Making of Purple Ink
In the early days of the Romans there was a color only called Encanslum. It was only used by Emperors for the signing of Patents and Letters. The colored ink was prohibited by law, under plenty of death only the Emperor was allowed to use the ink. The use of purple ink during this time, since it was almost impossible to make, was to make any document signed by the Emperor only official if the signature was in purple. This allowed for no forgery of the Emperor's name to be made by anyone.
Leo the Great, is the first known record of the use of purple ink (however it was most likely used before his time as well). It was believed that the purple color originally may have come from a few different sources. The first source being from the blood of a purple fish. While we know that this can't be possible today when the Emperor of Rome wrote to a sultan it was written that he used such a fish, and wrote the whole letter in purple. The second source is from purple shells. The shells were ground into a powder form, which is then melted with an unknown liquid to thicken it.
The Ink should not be confused with dye which source was from a sea snail called the spiny dye-murex. Thousands of snails were used to make the dye used. Piles of the shells have been found in dumping grounds around the area. While purple dye was made this way it would often change over time and when left to dry for a longer period of time. If the dye was used on papers over time it would become a reddish color almost the same as dried blood.
The earliest printed recipe for making purple ink was found in A Book of Secrets by Adam Islip in the 1500s. In the book the recipe for purple only required three ingredients. Two pounds of huckleberries, two ounces of potassium aluminum sulfate and one ounce of cuprous oxide. These ingredients were mixed and heated, then strained and left to thicken. For the time it seems like quite an easy recipe but I am sure that the amount of time it took to figure this out as a modern color was quite difficult.
The modern ink is made from the pigment of Manganese (Manganese violet), Cobalt (Cobalt violet), Copper (Han Purple) and Aluminum (Ultramarine violet). In the future I want to try and make the ink from the 1500's and also try my hand at making a more modern non organic ink also.
Leo the Great, is the first known record of the use of purple ink (however it was most likely used before his time as well). It was believed that the purple color originally may have come from a few different sources. The first source being from the blood of a purple fish. While we know that this can't be possible today when the Emperor of Rome wrote to a sultan it was written that he used such a fish, and wrote the whole letter in purple. The second source is from purple shells. The shells were ground into a powder form, which is then melted with an unknown liquid to thicken it.
The Ink should not be confused with dye which source was from a sea snail called the spiny dye-murex. Thousands of snails were used to make the dye used. Piles of the shells have been found in dumping grounds around the area. While purple dye was made this way it would often change over time and when left to dry for a longer period of time. If the dye was used on papers over time it would become a reddish color almost the same as dried blood.
The earliest printed recipe for making purple ink was found in A Book of Secrets by Adam Islip in the 1500s. In the book the recipe for purple only required three ingredients. Two pounds of huckleberries, two ounces of potassium aluminum sulfate and one ounce of cuprous oxide. These ingredients were mixed and heated, then strained and left to thicken. For the time it seems like quite an easy recipe but I am sure that the amount of time it took to figure this out as a modern color was quite difficult.
The modern ink is made from the pigment of Manganese (Manganese violet), Cobalt (Cobalt violet), Copper (Han Purple) and Aluminum (Ultramarine violet). In the future I want to try and make the ink from the 1500's and also try my hand at making a more modern non organic ink also.
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