Parchment Manufacture


The basic ingredient of the black ink used is carbon, usually soot collected from the bottom of cooking pots or from kerosene lamps. To act as a binder roasted grains of maize, barley, or finger millet are infused in a small amount of water before the liquid is decanted off and added to the soot.

Roasted maize used to produce a binder for the ink
Roasted maize used in making binder
Qés Fenti Mehret,
December 2000

The juice of the fruit from certain Solanum species is often incorporated into the mixture at this point as it is a natural insecticide and keeps flies away.

Solanum bush showing tomato like fruits
Solanum bush; inset, fruit used as insecticide
April 2001

These ingredients are mixed on a grindstone or stirred in a pot each day for a period of perhaps several months. Eventually a skin forms on the top of the mixture and this layer is skimmed off and dried into blocks.

Skin forming on top of ink
Layer of ink forming on top of mixture
Melake Yibabe Abeje Laqew, Gota Kidane Mihiret,
April 2001

This dried ink is stable for many years and small amounts can be mixed with water in an inkhorn to give liquid black ink whenever required.

Inkstand with two black ink horns
Ink stand with two black ink
horns and commercial red ink
Merigita Fenti Indelew,
Debre Kera Maryam,
April 2001

Red ink is normally only used to write the names of God, Christ, Mary, and Saints and Martyrs. It was traditionally prepared from natural ingredients such as red flowers and red soils but very few scribes do this today. Usually commercial red ink is bought and then mixed with a binder such as acacia gum to thicken it.

Inkstand with natural red ink horn
Ink stand with natural red ink
Qés Yohanis Melese Dubale,
Gono Gebriel,
April 2001

inkstand with commercial red ink
Ink stand; inset, bottle of commercial red ink
Qés Fenti Mehret,
December 2000