India ink
Encyclopedia
India ink is a simple black ink
once widely used for writing and printing and now more commonly used for drawing
, especially when inking comic book
s and comic strip
s.
known as lampblack, combined with water to form a liquid. A binding agent such as gelatin
or, more commonly, shellac
may also be added, to make the ink more durable once dried. India ink is occasionally sold not as a liquid, but in solid form (most commonly, a stick), which must be moistened before use.
, carbon black
, lampblack
, and bone black
pigment with a pestle and mortar before pouring it into a ceramic dish where it could dry. In order to use the dry mixture, a wet brush would be applied until it reliquified. The manufacture of India ink was well-established by the Cao Wei
Dynasty (220–265 AD). Historically the ink used in China were in the form of ink sticks made of lampblack and animal glue.
The Chinese had used India ink derived from pine
soot prior to the 11th century AD, when the polymath official Shen Kuo
(1031–1095) of the mid Song Dynasty
became troubled by deforestation
(due to the demands of charcoal
for the iron industry
) and desired making ink from a source other than pine soot
. He believed that petroleum
(which the Chinese called 'rock oil') was produced inexhaustibly within the earth and so decided to make an ink from the soot of burning petroleum, which the later pharmacologist Li Shizhen
(1518–1593) wrote was as lustrous as lacquer
and was superior to pine soot ink.
India ink has been in use in India
since at least the 4th century BC, where it was called masi, an admixture of several substances. Indian documents written in Kharosthi with this ink have been unearthed in as far as Xinjiang
, China
. The practice of writing with ink and a sharp-pointed needle was common practice since antiquity in South India
. Several ancient Buddhist and Jain scripts in India were also compiled in ink. In India, the carbon black from which India ink is formulated was obtained indigenously by burning bones, tar, pitch and other substances.
Ink
Ink is a liquid or paste that contains pigments and/or dyes and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing and/or writing with a pen, brush, or quill...
once widely used for writing and printing and now more commonly used for drawing
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
, especially when inking comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
s and comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
s.
Composition
Basic India ink is composed of a variety of fine sootSoot
Soot is a general term that refers to impure carbon particles resulting from the incomplete combustion of a hydrocarbon. It is more properly restricted to the product of the gas-phase combustion process but is commonly extended to include the residual pyrolyzed fuel particles such as cenospheres,...
known as lampblack, combined with water to form a liquid. A binding agent such as gelatin
Gelatin
Gelatin is a translucent, colorless, brittle , flavorless solid substance, derived from the collagen inside animals' skin and bones. It is commonly used as a gelling agent in food, pharmaceuticals, photography, and cosmetic manufacturing. Substances containing gelatin or functioning in a similar...
or, more commonly, shellac
Shellac
Shellac is a resin secreted by the female lac bug, on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. It is processed and sold as dry flakes , which are dissolved in ethyl alcohol to make liquid shellac, which is used as a brush-on colorant, food glaze and wood finish...
may also be added, to make the ink more durable once dried. India ink is occasionally sold not as a liquid, but in solid form (most commonly, a stick), which must be moistened before use.
History
The process of making India ink was known in China as far back as the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, during Neolithic China. India ink was first invented in China, although the source of materials to make the carbon pigment in India ink was later often traded from India, thus the term India ink got coined. The traditional Chinese method of making the ink was to grind a mixture of hide glueAnimal glue
An animal glue is an adhesive that is created by prolonged boiling of animal connective tissue.These protein colloid glues are formed through hydrolysis of the collagen from skins, bones, tendons, and other tissues, similar to gelatin. The word "collagen" itself derives from Greek κόλλα kolla, glue...
, carbon black
Carbon black
Carbon black is a material produced by the incomplete combustion of heavy petroleum products such as FCC tar, coal tar, ethylene cracking tar, and a small amount from vegetable oil. Carbon black is a form of amorphous carbon that has a high surface-area-to-volume ratio, although its...
, lampblack
Soot
Soot is a general term that refers to impure carbon particles resulting from the incomplete combustion of a hydrocarbon. It is more properly restricted to the product of the gas-phase combustion process but is commonly extended to include the residual pyrolyzed fuel particles such as cenospheres,...
, and bone black
Bone char
Bone char, also known as bone black, ivory black, animal charcoal, or abaiser, is a granular material produced by charring animal bones. To prevent the spread of mad-cow disease, the skull and spine are never used...
pigment with a pestle and mortar before pouring it into a ceramic dish where it could dry. In order to use the dry mixture, a wet brush would be applied until it reliquified. The manufacture of India ink was well-established by the Cao Wei
Cao Wei
Cao Wei was one of the states that competed for control of China during the Three Kingdoms period. With the capital at Luoyang, the state was established by Cao Pi in 220, based upon the foundations that his father Cao Cao laid...
Dynasty (220–265 AD). Historically the ink used in China were in the form of ink sticks made of lampblack and animal glue.
The Chinese had used India ink derived from pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
soot prior to the 11th century AD, when the polymath official Shen Kuo
Shen Kuo
Shen Kuo or Shen Gua , style name Cunzhong and pseudonym Mengqi Weng , was a polymathic Chinese scientist and statesman of the Song Dynasty...
(1031–1095) of the mid Song Dynasty
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
became troubled by deforestation
Deforestation
Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....
(due to the demands of charcoal
Charcoal
Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen...
for the iron industry
History of metallurgy in China
Metallurgy in China has a long history. China was the earliest civilization that produced cast iron as well as chrome plated steel.-Bronze and its Components:...
) and desired making ink from a source other than pine soot
Soot
Soot is a general term that refers to impure carbon particles resulting from the incomplete combustion of a hydrocarbon. It is more properly restricted to the product of the gas-phase combustion process but is commonly extended to include the residual pyrolyzed fuel particles such as cenospheres,...
. He believed that petroleum
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
(which the Chinese called 'rock oil') was produced inexhaustibly within the earth and so decided to make an ink from the soot of burning petroleum, which the later pharmacologist Li Shizhen
Li Shizhen
Li Shizhen , courtesy name Dongbi , was one of the greatest Chinese herbologists and acupuncturists in Chinese history. His major contribution to medicine was his 27-year work, which is found in his epic book the Bencao Gangmu...
(1518–1593) wrote was as lustrous as lacquer
Lacquer
In a general sense, lacquer is a somewhat imprecise term for a clear or coloured varnish that dries by solvent evaporation and often a curing process as well that produces a hard, durable finish, in any sheen level from ultra matte to high gloss and that can be further polished as required...
and was superior to pine soot ink.
India ink has been in use in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
since at least the 4th century BC, where it was called masi, an admixture of several substances. Indian documents written in Kharosthi with this ink have been unearthed in as far as Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
, China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
. The practice of writing with ink and a sharp-pointed needle was common practice since antiquity in South India
South India
South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
. Several ancient Buddhist and Jain scripts in India were also compiled in ink. In India, the carbon black from which India ink is formulated was obtained indigenously by burning bones, tar, pitch and other substances.
Uses other than writing
- HanetsukiHanetsukiHanetsuki is a Japanese traditional game, similar to badminton without a net, played with a rectangular wooden paddle called a hagoita and a brightly-coloured shuttlecock. Often played by girls at the New Year, the game can be played in two fashions: by one person attempting to keep the...
(羽根突き, 羽子突き) is a Japanese traditional game, similar to badmintonBadmintonBadminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...
, played by girls at the New Year with a rectangular wooden paddle called a hagoitaHagoitaHagoita are rectangular wooden paddles, originating in Japan, ostensibly used to play hanetsuki, but often instead serving a more ornamental purpose. These are frequently painted, usually with lacquer, with auspicious symbols, or decorated with complex silk collages...
and a brightly-colored shuttlecockShuttlecockA shuttlecock, sometimes called a bird or birdie, is a high-drag projectile used in the sport of badminton. It has an open conical shape: the cone is formed from sixteen or so overlapping feathers, usually goose or duck and from the left wing only, embedded into a rounded cork base...
. The shuttlecock must be kept in the air as long as possible. Girls who fail to hit the shuttlecock get marked on the face with India ink. - Amateur tattoo artists will sometimes use India ink for tattooing the skin. Non-medical grade India ink should not be used for homemade tattoos because it contains chemicals which could cause poisoning.
- In pathology laboratories, India ink is applied to surgically removed tissue specimens to maintain orientation and indicate tumor resection margins. The painted tissue is sprayed with acetic acid, which acts as a mordant, "fixing" the ink so it doesn't track. This ink is used because it survives tissue processing, during which tissue samples are bathed in alcohol and xylene and then embedded in paraffin wax. When viewed under the microscope, the ink at the tissue edge informs the pathologist of the surgical resection margin or other point of interest.
- Microbiologists use India ink to stain a slide containing micro-organisms. The background is stained while the organisms remain clear. This type of staining is called a negative stainNegative stainNegative staining is an established method, often used in diagnostic microscopy, for contrasting a thin specimen with an optically opaque fluid....
. India ink, along with other stains, can be used to determine if a cell has a gelatinous capsule. A common application of this procedure in the clinical microbiology laboratory is to confirm the morphology of the encapsulated yeast CryptococcusCryptococcusCryptococcus is a genus of fungus. Species grow in culture as yeasts. The perfect forms or teleomorphs of Cryptococcus species are filamentous fungi in the genus Filobasidiella...
spp. - Model Railroaders use a mixture of India ink and Isopropyl Alcohol as a wood stain, graying wood to appear aged, and to bring out detail.
- India ink is used diluted as an ultra fine polishing medium for making precise optical surfaces on metals.http://www.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/1831
- In ophthalmology, it was and still is used to some extent in corneal tattooingCorneal tattooingCorneal tattooing is the practice of tattooing the cornea of the human eye. Reasons for this practice include the improvement of cosmetic appearance and the improvement of sight...
. - Once dry, its conductive properties make it useful for electrical connections to difficult substrates, such as glass. Although relatively low in conductivity, surfaces can be made suitable for electroplating, low frequency shielding, or for creating large conductive geometries for high voltage apparatuses. A piece of paper impregnated with India ink serves as a grid leak resistor in some tube radio circuits.
See also
- AquadagAquadagAquadag is a trade name for a graphite based coating commonly found in cathode ray tubes. It is manufactured by Acheson Industries, a subsidiary of ICI. The name is a shortened form of "Aqueous Deflocculated Acheson Graphite". Other related products include Oildag, Electrodag and Molydag. The...
- AtramentumAtramentumAtramentum or atrament, generally means a very black, usually liquid, substance. For example, an octopus may emit a puff of atrament.In ancient Rome, the term atramentum signified any black colouring substance used for any purpose...
- InkstickInkstickInksticks are a type of solid ink used traditionally in several East Asian cultures for calligraphy and brush painting. Inksticks are made mainly of soot and animal glue, sometimes with incense or medicinal scents added...
- Ink and wash paintingInk and wash paintingInk and wash painting is an East Asian type of brush painting also known as ink wash painting. Only black ink — the same as used in East Asian calligraphy — is used, in various concentrations....
- Pen and ink
- Pen paintingPen paintingPen painting is a painting technique used by seventeenth century artists from the Dutch Republic. First the artist grounds a canvas with white oil paint before drawing on it with black India ink....