Soot

Ingredients

Soot, Gum Arabic

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

Soot was prepared by burning linseed oil. The collected soot was heated at 400 °C for an hour to remove its fat (Section 2.1). The soot is placed in a mortar and mixed with gum Arabic solution, then set to bray for one full hour. The newly-made ink is then transferred to a bottle and shaken at regular intervals over several hours (Section 2.2.1).

Evidence

"The ingredients used to recreate the ink were based on the recipe "Haliyat al-Ketab" by an anonymous author from the 16th century. To make carbon ink, the soot is placed in a mortar and mixed with gum Arabic solution, then set to bray for one full hour."

Remarks

The micro-Raman spectra exhibit two distinct peaks related to carbon-carbon vibrations at around 1335 and 1590 cm−1. Weak peaks around 600, 1090, and 1465 cm−1 were also observed (Section 3.1). The ink presents linear and flat reflectance spectra in the visible range with partial reflectance in the NIR range (Section 3.5, p. 7).