Oak gall Charter ink 40 ml

This ink is a handmade oak gall ink made to a mediaeval recipe. Hand made in London in small batches, it is left to steep for a month before bottling. Instead of using water in this recipe red wine is used which gives the ink a beautiful warm undertone when used in washes.

Perfect for calligraphy with a dip pen, reed pen or brush on paper or parchment it can also be used for painting. Diluted with water it creates subtle greys.

Oak gall ink is a traditional ink made from oak gall apples collected from various species of oak tree. They are crushed, soaked and processed naturally to produce a tannin rich ink.

This ink goes on dark grey and will darken to a rich, intense, matte black.

Comes in a high quality glass bottle (40ml) with cork stopper and wax seal.

This item comes with a pamphlet describing its use, with handy hints and tips, alongside a descriptive list of my other products.

HISTORICAL INKS
Our inks are hand-made in England to 17th, 18th century and medieval recipes. Made in small batches and processed in Cambridgeshire and London, they contain locally sourced natural and organic materials. Each ink recipe has been meticulously researched from primary and secondary resources and the resulting ink is a culmination of many hours of experimenting and fine tuning. Many ancient weights and measures do not have corresponding modern equivalents so often scholarly articles are utilised to ascertain these vernacular quantities to the highest accuracy possible.

BRITISH CRAFT TRADITION
This collection of inks is a unique offering of time-honoured tradition from British history. Each ink is a true historical recipe faithfully recreated and in some was resurrected, using traditional methods and materials. Colours from bygone eras are once more revealed.

INDUSTRIAL INK PRODUCTION
Modern inks typically use synthetically produced chemicals that can sometimes be toxic, often harmful for the user and the environment. Artificial colour enhancers once added, can shorten the life of the ink both in storage and on paper. Our inks use naturally occurring organic ingredients. Tannic acid in oak galls give the ink its intense dark colour, and in commercial inks this is synthetically made in industrial quantities. It would be very hard to find enough oak galls to cater for such vast amounts of ink. In contrast we champion the specificity of the origins of the ingredients for our inks.

NATURAL INK MAKING PROCESS
Natural variations in raw materials due to seasonal changes do attribute to slight colour variations. Therefore, different batches of ink are blended to allow for consistency. These seasonal variations that create colour nuances add a sense of the rarefied experience and allow artists to appreciate singular moments in time. This ‘slow craft tradition’ is important in continuing Britain’s unique cultural traditions.