Recipe: French Logwood Ink

This ink has a beautiful bluish-black hue. Freshly applied, it is pale grey, but becomes much darker while drying. When exposed to light, it only fades slightly, loses its blue tint and becomes blacker.

Processing

Step 1: Put the gall apples in a textile bag and crush the apples with a hammer. Then roughly pulverize them in a mortar and put them in a cooking pot. Add the logwood. Pour water over the ingredients and bring it to a boil. Let the mixture reduce to half of the original amount.

Step 2: Filter the ink while still boiling, then stir in copper sulphate, iron (II) sulphate, potash alum and gum arabic.
French logwood ink forms a sediment, especially when it is fresh. It is best to let it sit for a while and clarify.
Prolonged storage may cause the formation of a skin on the surface of the ink, which can be skimmed off or filtered.

Ingredients

11 g	Oak Apples (#37400)
6 g	Logwood, cut pieces (#36100)
300 g	Water (#65000)
1,6 g	Copper-II-Sulfate-5-Hydrate (#64211)
6 g	Iron (II) Sulphate (#64200)
0,4 g	Potash Alum (#64100)
4 g	Gum Arabic Powder (#63330)

Additional Information

Historical Inks

Note

The production requires the following tools: a scale, mortar and pestle, an enameled pot, glass rods or wooden sticks for stirring, glasses, funnels and filters.

Water
Only demineralized water (#65000) is used in the recipes.
Color result
Since many ingredients used in ink recipes are of natural origin, the color result may vary. Deviations from the original recipe may also change the result.
Filtration
The inks are filtered with paper filters.
Cooking
Keep the cooking pot closed with a matching lid.
Shelf life
Moldy ink should not be skimmed off. Please dispose if the ink.
Cleaning
Pots are best cleaned with hot water and a small amount of citric acid (#64150).

We assume no liability for the processing instructions described above. In any case, we recommend the production and evaluation of sample surfaces.

Product list

Author: Kremer Pigmente, Recipe by: Lehner 1890, pp. 95-96