soot

Ingredients

soot, cattle bile, sheep bile, crystallized sugar, iron sulfate, Arabic gum, rosewater, vinegar

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

Method 3 (Nefeszade İbrahim): 3.2 g soot and 6.4 g bile are mixed, dried, and then crushed with 2 g of water. This mixture is dried again under sunlight. 1.6 g crystallized sugar and 1.6 g iron sulfate are each melted separately in 1.6 g of water. These melted components, along with 10 g Arabic gum (honey consistency), are added to the dried soot/bile mixture and crushed with a finger. The mixture is dried once more. Finally, 75 g of rosewater is added to produce the final ink (p. 97).

Evidence

"The third formula is given in the work of Nefeszâde İbrahim (1650) named Gülzâr-ı Savab. The method is as follows: “5 dirhams of soot is crushed with 10 dirhams of cattle or sheep bile as the gold crushing process and dried under the sunlight. This dried mixture is combined with 2 dirhams of iron sulfate water, 15 dirhams of gum with a consistency of honey, 2 dirhams of crystallized sugar. This mixture is also crushed and dried. The soot produced is mixed with rosewater or vinegar to obtain a good quality ink.”"

Remarks

The yellowish tint of the ink was described as adding beauty to the writing. No change or color loss was seen after 5 months of sunlight exposure (p. 97).