In medieval Europe, there were two main formulas for making black ink. The first one is carbon ink, which is made of coal or lamp smoke mixed glue. The second kind is metal gallnut ink, which is usually made of tannic acid and ferrous sulfate solution, and also needs sizing to make the ink more viscous. Black is the result of chemical reaction.
Extended data
Metal gallnut ink was used as early as the 3rd century AD, and it was recorded in writing in the early 2nd century/kloc-0. Most of the sheepskin books in the Middle Ages were written in metallic Schisandra ink, and the invention of metallic Schisandra ink was probably inspired by the magical characteristics of oak gallnut.
Galla chinensis is a spherical tree tumor that grows on the twigs of oak trees. It is a soft dark green sphere formed around the larvae after gallnut wasps lay eggs on twigs. When the inner larva hatches into an adult, it will drill a hole in the cocoon and then fly away, leaving a shell rich in tannic acid and gallic acid.
These shells are easily broken under the action of rain and sunshine. Sometimes people use white wine or vinegar instead of rain, which is the first component of metallic gallnut ink.
The second component is ferrous sulfate, also known as copperas. /kloc-In the late 6th century, people naturally extracted iron by evaporating water in iron-bearing soil. It is likely that sulfuric acid is injected into the waste nail, the liquid is filtered out, and alcohol is added to make copperas. Then, the gallnut solution of oak tree is added to the copperas, and then stirred with fig branches.
As a result, the brown-black solution slowly turned into black ink. Then add some gum Arabic to increase the viscosity and concentration of the ink. Feather pens need to be sticky, but later pens don't. When sheepskin is exposed to the air, the color of metallic gallnut ink will become darker. It completely penetrates into the parchment page, which is not as easy to erase as carbon ink, and it is more shiny. ?
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