Meanwhile, back in the laboratory....

I've seen different versions of this technique, and finally gave it a try.  After all, how hard could it be since I already had what I needed:  a book page, Quink black ink, and bleach. 

This wasn't my first result.  Turns out bleach goes bad after a few years.  I'm not sure how long I've had it, but apparently I don't use straight bleach too much.  I use cleaners with bleach and laundry detergent with bleach, but not straight bleach.

So my first attempt to make magic on a painted black page failed.  I tore pages from an old book ("soft" pages are good), and painted them with black ink.  After they dried, it looked more reddish than black, but that's okay.

With anticipation, I dipped Q-tip cotton swabs into some bleach and made marks.  Nothing.  Zilch.  I thought maybe it takes time to dissolve the ink, so I let them sit for a bit.  Still nothing. 

Then I figured if bleach is the tool, why not use a cleaner with bleach. I had Lysol all purpose cleaner with bleach, so I poured some in a little cup and used that. Worked instantly! What fun. Only later did I think about using the spray bottle itself that the cleaner came in to spray onto the pages. Very cool.

 

While waiting earlier for something to happen, I had used up the ink in my cup to make marks on other papers.  I also sprayed those.  Where the paper was white, I painted walnut ink over it.  Interestingly, where there were bleach spots on the white part (not visible until painted), they showed up darker with the walnut ink.

Laboratory experiments successful.  Onward...