soot, charcoal (andulpak)

Ingredients

baja (tarry substance), soot, damar resin, charcoal (andulpak), sweet palm wine (pola), chicken blood, fresh water, drops of oil, Sapa flowers, red pepper, ginger, lemon (hajoran), sugar cane, sona tree, otok shrub, bark of the haundolok ubor

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The general term for ink is mangsiy. Black ink is often based on 'baja', a tarry substance obtained by precipitating the smoke of smouldering resinous wood, most frequently from the Manggistan tree, against a knife or sword (p. 607-608). More complex recipes involve mixing soot or damar soot with charcoal from 'andulpak' wood (p. 606). Binders include damar resin, sweet palm wine (pola), and chicken blood; damar resin acts as a binding agent that increases viscosity and helps the ink adhere to the bark fibers (p. 608). Other additives include saps and juices (ginger, lemon, sugar cane, sona tree) and barks (p. 606, 608). Fresh water is used as a diluent, and red pepper or vinegar may be added (p. 608).

Evidence

"The text of the pustaha is always written in black ink, while the illustrations are usually done in red and sometimes in yellow."

Remarks

The writing is performed with a 'suligi' pen, cut from the tarugi boru-boru fibers of the sugar palm (Arenga saccharifera) (p. 605). The text of the pustaha is consistently black, while illustrations provide color contrast in red and yellow (p. 607). Some ingredients are added for magical or religious reasons rather than purely physical properties (p. 607).