Instructions from
Jon Roffe
THE BOOK OF WET INK
REQUIREMENTS
¶ a second hand book, which should be 1) as old as practicable,
2)non-fiction, and 3) relatively small
(no very large books should be used, and a medium length is ideal)
¶ an ink pen that either 1) expresses an excessive amount of ink when used,
or 2) leaks ink
¶ a little ink to start with (no more than three or four drops, certainly
not a pool)
¶ some small slips of blank paper long enough to paste over the rules listed
below
¶ a glue stick
INITIAL INSTRUCTIONS
¶ put a little ink on the surface next to where the book will sit
¶ place the pen in the ink, such that any user of the pen will have an
ink-stained hand
¶ tear out the title page and any contents page of the book. This need not
be done carefully or evenly
(if there are any blank pages at the start of the book, keep these)
¶ open the book to the ninth full page of text and, by blacking out words
and letters with the pen,
convey the following text: ³Ink that never finishes drying²
¶ open the book randomly until the page starts with a letter between ³a² and
³n² and, using the same
technique, convey the following text: ³sleep soul disfigure penumbra²
¶ open the book randomly to any other page and, using the same technique,
convey the following
text: ³after years of waiting nobody came²
¶ on the inside cover of the book, or on a blank page at the front of the
book, write the following,
keeping the general format as below:
This is the Book of Wet Ink.
Open the book to a page by chance. If it has been written on, open to
another until you find
an unaltered page.
Using the pen, ink out words and letters so that the page or a part of the
page speaks of your
grief, a grief.
Once this is done, turn to a page of the book that has already been altered.
If the first letter of the page is or is between ³a² and ³i², then
rule one: by erasing as above, make a mockery of the page you have just read
If the first letter of the page is or is between ³j² to ³q², then
rule two: weep and smudge the page with your tears
If the first letter of the page is or is between ³r² and ³z², then
rule three: cut yourself with the page of the book
Once you have done this, take one of the small slips of paper, and write a
new rule for
marking the Book of Wet Ink. This rule should express something of the page
you have
just read. This rule should not lead to the destruction of any part of the
book other than by
erasing words or letters with ink. Paste this new rule over the rule you
have just followed.
Close the book.
Do not speak of what you have read.
Should the book ever be exhausted, transpose the instructions and the
current rules into a new book much like the first.