Homemade fountain pen ink. CISS forum: homemade ink

Making your own ink can be a fun and very rewarding activity! Why, you ask, should you make them, since every house is already full of ballpoint pens and pencils? Of course, today you won’t surprise anyone with ink, but just imagine how many emotions creating it will bring to your child! With what passion and curiosity he will take part in this process and with what joy he will then write letters and numbers on paper with his ink, or simply squiggles that only he can understand! And the benefits of such an activity are obvious! Firstly, children love to learn something new and literally “absorb” any information they receive. Secondly, you must agree that spending time this way is much more useful than sitting near the TV or computer!

But before we begin to describe the recipe for ink and the method of preparing it, let's take a little dip into history and find out how and when it appeared.

According to archaeologists, the very first ink appeared in Ancient Egypt. It was there that their oldest cooking recipes were found during excavations. According to the description found, scientists were able to find out that to make ink, the Egyptians used gum - a thick and sticky juice that is secreted from cherries or acacias and ash that remained after burning papyrus or its roots. By the way, scientists also managed to find out that about two and a half thousand years ago the same ink was used in China.

Already in the 3rd century BC, the Greeks and Romans used several types of ink and even made red ones! They were intended for special occasions and were considered sacred in those distant times. Only the emperor had the right to write in red ink. Isn’t it true, now it seems no coincidence that in educational institutions Only teachers can write with a red pen! This, of course, was a joke and was just a small digression, but now let's go back to the third millennium BC and find out what ink was made of then. For this, people used fruit seeds, soot, charcoal And grapevine. The ink, which was found during excavations of an ancient Roman city, consisted of soot, which was diluted in oil.

A little later, ink appeared based on a decoction of the peels of green chestnuts or walnuts, then from the nuts that cover the oak leaves - galls. These nuts are peculiar growths that form on oak branches and leaves. In these galls the larvae of the gallworm insects develop. To prevent the ink from being washed off, a fixative was used - again the same gum that was used by the ancient Egyptians. Surprisingly, the surviving today manuscripts that were made with gall ink have still not lost their brightness and clarity! By the way, in our time, some graphic artists use such ink to create their unique works And of course they make them themselves.

Well, let's try to prepare ink. Moreover, on their gall ink ancient history ends and the modern begins. Already in the 19th century, alizarin ink began to be produced, then the natural dye (Madder root) was replaced with a synthetic one, and the next step was completely synthetic modern aniline ink. It is impossible to make these at home. Therefore we will consider simple recipes and prepare ink from available ingredients.

● Gall ink

You will need:

Galls (growths on oak branches and leaves)

Metal can

Copper sulfate (solution)

Cooking method:

Place the galls in a metal jar and add water until it completely covers them.

When the water darkens a little, add it to the jar. a large number of solution of iron sulfate to the consistency of ink and leave for several hours

Ink ready

● Ink made from oak bark solution

You will need:

Oak bark

Iron sulfate (solution)

Cooking method:

Plane oak bark

Boil the shavings in water for 15-20 minutes

When the water darkens and turns dark brown, you need to strain it from the shavings

Add a solution of ferrous sulfate to the broth until it turns black, leave for several hours

Ink ready

As you can see, it's not that difficult to make ink! All that remains is to figure out what can be used as an inkwell! Good luck with your experiments!

Every day we use ballpoint pens, there are printers on our desks that work almost without interruption. We are already so accustomed to this that we don’t think about how it works. And the first step towards the invention of all these convenient devices became a recipe for an amazing composition that can leave lasting marks on paper and fabric. However, today we want to talk about what ink is made of. A short excursion into history and modern technologies will be interesting for adults and children.

Ancient tomes

The thinnest parchment, lines written on tanned leather, ancient manuscripts always amaze with the fact that you can still easily make out what is written. The first ink was made very simply - they mixed soot with something sticky. It was essentially mascara that dried out and cracked. In addition, it was quite viscous; you had to get the hang of it to make a beautiful line. At that time the recipe was strictly classified. Only the clergy knew what ink was made of. By the way, there were many variations. They took honey as a base and added gold powder to it. A composition made from elderberries and walnut. But all this has already sunk into oblivion. Today, ink production has become simple and affordable. Let's follow the chain further.

Ink from gall nuts

Continuing to look, we cannot forget the famous discovery, namely special growths on oak leaves. They are called galls, and insect larvae - gallworms - live in them. That is why the growths are called ink nuts. The juice was squeezed out of them, then mixed with iron sulfate and glue was added. The result was a durable composition with a beautiful shine. Even today, the surviving manuscripts look very fresh. However there was one important nuance. This ink was colorless; what was written could be read only when the letters were dry.

Revolution in history

In the 19th century, people became more educated; many already knew what ink was made of. In 1885, another coup was carried out. The teacher invented alizarin ink. They were also gall, but had an intense color thanks to a unique additive. Blue-green in the bottle, they turned black when applied to paper. This was achieved by adding krappa, that is, an extract from madder roots.

Coloring the glass

Ink for a smooth surface is prepared from two working solutions. The first is 100 ml of water and 1 g of potassium sulfide and 7 g dissolved in it. It is prepared by simple mixing. The second contains similarly 100 g of water, 3 g and 13 ml of hydrochloric acid. The mixture can be immediately used as ink. You can safely apply it to glass and get matte inscriptions after drying.

Compositions for metal

They can only be called ink conditionally. You should write on metal with a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acid. To do this, the surface is covered with wax, then an inscription is made with a sharp object, and then the composition is applied on top. After five minutes you can lower the vessel into warm water. To get an analogue of an ink inscription of blue color, you need to prepare a different composition.

It is prepared by mixing 3.5 g of borax with 15 ml ethyl alcohol, 2 g of rosin powder and 25 ml of methylene blue solution. As a result, the inscription remains blue.

Fabric Ink

We have already looked at the compositions and are guided by what the ink is made of. However, all these compositions do not have great resistance to washing and repeated boiling. To do this, you need to change the recipe slightly. To do this, 42 g of aniline and 2.5 g of berthollet salt and 13 ml of water are heated in a flask. Then add 15 ml of hydrochloric acid (25%) and continue to heat the mixture until it darkens. There's just a little bit left to do. Copper chloride is poured into the flask, at which point the process can be considered almost complete.

The resulting solution is heated to a red-violet color. After this, under the influence of a dye, an oxidizing agent and a reaction catalyst, we can obtain the final result. Ink made using this recipe is very durable. They do not fade during washing and can be used in light industry.

Instead of a conclusion

As you can see, there are quite a few ways to prepare ink. Modern industry makes it possible to produce inks ranging from black to multi-colored inks. IN Lately technology for preventing mold growth has been developed. There are special compounds that, when added to ink, completely neutralize the role of the fungus. These are creosote and formaldehyde, salicylic acid.

As you can see, the composition of the ink is not at all complicated. If you are interested in chemistry, you can easily repeat this at home. However, the big question is whether it is worth the time investment, especially considering the cost of the product in the store stationery and its consumption.

To make ink or ink with my own hands, You will have to tinker a lot. But if you look from the other side, when will we have to do these seemingly simple and ordinary things ourselves? Probably only after a global catastrophe or when we are completely cut off from the civilized world. Then we will have a lot of time and, perhaps, there will be a desire to write in ink or ink. But how to make them? Read below the answer to this question.

How to make ink?

Peanut ink
For the preparation of ordinary stationery or school ink by infusing or drawing on cold water take: 3 ink nuts, 2 iron sulfate, 2 gum arabic, 60 water. The nuts are ground into powder and poured into a glass bottle and doused with water. Dissolve in another vessel inkstone and gum arabic together or separately. The infusion of nuts should stand for several days until the water removes all the tannin from it, while vitriol and gum arabic completely dissolve within several hours. Both solutions are poured together, mixed well and, after allowing to stand for a day or two, carefully drained to separate the liquid from the sediment.

Alizarin ink
It is completely wrong to call ink by this name, since alizarin is not included in their composition at all. Alizarin ink is also prepared from the extract of ink nuts, and their composition includes acetic acid. In ordinary ink, the dye is contained in tiny particles floating in the liquid. In alizarin ink, due to the presence of a significant dose of acid and glue in them, sediment does not form. Acetic acid, which is part of the ink, has the purpose of dissolving and maintaining the dye substance in a dissolved form. However, alizarin ink has the disadvantage that it dries quickly, as a result of which it forms a thick mass and the pen must often be wiped with a cloth.

To prepare “alizarin” ink, take: 10 ink nuts, 6 iron sulfate, 1 gum arabic, 100 vinegar, 20 indigo carmine solution. The crushed nut is infused in vinegar for 4-6 days, as for vitriol and gum arabic, they are dissolved separately in vinegar, and they must be boiled once. When the liquids are then drained together and strained, then a solution of indigo carmine is added. The latter should not be added in large quantities at once, but little by little and shake the solution with each addition. You can use ordinary vinegar, but it is better to use wood acetic acid, as it contains a small amount of carbolic acid, which prevents the formation of mold.

Another recipe for preparing “alizarin” ink is as follows: 20 ink nut, 5 gum arabic, 5 wood vinegar, 2 ½ indigo carmine, 50 water. Ink nut is infused for a week in half vinegar and water. At the same time, prepare a solution of iron in vinegar; To do this, you need to take some kind of wooden dish, pour the rest of the vinegar into it and put various old iron in it, for example, nails, horseshoes, hoops, etc. After three days, drain the liquid and strain, dissolve gum arabic in the ink nut infusion and combine everything strained together. Add as much indigo carmine to the finished nuts as is necessary to give the ink the desired strength of blue-green color. The presence of vinegar-iron salt in this ink makes steel pens less likely to deteriorate.

How to save ink?

If the ink is not properly sealed, it will become moldy, especially if it is in a damp place. Some substances have the property of preventing the appearance of mold: these include primarily: creosote, formaldehyde, carbolic and salicylic acid. For ordinary stationery ink, it is enough to add 30-40 g of creosote or 100 g of carbolic acid per 100 kg of ink. For ink highest quality for the same amount of ink add 100 g of salicylic acid.

How to make mascara?

Chinese liquid ink for drawing, similar to the products of Gunther Wagner and others.
Take 2 shellac, 1 borax to 15 water, heat, with frequent stirring, until the shellac dissolves and add water-based aniline paint until the desired tone is obtained. For ordinary black ink, water-based nigrosine is used; for other colors: sepia, terdisiene, etc., mixtures of water-based aniline dyes are used. If the colors turn out to be too bright, then add a few drops of an aqueous solution of nigrosin to neutralize.

Chinese ink according to Winkler
Apricot kernels are burned in the oven into coals. Once cooled, the burnt grains are pounded into a fine powder in a porcelain mortar and sifted through a fine sieve. The resulting black powder is ground on a stove with soft water and gum arabic, add a little camphor, evaporate it using a water bath, then form it into long rectangular bars, which are then dried in air.

Chinese ink according to Vosvel
Dissolve horn sawdust in caustic potassium lye until saturated; the resulting dark brown liquid is evaporated and melted in a crucible. Then the mass is dissolved with twice the weight of boiling water and mixed with a solution of alum, due to which a precipitate is formed, which is washed, dried and ground with gum arabic diluted in water.

The preparation of ink is not associated with factory equipment, and therefore in small industries it is possible to successfully produce inks that meet all the requirements placed on them. Old barrels or vats, copper or iron cauldrons for both making ink and for filtering can serve as utensils, and, finally, glass bottles are needed into which the finished ink is poured.

In addition to ordinary writing ink, special inks are also produced for copying, hectograph, glass ink, drawing, linen marking, etc. The production of inks can also include the production of inks for typewriters, stamp pads, etc., since they are based on their composition looks like ink.

All manufactured inks must meet the following requirements. They should not act corrosively on the pen, should not leave sediment in the inkwell, and should not contain strong toxic substances. The ink must come off easily from the pen and be free of insoluble solids to allow the finest line drawing. In addition, they must be durable and must not become moldy.

The inks currently in use (1925) can be divided into two groups. The largest and most important group is formed by black inks containing tannic acid. Ink of the second group does not contain tannic acids.

The first group of inks is still the most commonly used and, moreover, the cheapest. They are prepared mainly from tannic and gallic acids or from substances containing tannin.

Solutions of tannins with iron salts produce a colored liquid, which is the basis for numerous simple and cheap recipes for all kinds of ink. Of the tannins of plant origin, ink nuts, knopers, and bark are most often used for this purpose. horse chestnut, willows and pines, Persian berries (Avignon pear), blackthorn, etc.

ink nuts are painful growths on oak leaves resulting from a gallworm injection.

Knopers are also painful growths on the calyxes of oak acorns. The cheapest is to use tanning bark, used and re-dried. This bark contains enough tannin to make ink.

In the manufacture of ink, the main work is the preparation of tannin extracts obtained from the raw material using water; nowadays, however, commercially produced tanning extracts, as well as chemically pure tannic acid, are often used. Tannin, found commercially as a yellowish-white or brownish powder, is quite suitable for making small quantities of ink.

The water used to make ink should not contain foreign impurities that, when combined with tannins, can produce insoluble compounds. It is best to use rain, snow or distilled water. Glycerin, gum arabic, gelatin, dextrin, etc. are used as thickeners for preparing ink. To protect against mold, carbolic acid, salicylic acid, creosote, etc. are used.

With the development of the aniline paint industry, ink production was simplified to the extreme. By simply dissolving the appropriate aniline dye in water, ink of any shade is obtained, and the proportions of the ink are determined depending on the desired intensity of a particular ink color.

To improve the quality of ink, ink, etc., it is recommended to add small amounts of volatile substances to the coloring liquids. organic compounds aliphatic series that contain at least 4 carbon atoms per molecule, for example valeric or caproic acid, alcohol, ester and ketones.

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One day in the summer, my grandfather and I were walking near the forest. It began to rain, and we ran to hide under a tree. It turned out to be a large century-old oak tree. I saw green balls on its leaves and asked my grandfather what they were?

Grandfather said that oak leaves often contain balls that look like berries or nuts - galls. Galls on oak trees appear due to insects called gall moths. They land on a leaf, pierce its skin and lay the last egg inside, from which a larva hatches, which begins to feed on the tissues of the leaf and causes their abnormal growth, as a result of which a gall is formed, and the larva receives a safe shelter. Growing gallworms overwinter in galls, and at the end of spring adult insects emerge from the galls. He also told me how his grandmother used these balls to make ink when she was in school. On the way home, I thought: “I wonder what the ink I write with is made of”? When I arrived home, I told my mother everything, and we decided to find out when ink appeared, what it is made from now, and try to make ink ourselves according to my great-great-grandmother’s recipe.

Target: study the history of origin and methods of making ink.

Tasks:

1. Study the history of ink creation.

2. Find out what kind of ink they used to write in the past and write with now.

3. Conduct a survey in the class to find out whether the children know what they used to make ink from before and what they are making now.

4. Making ink at home.

Object of study: ink.

Subject of study: making ink at home.

Research methods:

1.Collection and analysis of information,

2. Setting up the experiment,

3. Drawing up a questionnaire with different types questions, conducting a survey, analyzing the results.

Relevance. Currently, ink is made from artificial dyes. And ink made from plant ingredients is environmentally friendly and safe.

Hypothesis: Ink can be obtained at home using gal.

Theoretical part.

1. History of ink creation.

It is difficult to meet a person who does not use ink and does not know what it is. But how many of us know the history of the origin, chemical composition ink.

As soon as humanity had the need to write something down and preserve it for posterity, special compositions for writing appeared. The first ink was made quite simply: soot was mixed with something sticky. In Egypt, for these purposes, they used ash from burning papyrus roots, which was combined with a solution of gum - sticky thick juice of acacia and cherry. Almost the same ink was used 2.5 thousand years ago in China. They were made from a mixture of soot, plant resin and an alkaline solution. More precisely, it was ink that had a very significant drawback: over time, it became brittle and bounced off the paper at the folds.

In ancient times, people made ink from cuttlefish. Cuttlefish and fellow octopuses have a special ink sac, from which the animals, in a moment of danger, release an “ink bomb” for camouflage. The ink bags were dried in the sun and pounded.

Later, people came up with the idea of ​​using silver and gold to make ink. In Byzantium and Russia, scribes ground honey with thin gold and silver leaves, then washed the honey, but the elegant gold and silver letters remained. However, this ink was not cheap.

Therefore, people looked for the possibility of using cheaper writing material. Such ink could be made from gall nuts - such growths on the branches and leaves of trees on which the gall larvae lived. Juice was squeezed out of such “nuts”, which was added to glue and iron ore (later iron sulfate.) In addition to galls, the bark of various tree species (alder, oak, spruce, larch, ash, etc.) was also used.

This ink has interesting property- they themselves are lightly colored, and the color appears over time. Therefore, it is difficult to immediately re-read what is written; it will only be clearly visible after 10-12 hours, so it was difficult for a medieval copyist to even detect a copying error.

However, this ink has been used for many centuries. After all, the ink is of high quality - it penetrates deep into the paper, adheres well, does not fade in the sun, and the resulting color is pleasant.

In 1885, the Saxon teacher Leonhardi invented alizarin ink. They were also gall-like, but not colorless-turbid, but intensely blue-green. On paper they faded to deep black. This was achieved with the help of krappa - a product of special processing of the roots of the eastern madder plant. That gall ink was used almost until the middle of the 20th century.

And in 1938, the Hungarian artist, sculptor and journalist L. Biro and his brother received a patent for the invention of a ballpoint pen, in which ink was supplied to the writing ball using piston pressure. Later in Austria, liquid ink was replaced with ink paste. main feature which, unlike its predecessor, is that it dries quickly when exposed to air. This is how the first one appeared ball pen and the story of endless ways to prepare ink ended.

2. Modern ink.

Modern ink has little in common with the aforementioned primitive material of ancient times, except for one property. All inks are homogeneous mixtures of carrier and colorant with other substances often added to give the material special properties. The carrier may be a simple solvent, but most carriers consist of a solvent and a resin or other fairly volatile compound dissolved in it; sometimes refined or unrefined oils are used as carriers. A colorant is a mixture of pigments or dyes. Writing ink must have a number of special properties in order to meet its intended purpose. The most common of these properties are uniformity, fluidity, physical and chemical stability, as low and harmless an odor as possible, intense color and the formation of a non-stick film upon drying. The solvent for these inks is usually water, although organic solvents may be added in small quantities to improve fluidity and stability.

3. It's interesting

The mystery of the ink of Mongolian monks has not yet been solved. They knew how to make mother-of-pearl, ruby, and sapphire inks. And yet, ink flows out of all types of pens, including ballpoint pens, due to gravity. Therefore, during space flight in a state of weightlessness, they cannot be used. American scientists have been struggling for a long time to improve pens for astronauts. Our compatriots did it simpler and provided the astronauts with... simple pencils.

Research part

1) Preparing ink at home.

After studying the information received, I decided to prepare my own ink in the same way as my great-great-grandmother did.

I will need:

Galls (growths on oak branches and leaves)

Glass jar

Rusty nails (instead of copper sulfate).

For the most important ingredient, galls, my mother and I went into the forest.

Upon arriving home, I cut the galls, and at the same time made sure that gallworm larvae actually live in the galls:

We put rusty nails there

Fill with water and close the lid. Leave this entire mixture for 10-14 days.

While the ink I made was infusing, I asked my grandfather to borrow feathers for writing from the geese that live in his village.

After two weeks, the mixture I prepared turned dark blue.

Now you can try to write something.

When I wrote this inscription, I was constantly worried about making a blot or smearing everything. After all, a feather or fountain pen will write only if it is placed correctly on the paper and moved at the right angle.

And most importantly, I am very glad that I live in the 21st century and have my favorite ballpoint pen.

2) Questioning classmates on the research topic A survey of classmates was conducted on the topic of the study. The results are reflected in the diagram.

To the question: “Do you know what ink was made from before (back in ancient times)?” - the whole class answered negatively.

To the question: “Do you know what the modern ink you write with now is made from?” - 21 people answered negatively. To the question: “Would you like to learn how to make ink yourself?” - the whole class answered “Yes.”

The results of the survey showed that classmates were little familiar with the recipes for preparing both modern ink and the ink they used to write with in the past. However, this topic interested them, and they would like to learn how to make ink themselves.

Conclusions:

While studying literature, I learned that the first ink was invented in ancient times.

I found out that the recipes for making ink were constantly changing in accordance with those natural materials, which were available in each specific territory, and were improved with the development of science and technology. Some recipes have survived from antiquity to the present day, while others have remained a secret.

I compiled a questionnaire and conducted a survey among classmates, as a result of which I found out that out of 25 students (100%):

Know the recipe for making ink before - 0 people. (0%)

They know the recipe for preparing modern mobs - 4 people. (16%)

Would like to learn how to make ink yourself - 25 people. (100%)

During the experiment, it was possible to establish that ink can be prepared at home.

Conclusion

After doing research, I learned a lot of new and interesting information about ink. Also, during research work, I confirmed my hypothesis that you can make real ink yourself at home. Only they differ from modern ones in composition, consistency, color saturation and are not convenient for daily use.

Bibliography

Nemirovsky E.L. Journey to the origins of Russian book printing. - M.: Education, 1991. - 224 p.

Tereshin A. Nostalgia for the inkwell // Kalina Krasnaya. - 2012. - No. 4. - P. 3.

3. http://allforchildren.ru/why/where1-12.php

4. http://museo-2015.livejournal.com/20633.html

5. http://www.orgprint.com/wiki/strujnaja-pechat/istorija-sozdanija-chernil

Annex 1

Questionnaire