Could a chemist reproduce inks of medieval quality, then apply them to vellum?

[Jorge_Stolfi]

I have used eva to apply it to several languages to listen to the sound of MS-408.

How did you manage to do that when the EVA is only a computer-readable transcription system and says nothing about the sound? And how did you "apply it to several languages"? What does that mean? Nobody, so far, has the faintest idea what Voynichese sounds like.

I imagine it went something like this: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

Maybe someone with an intellect will understand.

Maybe You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is more approriate.

Anyway, back to the title topic: Iron-gall ink was used to write on vellum until well into the 1900s.  The US Bureau of Standards issued in the 1030s You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. to be used by US post offices.  The Indian government issued a similar one in 1988. It seems that one can still get the ink and/or the ingredients from good art supply shops.

But I personally am convinced that the ink used for the text and drawing outlines of the VMS was not iron-gall ink, which is supposed to be waterproof; but rather a suspension of solid ocher-like pigment in a water-soluble binder -- that is, diluted watercolor paint -- which could be wiped off if moistened (with water or with food sauce).  

Oak-gall ink was necessarily black; thus any writing with strong-colored ink that we see on Medieval manuscripts (like the ubiquitous "rubrics") is almost certainly of this "watercolor" type, hence not waterproof.

All the best, --stolfi