Powdered Ink

Black powdered ink for drawing and writing. Many methods have been used to make ink…such as extracts from trees, berries, plants, animals, and minerals. One method in Colonial America was to use the soot that came from burning lamp oil.  The soot was mixed with a solution of either gum, glue, oak galls, or boiled walnut hulls with vinegar and salt, then modified into sticks, allowed to dry, and before use mixed with water to form ink for their quills.