Wood ink (līqa ʿūdiyya)

Ingredients

red arsenic (realgar), quality ink (ḥibr), yellow arsenic, carbon ink (midād), gum

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The recipe offers two primary methods: (1) Grind red arsenic (realgar) finely and pour high-quality ink (ḥibr) onto it. (2) Combine red arsenic with yellow arsenic and carbon ink (midād), adding gum afterward (p. 174). Witness B provides an alternative to mix red, yellow, and minerals, grind them, and mix with the previously mentioned gum water (p. 174). Variants in witness L mention the addition of red vitriol (p. 174).

Evidence

"Grind some red arsenic (realgar) finely, pour the closest thing to the most suitable/closest/lowest quality ink (ḥibr) that there is onto it; or take the red [arsenic], add the yellow [one] and the [carbon] ink (midād), and all this after the addition of gum."

Remarks

The text notes that colors are produced from each other depending on the difference in colors or weights (p. 174). The recipe is part of Chapter 23, which deals with metallic inks and dyes.