However, the materials to make the carbon pigment, was often traded from India and this is where the term India ink was born. The traditional way of making ink in China was to grind a mixture hide glue, carbon black, lampblack and bone black pigment, using a pestle and mortar. The mixture was then poured into a ceramic dish, where it would be left to dry.
In order to paint with the dry mixture, a west brush would be applied, until it the ink became liquefied enough to paint with. Indian scripts written in the Khartoshi language have been unearthed in the North Western, Chinese province of Xinjiang. These document have been written using ink and a sharp pointed needle, which was a common method used in Southern India.
A number of Buddhist and Jain sutras were written in this type of ink. In ancient Rome something called atramentum was used. Romans had three kinds of atramentum, Librarium, Sutorium and Tectorium. The scribe of Jain manuscripts derived the ink-colours from natural sources and the prominent colour to write with was black, however, red too was used for ornamentation or to emphasize on a particular idea.
If there was ever a mistake, the scribe would carefully apply yellow Harda or white lime paste pigments which would act as erasers. The chief writing material that the scribes would use was made from the skins of animals — cows, sheep, goats, deer and the finest parchment was made of calfskin and was called vellum. The quill pen, which was made of a molted flight feather, was compatible with this parchment. There were times when the ink was too thin and the parchment was not the best.
These ideas were threatening to the Christian world and therefore had to be censored. With the use of knives, brushes and rags, the Christian monks would wash away these old works written in ink. They would take these parchment sheets, sit in the scriptoriums and replace old texts with new ideas which captured the essence of dominating and accepted norms.
But who possesses the power to entirely erase the past? As the Middle Ages made their cameo, the iron gall ink common ink gained massive popularity. This purple-black or brown-black ink marked a transition from the carbon-based inks which had been famous thus far. Made primarily out of galls, vitriol, gum and water — one of the defining features of this ink was that it could not easily be erased.
The oldest and the most complete Bible currently known to exist, Codex Sinaiticus , was written with the help of this very ink. One of the creative geniuses of this period, the Italian polymath, Leonardo da Vinci, used the iron-gall ink to draw realistic scenes.
Newton would collect galls from oak trees and soak them in beer or ale along with Gum Arabic, for about a month. This process would lead to the production of Tannic acid which Newtown would mix with a green-blue chemical called copperas, finally resulting in a perfect brown-black solution that he would use as ink to note down many of his mathematical and scientific ideas on manuscripts, some of which still survive.
Thus, the iron-gall ink was used to pen down many paintings, philosophies and policies. Fascination towards iron-gall ink remained strong and its legacy was untouched, till about the time chemically-produced inks and writing fluids with waterproof formulas which were better suited for writing on paper came in vogue. One of the other reasons why this ink was no longer prominently favourable was because of its acidic nature.
It was Johann Gutenberg who invented Western printing. Following that invention, a Printing Press revolution took place in the 15th century AD. Because printing-technology had evolved, ink too had to adapt and thus new oily ink, made of soot and turpentine oil was created — to serve the purpose of the printing press. The inks of Gutenberg were made out of linseed oil, walnut oil, rosin, pitch, lamp-black and vermillion.
When raw linseed-oil was clarified by heating in the 16th century AD, inks with a refiner quality began to be produced. Along with evolution in the realm of inks, development in the domain of pens was inevitable — in the 17th century AD, Daniel Schwenter created a pen from two quills that held the ink inside instead of being dipped, time and time again, into the inkwell. Much later, fountain pens came into existence and gained popularity because of the neat work they produced without being dipped into the inkwell.
In the beginning of AD, the demand for print had exceeded to a point that for the printer, making ink became a herculean task. This encouraged independent ink-makers to flourish, who further experimented in this domain and gave birth to chemical-based coloured inks. Your email address will not be published. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. I think that they both made it in similar times.
Hope this helps:. Trackbacks […] Who invented ink? Also known as Chinese ink, Indian ink stems from one of the oldest and most durable pigments of all time: carbon black. Made from ash mixed with a binder such as water, liquid or glue, various recipes for carbon black can be found as far back in history as the ancient Egyptians and Greeks.
A recipe by the Greek scribe Dioscorides from AD survives to this day on parchment. Around BC, drawing ink appeared in China. The pigment was dried into small sticks or little saucers, often using animal glue as a binder. These then needed to be rubbed with water to create a liquid ink. Traditionally, black inks were favoured by Chinese artists who excelled in producing monochrome paintings conveying texture and emotions through ink strokes and varying shades of black and grey.
In India, scribes have used needle and pen since antiquity to write many of their Buddhist and Jain scripts. Black ink was known as masi in India: a mixture of different ashes, water and animal glue.
It was only in the midth century, when Europe began importing ink from India, that it became known as Indian ink.
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