DIY Quill Pen and Ink

Making my own DIY quill pen and ink was a fun thing I remember trying when I was a kid. Who knows what sparked the idea, probably a book from the library or a history lesson at school.

What? No pens or pencils?

It’s hard to imagine life without a ball point pen or pencil available (we probably all have a drawer full).

A cool book called “The Diary of an Early American Boy” tells the story of a boy from the 1700s that wrote in a diary with his own quill pen and ink. The author actually found the diary, pen and inkwell between the logs of an old cabin. He wrote the story around the events recorded by this boy in his diary. How cool is that? 

I’m not sure this book is still in print, but it would be a great read out loud book for a family, especially if there is a young boy in the mix. The illustrations (done in pen and ink of course) are outstanding.

What would you and your kids write in your diaries with pen and ink? How about making your own DIY quill pen and ink and giving it a try?

Ink can be made in a variety of ways.

Ink can be made out of the fruit from berries (which provides a variety of colors) or it can be made from soot. When I was young I made it from soot, but since the fruit berry ink doesn’t take starting fires we will try that method this time!

So we tried blackberry, raspberry and blueberry ink because all three containers of berries were side by side in the market. I was eager to see what color the ink would turn out to be! 

Take ½ cup of the berry and mash it in a small container. Place it in a fine strainer and let the juice run through into a small cup or ramakin. I must say the blueberry juice color was quite disappointing, very lightly colored, but the other two looked great. I pressed the fruit too hard in the sieve so I got too much pulp in the juice.

Add ½ teaspoon vinegar (to help the juice keep its color) and ½ teaspoon salt (to help preserve the juice).

You can store the juice in baby food jars in the fridge for awhile. 

Now to make a quill pen.

Turkey feathers make great quill pens as they are large and very strong. As weird as this is, there are wild turkeys in our area so the kids could actually find some feathers outside! I found this large one when I dropped Papa off in our alfalfa field yesterday. Feathers can be purchased online for those where wild turkeys don’t run through the backyard! Ha!

Because we used an Exacto knife for making the quill point, use extreme care around younger grands and use discretion for when kids are old enough to do this on their own. In fact, I’d probably encourage an adult to do it because the feathers are very tough and hard to cut. 

Tip: A heavier knife would have been better to use.

Cutting the quill pen tip

Cut the end of the feather off at a diagonal. You will see right away that the feather is hollow. Isn’t that cool? This leaves a pointed end on the feather. Cut the very tip of that point off, leaving a very small flat area on the tip of the feather.

Make a slit into the feather at the tip on that flat end. This slit will go up into the hollow part of the feather about ¼ inch. Later this slit will draw up and hold some ink when dipped.

Now comes the really fun part!

Dip the quill pen into one of the colored inks and try writing a message on some paper. Which color do you like the best? I’m a fan of the blackberry ink and would skip the blueberry ink all together. All of the inks dried into various shades of blue.

I’m pretty curious about some of the wild berries that grow around here. What color ink would they make? Also, we may try to make some ink from soot after making smores some evening.

A fun perk is I’m going to throw the extra mashed berries into my smoothie this morning! 

Let me know what you and the grands wrote in your journals using your DIY quill pen and ink! Do I see the possibility of a new book of the modern American boy or girl?? 

Supplies:

• Turkey or pheasant feathers
• Exacto knife
• Cutting board
• Fresh or thawed frozen berries (½ cup)
• Vinegar (½ teaspoon)
• Salt (½ teaspoon)

Enjoy!

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