In a previous post I wrote about my fascination with writing as it pertains to magic. An important part of this practice is the creation and use of magical inks. Up to this point, that has involved taking commercial inks and adding my own materia and consecrations to them as appropriate.1 But recently I’ve gotten interested in making my own inks from scratch, which has led me down a rabbit-hole of research and experimentation.2
What makes an ink an ink? It’s a surprisingly hard question to answer. In particular, the line between ink and paint is pretty fine. It largely comes down to the intended use. Inks tend to be more fluid and transparent, optimized for flowing smoothly from a fine, precisely-controlled tool (a pen, a quill, a fine brush). Paints, in contrast, tend to be more opaque and more viscous, lending themselves to interesting blending and texturing effects when applied with a variety of shaped brushes and knives.
A good ink should flow smoothly, without scratching or bleeding. It should dry or be absorbed as quickly as practical, preserving details as it does so. It should also, ideally, be pH neutral – as inks that are excessively acidic or basic can damage the page on which they are written over time.
At its most basic, an ink is just a combination of a pigment and a menstruum. The devil, as they say, is in the details.
Formulating Ink
Pigment is what provides the ink its color. Almost anything vibrantly colored – soot, clay, berry juice – can be used as pigment, though many vegetable pigments will change their color (or lose it entirely) over time. Carbon pigments (charcoal and soot) and mineral pigments (ochre, chalk, and metal oxides) are both traditional.
Menstruum is the liquid used to transport the pigment. Water is far and away the most common, but there are also ink recipes that use alcohols – spirits, beer, or wine – or acids like vinegar. Paint uses a much broader range of media, including oils, polymers, and egg-whites, but I’ve rarely seen that with inks.3
Binder is a thickening agent that is usually added to inks to improve their flow properties. Gum Arabic is overwhelmingly the most common, in both historical and modern formulations, but some also call for shellac, fish glue, or another thickener. Binders are less important in modern inks. Fountain pens and glass dip pens can function pretty well without any binder at all (though a drop or two per fluid ounce of ink can still improve things); inks made from insoluble pigments, and those that are going to be applied with a quill or traditional dip pen, need to be substantially thicker. This functions both to help them go on evenly – without depleting the nib too quickly – and to help hold the pigment in suspension so that it does not settle or pool in undesirable ways.
Mordant is an optional additive to help the ink “bite” into whatever it is being applied to. This results in more pigment uptake and greater color fastness. Mordants are seen more frequently in dyeing than in ink-making, but they are sometimes included for inks. The two most common mordants are salt and vinegar.4
Preservatives can be optionally added to natural inks, such as berry juice, to prevent the growth of mold in the finished ink. Mold is primarily an issue for inks that rely on vegetable pigments. Jason Logan, in his book Make Ink, recommends either a few drops of wintergreen oil or a couple whole cloves be added to finished vegetable inks as a preservative.5
Types of Inks
There are two broad classes of ink: those using undissolved pigment particles in suspension – what we will call Type I inks – and those in which the pigment is actually dissolved into the menstruum – what we will call Type II.
Type I Ink: Type I inks are made from pigments that are insoluble in whatever the selected menstruum is; instead, the ink is formed by a suspension of pigment in liquid. Because they need to make a stable suspension, they require more binder to be added. To make a Type I ink, combine ¾ tsp of powdered pigment and 2 – 3 ml of liquid binder with every fluid ounce of menstruum. Because the pigment is held in suspension, rather than being truly dissolved, the finer the particles of pigment the better it will work; Type I inks where the pigment is too coarse will appear thin and grainy. Some historical recipes for inks of this type call for either the initial pigment or the finished ink (or both) to be ground in a mortar and pestle for truly ludicrous amounts of time, in order to get the pigment particles as fine as possible (e.g. “bray continuously from sunrise to sunset”).
Type II Ink: Type II inks are made from pigments that actually dissolve into the menstruum to become entirely liquid. Because of this, they require much less binder and much less grinding than Type I inks. To make a Type II ink, combine a sufficient quantity of pigment – the amount will vary by the pigment used – with the menstruum. Add one to five drops liquid binder for every fluid ounce of ink, as well as a preservative for vegetable inks (if desired). For fountain pens, Type II inks will almost always work better than Type I.
There are also other inks that don’t fit cleanly in either category. The most notable is iron gall ink, which derives some of its color from an oxidation reaction between the ink and the paper itself. It’s also worth noting that some pigments can be made into inks of either type: red iron (ferric) oxide, for example, can be suspended in water for a Type I ink or dissolved in vinegar (acetic acid) to make a Type II ink.
Ink is a deceptively simple substance – just pigment and menstruum – but its formulation is a testament to both art and alchemy. Regardless of the type, each recipe is a unique balance of science, intention, and craft. This balance is not merely practical; it reflects the essence of alchemical work itself – transforming raw materials into something more potent. The act of creating ink invites a deep understanding of its components, their history, and their interplay, while offering us the tools to bridge the mundane and the sacred. In the hands of a magician, ink becomes more than a vessel for words: it becomes a medium of power, a mark of intent, and a bond with tradition. In every stroke, from feathered quill to fountain pen, we engage with the same mystery that has moved scribes, alchemists, and conjurors through the ages.
- Windsor & Newton has a wonderful line of drawing inks that work well with a dip pen and come in a staggering array of colors. ↩︎
- In particular, the idea of a Liber Spirituum written with traditionally prepared iron gall ink and minium – black iron and red lead, both materials steeped in apotropaic lore – seems like an idea worth exploring further. ↩︎
- The Picatrix contains a couple ink recipes that include egg-whites, but that seems to be mostly in the interest of creating a portable ink stick, rather than for any property of the finished ink. ↩︎
- In dyeing, salt is generally used for cotton or linen fabrics, while vinegar is used for wools and silks. ↩︎
- Logan, J. (2018). Make Ink. Abrams. ↩︎
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