CONTACT
Please contact Jamie Shear, scribe, artist, directly with any questions
or inquiries that you might have.
OUR BLOG
Text goes here
CONTACT
Please contact Jamie Shear, scribe, artist, directly with any questions
or inquiries that you might have.
OUR BLOG
Text goes here
CONTACT
Please contact Jamie Shear, scribe, artist, directly with any questions
or inquiries that you might have.
Ink-Making Science Challenge
"He dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them with ink in the book."
- Jeremiah 36:18
Chemistry meets Torah. Every letter in a Torah, Tefillin and Mezuzah is written in ink a scribe can trust. In this STEM workshop, students make that ink themselves.
Working with your science teacher, student teams mix real scribal ink from the traditional ingredients: gall nuts, gum arabic and iron vitriol. They test and adjust their batches like chemists.
Then I judge every batch the way a sofer would. How black is it? Does it flow from the quill? Does it hold a crisp letter?
Bring it to your school: jshear@ktavtam.com
Two days at Maimonides School in Boston, December 2019.
Testing how the ink flows onto paper.
Gall nuts, gum arabic and iron vitriol: the scribe's recipe.
Student ink batches lined up in test tubes.
Each team mixes, tests and adjusts its own batch.
Which ink is blackest? The teams compare results.
Ingredients and lab gear, ready to go.
Each team mixes its own recipe.
Measuring carefully with a dropper.
The Winning Ink Becomes a Mezuzah
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At Maimonides School in Boston, during my two-day Sofer-in-Residence in December 2019, the challenge did not end with the judging.
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The next day, the winning ink went to work. In front of the whole school, live on the big screen in the sanctuary, I wrote a 15 cm Mezuzah with the students' own ink, on donated parchment.
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It now hangs on the front door of Maimonides. Every time they walk in, they pass their own ink.
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Jamie Shear
How black is it? How fast does it dry? Does it crack?
Each team tests its own ink.
I try every batch with a quill, the way a sofer would.
Maimonides students at work on their ink.
Letters written with the winning batch.
The whole school watches the Mezuzah being written.
Written with the students' own winning ink.
A 15 cm Mezuzah on donated parchment.
Writing the Mezuzah in the students' own ink.
Bring It to Your School
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The Ink-Making Science Challenge is planned together with your science teacher, so it fits right into the curriculum: chemistry, measurement and testing, with a Torah scribe as the judge.
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It can stand on its own or be part of a one- or two-day Sofer-in-Residence, alongside the Hands-On Scribal Arts Workshop and the Tefillin Experience.
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To plan it for your school, write to me at jshear@ktavtam.com.