iron-gall

Ingredients

Gall, Vitriol, Gum Arabic, Water

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

Galls were chopped and boiled in water. The container was placed under the sun for further extraction and left overnight. Contents were boiled and filtered. To this extract, 4g vitriol and 2g gum Arabic were added while stirring (Table 1). The mixture turns progressively darker and is then filtered and shaken (Section 2.2.2).

Evidence

"To make iron gall ink, vitriol (i.e., iron(II) sulfate) and gum Arabic are added to the gall extract while stirring. The mixture is left to stand for a couple of hours, during which time it turns progressively darker."

Remarks

In SEM-BSE images, the ink has a brighter and distinguishable phase from the paper background due to the significant amount of iron (p. 5). Specific Raman peaks at around 1225, 1345, 1481, 1580, and 1615 cm−1 are visible (Section 3.1). Demonstrates different absorbance bands in the range of 450–650 nm, allowing separation from others (Section 3.4).