- 1). Gather a pint of oak galls, also called oak apples. These are marble-sized tumor-like growths on the twigs and leaves of oak trees. They form when wasps lay their eggs in the developing buds and pale green spheres grow around the larva.
- 2). Break the oak galls into course material with your hands.
- 3). Place the oak galls in a metal saucepan and cover with 2 pints of rainwater. Warm and infuse the oak galls for five days. Traditionally fire or the sun was used to warm them.
- 4). Mix oak galls with ferrous sulphate in a 3-1 ratio by weight. Traditionally, a fig stick was used as the mixing implement; any wooden spoon will work.
- 5). Soak the mixture for five days and then simmer for two hours to reduce some of the liquid.
- 6). Watch for the solution to turn from light brown to black.
- 7). Filter the black liquid by pouring it through cheesecloth.
- 8). Dissolve gum arabic in water to a smooth paste consistency.
- 9). Add the dissolved gum arabic to the black solution to thicken and give some adhesive quality to the ink. The thickness of the ink is a personal choice and dependent on what writing implement you use; pens use thinner ink than brushes.
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