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India ink

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"Indian ink" redirects here. For the Tom Stoppard play, see Indian Ink.
Ink drawing of Ganesha under an umbrella (early 19th century).

India ink (or Indian ink in British English) is a simple black ink once widely used for writing and printing and now more commonly used for drawing, especially when inking comic books and comic strips.

Composition

Basic India ink is composed of a variety of fine soot 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.

History

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.[1] Indian documents written in Kharosthi with this ink have been unearthed in as far as Xinjiang, China.[2] The practice of writing with ink and a sharp-pointed needle was common practice since antiquity in South India.[3] Several ancient Jain sutras in India were also compiled in ink.[4] In India, the carbon black from which India ink is formulated was obtained indigenously by burning bones, tar, pitch and other substances.[5]

Mark Gottsegen argues however that India ink was first invented in China, although he attributes the source of the carbon pigment used in the ink to India.[6] He states that the traditional Chinese method of making the ink was to grind a mixture of hide glue, carbon black, lampblack, and bone black pigment with a pestle and mortar before pouring it into a ceramic dish where it could dry.[6] In order to use the dry mixture, a wet brush would be applied until it reliquified.[6] Joseph A. Smith also argues that India ink was first invented in China, but used lampblack, carbon black, and bone black that originated in India.[7] Michael and Mary Woods assert that the process of making India ink was known in China as far back as the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, during Neolithic China.[8] However studies by E-tu Zen Sun and Shiou-chuan Sun show that India ink was first used in China by Wei Dan (also known as Wei Zhongjiang) of the Cao Wei state (220–265 AD).[9]

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.[10][11][12][13]

Uses other than writing

  • Hanetsuki (羽根突き, 羽子突き) is a Japanese traditional game, similar to badminton, played by girls at the New Year with a rectangular wooden paddle called a hagoita and a brightly-colored shuttlecock. 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.[citation needed]
  • Indian ink can also be used for homemade tattoos (sometimes called "stick and poke" or "prison" tattoos) by repeatedly stabbing the skin with a sharp sewing needle wrapped in ink-soaked thread.
  • 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 bacteria. The background is stained while the bacteria remains clear. This type of staining is called a negative stain. India ink, along with other stains, can be used to determine if a cell has a gelatinous capsule.[14]
  • Model Railroaders use a mixture of India ink and Isopropyl Alcohol as a 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.[1][15]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Banerji, page 673
  2. ^ Sircar, page 206
  3. ^ Sircar, page 62
  4. ^ Sircar, page 67
  5. ^ "India ink." in Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.
  6. ^ a b c Gottsegen, page 30.
  7. ^ Smith, page 23.
  8. ^ Woods & Woods, 51–52.
  9. ^ Sun & Sun, page 288.
  10. ^ Sivin, III, page 24.
  11. ^ Menzies, page 24.
  12. ^ Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, pages 75–76.
  13. ^ Deng, page 36.
  14. ^ Woeste and Demchick, Volume 57, Part 6, pages 1858-1859
  15. ^ Nasa Technical Brief

References

  • Banerji, Sures Chandra (1989). A Companion to Sanskrit Literature. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 81-208-0063-X.
  • Deng, Yinke. (2005). Ancient Chinese Inventions. Translated by Wang Pingxing. Beijing: China Intercontinental Press. ISBN 7-5085-0837-8.
  • Gottsegen, Mark E. (2006). The Painter's Handbook: A Complete Reference. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications. ISBN 0-8230-3496-8.
  • Menzies, Nicholas K. (1994). Forest and Land Management in Imperial China. New York: St. Martin's Press, Inc. ISBN 0-312-10254-2.
  • Needham, Joseph (1986). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 7, Military Technology; the Gunpowder Epic. Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd.
  • Sircar, D.C. (1996). Indian epigraphy. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 81-208-1166-6.
  • Sivin, Nathan (1995). Science in Ancient China: Researches and Reflections. Brookfield, Vermont: Variorum, Ashgate Publishing.
  • Smith, Joseph A. (1992). The Pen and Ink Book: Materials and Techniques for Today's Artist. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications. ISBN 0-8230-3986-2.
  • Sun, E-tu Zen and Shiou-chuan Sun. (1997). Chinese Technology in the Seventeenth Century: T'ien-kung K'ai-wu. Mineola: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-29593-1.
  • Woods, Michael and Mary Woods. (2000). Ancient Communication: Form Grunts to Graffiti. Minneapolis: Runestone Press; an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group.....
  • S. Woeste and P. Demchick (1991). Appl Environ Microbiol. 57(6): 1858-1859 ASM.org
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