| Homemade Ink and Quills |
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| Sometimes a spell or ritual requires that you write something on a piece of paper and burn it or bury it. While its fine to use a ballpoint pen and notebook paper to write on, its more fun to use homemade paper, ink and quills. Here are some recipes: |
| Lamp Black Ink Ingredients: 1/2 Teaspoon Lamp black 1 Egg Yolk 1 Teaspoon Gum Arabic 4 oz. Honey Water to mix Mix all ingedients except the lamp black and water in a bowl. The important ingedient in this recipe is the Lamp black, this is what makes the color. You can buy this is a tube, or you can make it. You need a ceramic or glass plate and a candle to do so. Hold the plate over the candle untill it starts to get a black, sootey film over it. Then pour tiny drops on water on the plate to get the lamp black off. You want the lamp black to be dark and thick, not too watery. Then pour the lamp black in a jar with the other ingredients and stir. It may take awhile to make this. Berry Ink Ingedients: ½ cup of ripe berries (blueberries, cherries, blackberries, strawberries, elderberries, raspberries, etc. ½ teaspoon vinegar ½ teaspoon salt Tools: measuring cups and spoon strainer bowl wooden spoon small jar 1. Fill the strainer with the berries and hold it over a bowl. 2. Using the rounded back of a wooden spoon, crush the berries against the strainer so that the berry juice strains into the bowl. 3. Keep adding berries until most of their juice has been strained out and only pulp remains. 4. Add the salt and vinegar to the berry juice. The vinegar helps the ink to retain its color and the salt keeps it from getting moldy. 5. If the berry ink is too thick, a tablespoon of water. 6. Store in a small jar. 7. Only make a small amount of berry ink at a time and when not in use, keep it tightly covered. Source: http://www.easyfunschool.com/article1337.html Feather Quill First you need to find a feather. A walk in a field, by a lake or pond on in the woods is a good place to look for one. Then you take a skarp knife and the barbs from the quill until it is comfortable to hold. Scoop out the back of the quill and remove the core. Cut a tiny notch on the front of the quill. Cut a slit on the front of the quill from the notch down. Cut the tip of the quill to form a point. Here are some magical properties of feathers: Blue Jay feathers bring sunlight and the daytime sky into dark places. Crow feathers used for mourning Eagle feathers symbolizes the sacredness of all birds. Represents peace and to fan off harmful energy. Hawk feathers very powerful for diagnosing illnesses. Robin feathers bring renewal and may be used to induce fertility. Nightingale feathers teach ritual and the use of sacred things. Swan feather represent grace, beauty and goodness. Source: http://www.roxirulz.com/wiccan/feather.asp Another tool you can use for writing is a sharpened stick, |