After the last project, I became a bit obsessed with typewriters and typewriter art. After the project ended, I kept making typewriter art. I tried more and more intricate objects, eventually attempting several self portraits and eventually doing a typewriter portrait of Werner Herzog. I hope this preface will help the reader understand the strange state of mind I was in when I came up with this project.

In the midst of my typewriter art frenzy, an odd question dawned on me: if the world as we know it ended tomorrow, where would I get typewriter ribbons? In the even of an apocalyptic event, I'm sure food and shelter would be my first priorities, but eventually, I imagine the end of the world would be stressful, and I'd need a creative outlet. I wondered, could I make my own typewriter ink? That was the question that spawned this project.

Before I could make typewriter ink, I had to figure out how to make regular ink. I also knew I would have to make something to write with, so the first part of this project was to make quill pens. After I made the quill pens, I moved on to making inks. I gave myself a couple of guidelines for the materials I would use to make the ink. In this imagined post-apocalyptic world, transportation would be severely restricted, so all of my materials had to be things I could grow, gather or find in stores within walking distance from my house. Also, I didn't want to use any pre-made commercial pigments because I figured they would be scarce and hard to find.

After researching potential materials that could be used for pigment, I settled on beets, spinach, blackberries, oak galls, and lamp black. The recipes for these inks are included in the project itself, but I will explain a little more about some of the ingredients here.

The pure pigments cannot be used as an effective ink without several additives. All inks required a small amount of gum arabic. This is a plant product found in liquid or powder form in art supply stores. Gum arabic helps the pigment to stay evenly dispersed in the ink solution and acts as a binding agent. When applied to paper, ink with gum arabic in it will remain on the surface of the paper longer, allowing the ink to penetrate the paper more thoroughly. Gum arabic also thickens the ink, which helps it flow more evenly from a quill pen.

Glycerine is another common additive. Glycerine makes the ink dry slower. This is necessary for typewriter ink so that the ribbon will effectively transfer the ink to the paper when the typeface strikes the ribbon.

Grain alcohol acts as a solvent, preventing the pigment from solidifying or clumping.
The vegetable and fruit based inks are prone to molding or going bad, so a small quantity of salt is used as a preservative.

A warning if you're searching for ink recipes. There are tons of historical ink recipes on the net, but be careful when choosing one. Many are vague or incomplete, or give conflicting instructions. I found it was best to gather several recipes and find the ingredients and proportions that they all had in common, then experiment with slight adjustments to the quantities.

Below is the link for the book I made a book which contains the recipes and information I collected. The book is written in Carolingian miniscule, a font with an interesting history as a disruptive technology. A precursor to Blackletter, Carolingian script was created during Charlemagne's rule to provide a legible standard for writing roman letters so that people across Europe could easily communicate.