Indian ink components

[BowEd]

Is'nt indian ink composed of mostly soot and an adjuvant like achohol?That being said I just cleaned our stove pipes and was wondering if the fine kreosote that cam from there could have been used for that.

[Pat B]

Ed, I'd think it needed a fixative also. The creosote from your chimney might be too oily for it to work well but I might be wrong. Plus, that creosote stinks! 

[BowEd]

This so called creosote I'm talking about is really fine stuff like powder.Soot really like the stuff on your hands that's black.Very fine.
What do you mean by a fixative?Like an adjuvant you mean?
I know old timers would just use charcoal rubbed into a scratch for scrimshawing.Thought I could make up my own batch of indian ink.

[Pat B]

Like a carrier that would make it permanent after the carrier evaporated.

[Pat B]

Ed, I just Googled it. It looks pretty easy. One recipe was using charcoal ash, water and a dash of vinegar. Another used lamp black(like your chimney soot) water and shellac.

[stickbender]

     India ink, is made of powdered snail shells, as I recall from a long time ago, but I looked it up and it says, soot,(carbon), lamp black, for the finer ink, and other black ingredients, including burnt bones, and wood. A binder is needed, such as varnish, gelatin , etc.
You can vary the darkness by adding more or less water.
                                    Wayne 

                                     Wayne.

[BowEd]

OK...thanks fellas I'll look into it.