deyo

Ingredients

soot, olive oil, balsam resin, gum, resin of acacia

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

Soot from olive oil was the best for the preparation of fine soot. To bring it into a mass which would stick together, it was mixed with a resin like that of balsam (p. 28). It was also put in a glass flask with olive oil in the sun to dry (p. 28). For use, the soot was generally mixed with gum, specifically Aram. kumus or resin of acacia (p. 28). Falsification of the soot with material from a baker's oven was noted as a common practice (p. 28).

Evidence

"That it was a black soot is without doubt since it was used to write in Torah scrolls. Almost all of these have a black script."

Remarks

The term deyo refers not to a liquid ink but to soot, which, like other pigments, is dissolved or suspended in a fluid vehicle (p. 27). The soot ink was prepared from burning resin, pitch, or resinous wood of the pine (p. 28).