By: Lisa Honebrink

In(k) the beginning….

About 1700 years ago, the Chinese discovered they could develop solid ink, in the form of sticks or cakes. Now they could just shave off bits, mix with water, and have instant ink when hit with the inspiration to write something. These inks are still used throughout East Asia for traditional calligraphy with brushed or bamboo pens.
Various colored juices, extracts and suspensions of substances from plants, animals and minerals also have been used as ink, included alizarin, indigo, pokeberries, cochineal and sepia. For many centuries, a mixture of a soluble iron salt with an extract of tanning was used as writing ink and is the basis of modern blue-black inks.

In the 11th century A.D., the Chinese developed block printing with heavier, more gelatinous inks, predating Gutenberg's movable type by some 400 years.
For scribes in Medieval Europe, their favorite substrate was parchment (or, known in its less fancy form as processed sheepskin). But carbon inks performed poorly on parchment because of its greasy surface. So, experimentation led to mixing tannic acid with an iron salt (ferrous sulfate), known as iron gall inks, which came into use around 9th century A.D. Initially transparent, once this ink was applied to parchment, the slow chemical reaction between the acid and salt left a dark residue that penetrated the paper and left permanent markings. To improve the ink's flow and longevity, they added Gum Arabic as a water-soluble thickener.
The downside was, if you got the mix wrong, too much free acid in your ink could eat up your quills and eat holes in your paper. Thankfully, our founding fathers seemed to have a handle on ink mixing, since the bill of rights to the U.S. Constitution was likely hand-penned with a quill and iron gall ink.

In 1772 the first patent was issued in England for making colored ink, and in the 19th century chemical drying agents appeared, making possible the use of a wide variety of pigments for colored inks.

In the mid-1800s, inks began to appear that were based on new ammonia aniline dye technology-the ancestors of modern ink. These inks could be made in an unprecedented array of colors, and were much less corrosive to pens and paper. They were (and still are) prone to fade in light and will smear if moistened, and the colors are less saturated than printers' or artists' ink.

Later, varnishes of varying stiffness were developed to make inks for different papers and presses. Varnish was replaced by mineral oil in inks when high-speed newspaper presses were introduced. The oil based penetrated rapidly into newsprint and dried quickly. It wasn't until the beginning of the 20th century that ink making became a complicated chemical-industrial process.

It didn't take long after the development of the offset printing press for printers' inks to become the most significant segment of the industry. Those inks are more greasy and gelatinous than writing inks, and are carefully calibrated to provide the best mechanical performance in specific kinds of printing equipment. In general, these inks bear no relation to writing inks; in fact some of them contain toxic resins and solvents, and the recent developments in the ink industry have focused on water-based and vegetable-based inks that pose far fewer environmental problems.

Color my world

While black ink certainly was used in ancient times (the Hebrew word for it was "deyo," based on its blackness), it wasn't the only option. In tracing the arts of handwriting and dyeing, even the most remote history of ink includes references to color. Colored inks included the use of a variety of dyes and pigmentary colors, typical of those used in the ancient art of dying, a skill in which the Egyptians excelled. The Bible and contemporary literature frequently mention many colors of brilliant hues. For example, the Bible has many allusions to "purple and fine raiment," to "dyed garments," to "cloth of many colors," etc.

Whether used as dyes or inks, certain color values were given, the most important of which were blue, red, yellow, green, white, black, purple, gold, and silver. In terms of their symbolism, "white was everywhere the symbol of purity and the emblem of innocence, and just opposite, black was held up as an emblem of affliction and calamity," according to David N. Carvalho's Forty Centuries of Ink.
Green was the emblem of freshness, vigor and prosperity. Blue was the celestial color blessed among "heathen nations," as Carvalho refers to them, and among the Hebrews it was the Jehovah color, the symbol of the revered God. Purple was associated as the dress of kings, with ideas of royalty and majesty. Crimson and scarlet, from their resemblance to blood, became symbolical of life, and also represented anything indelible or deeply ingrained.

Later, only five colors were recognized as fitting for Christian theological meaning or expression: white, red, green, violet, and black. White was esteemed as being the union of all the rays of light, and is often referred to as the symbol of truth and spotless purity. Red was emblematic both fire and love, while green, from its analogy to plants, was indicative of life and hope. Violet was the color of penitence and sorrow. Blue was forbidden except as a color peculiarly related to the Virgin Mary. Universally, black represented sorrow, destruction and death.

The ancients also used a number of dyes as inks, among them a brown color, sepia, or "tekeleth" in Hebrew. As a natural ink, its origin predates every other in the world, according to Carvalho. "It is a black-brown liquor, secreting by a small gland into an oval pouch, and through a connecting duct is ejected at will by the cuttle fish which inhabits the seas of Europe, especially the Mediterranean." When approached or surrounded by enemies, these fish constantly squirt the content of their "ink bags" to cloud the water and help them escape. The Egyptians sometimes used this natural brown ink for coloring inspections on stone, since it is the most lasting of all natural ink substances.

Clearly the history of natural ink is…..well…. old. But the use of artificial ink may be older. As to artificial ink, "so great is its antiquity that the name of its inventor or date of its invention are unknown," says Carvalho. "The poet Whitehead refers to it as follows: "hard that his name is should not save, who first poured forth the sable wave." Considering its relation to ancient Egypt, the Bible, ancient poets, as well as secreting cuttle fish, calling the history of ink "colorful" is an understatement, indeed.