your fingers as it starts to decay or if you try cutting it away from the nut.  The inner woody shell and the nutmeat itself will not color anything, nor will the English walnut you can purchase at the grocery store.

Ink can be made via two process: cold and hot.  Either process is messy, although I find it enjoyable.  The walnuts, cooking liquid, and ink can stain your hands and clothing, so use caution - you may wish to wear gloves.

 The cold process involves soaking the black walnut husks in a non-reactive bucket or pot full of water for 2 months or more.  You do not have to remove the husks from the walnuts themselves.

Concentrating strained ink.

The hot process involves heating the husk/water solution.  This is the way I chose to create my ink today, partially because I did not want to wait for months and partially because I enjoy the process of "cooking" ink over a fire.  I use a large enameled canning kettle, which has a nice volume and is non-reactive.  First I put my walnuts and bits of extra husks into the pot and almost filled it with water. I let this sit to steep overnight or over a couple of days.  As I mentioned in my previous post, I put the pot in our shed to keep squirrels from seeing my project as an easy buffet.  When I was ready I set the pot over a fire on my outdoor fire pit.  Over time I have found I prefer processing inks and dyes outside; it makes for easier cleanup and it keeps what can be offensive odors out of the house.  I let my husk/water mixture heat at a gentle boil for several hours.  I don't know if there is an optimal time, but one of the goals is to concentrate the fluid down into the desired darkness.  Then I let the pot cool over night.

Testing the ink.

The next day I strain out all of the nuts and husk bits with an old metal strainer and discard them.  Using a dip pen, I test out the fluid to see its color.  If I'm happy, we're almost done, but if I find it to be too light, I heat the ink some more, reducing the liquid and testing as I go.

When the ink is the desired color, it's time to strain it out of the pot and pour it into a jar or bottle for storage.  You can add gum arabic to the resulting ink if you desire to improve the ink's flow.  You can also add alcohol (denatured alcohol or vodka) to help prevent mold, although the mold will not hurt your ink.  The alcohol should be 5% of the total volume).  Some sources recommend storing the ink away from light.