You know, the title of this particular post is somewhat ironic in my opinion. Why? Well, 99% of history is recorded in…ink. Isn’t it funny that so few of us would wonder about the history of the substance used to record history itself? That’s the purpose of this entry, to get a least a brief glimpse at how ink even came into being, so we can all appreciate the convenience of our copiers, printers, and ball point pens.
From the research I’ve done, there seems to be differing opinions on when ink was exactly invented, but for the sake of simplicity, a safe date window seems to be about 5000 years ago. So who were the geniuses that discovered how to record written records other than taking up a chisel and stone? That would be none other than our current Olympic hosts: The Chinese. According to various sources, including Wikipedia, Chinese ink “was a mixture of soot from pine smoke, lamp oil, and gelatin from animal skins and musk.” Other early cultures would create colored variants of ink made out of berries, minerals and various plants.
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, 2008 Edition, India ink was made from a substance known as “carbon black.” Carbon Black was produced by burning bones, tar, pitch, and other substances. Sounds like a messy process!
From about 800 AD to 1500 AD, scribes in Mideval Europe made their inks from hawthorn branches that were cut and left in the sun to dry. The bark would then be pounded from the branches and soaked in water for 8 days. The water would then be boiled until it turned thick and black. Believe it or not, wine was then added to the mixture while it boiled. That mixture was then poured into bags and hung in the sun. Once dried, the mixture was mixed with wine and iron salt over a fire to make the final ink.
Century Marketing uses quite a bit of ink itself to produce your custom images and messages. I decided to find out what may be unique about our ink. In light of concerns these days about inks, paints, and other pigments containing harmful substances like lead and other heavy metals, we were able to uncover some very reassuring information. Our Flexographic Team Leader Arnold Clark, was able to find out from Century Marketing’s Ink Vendor that our water based ink has undergone testing by an independent laboratory for the presence of harmful heavy metals. Arnold was happy to pass on that “the results were overwhelmingly favorable showing that our products were well within compliance with CONEG requirements as well as ASTM F963-86, Standard Consumer Safety Specifications on toy safety, the U.S. Federal Standard 16CFR1303 and California Proposition 65 regulations.”
All that to say, our labels and the ink they’re printed with are safe. In light of the dangerous products out there today, you can rest assured that the custom printed products you order from PrintMyThing, PrintMyRibbon, PhotoTrimmings and WeddingTray are not going to harm you, your customers, or your kids.
Who knew that a study of the history of ink would yield such reassuring information!
