According to David A. Fryxell, writer for the "Family Tree Magazine" and author of the 2010 article "History Matters: The Write Stuff," Chinese ink was invented in 2697 B.C. by a philosopher named Tien Lcheu. Fryxell explains that this early ink was made from charcoal dust and oil, using a gelatin made from donkey skins that acted as a binder.
The Stinky Ink Shop indicates that the Arabs created ink through a process called alchiber. They used tar or oil as a pigment agent and then mixed in gum resins or honey to hold the particles together. The ink was compacted and dried, and water was added when the ink was used.
According to the Love Egypt website, the ancient Egyptians created black ink by mixing soot with water and vegetable gums. According to the D.J. McAdam website, which quotes David N. Carvalho's 1904 book "Forty Centuries of Ink," the vegetable gum was added to keep the ink from flowing too fast or blotting on the paper. It also served as a binder to hold the particles of soot and water together.
According to the Stinky Ink website, colored inks were also used by the Egyptians. They used pigment such as copper oxide and indigo to make blue, saffron for yellow and vermilion for red. Unfortunately, the formula for their colored ink has been lost.
The Central European University describes several different types of ink that were used during the medieval period. Iron gall ink was created using gall nuts, which were growths on oak trees that were formed when a gall wasp laid its eggs in the tree bark. This growth contained tannic acids that could be soaked and crushed to create ink. Iron gall ink also required ferrous sulfate (iron sulfate), which was often called copperas or green vitriol, as well as ground gum arabic.
Another type of ink that was commonly used during the medieval period was carbon ink. It was created by mixing charcoal with gum arabic. Medieval scholars and scribes also used red ink, which was created by mixing powdered vermilion with egg whites and gum arabic.