Hello,
well since I was always skeptical of the advise of experts anyway you still get full credit from me Chris. Only thing is that these ink cakes are not exactly what I meant as they have not so much to do particularly with woodworking or timber framing. What I am after are the thin and water soluble flakes that go into the inkwell of a sumitsubo in order to charge the silk string with ink for then snapping a line on a length of timber.


Once I tried mixing up some hide glue with soot m's-elf and letting it dry up on a plate of glass thinking it might dry and flake off nicely but instead, wouldn't you know, it stuck fast to the glass and I could only scrape it off as dust. In short, not a success, and so, my posting....


Even though in the meantime I did track down someone selling the flake and also the proper red pigment for doing red work, I would still be interested in a recipe for making up some home-brew.


Greetings,

Don