India ink is surprisingly simple to make at home. At its core, it’s just fine carbon particles suspended in water with a binder to hold everything together. The type of binder you choose determines whether your finished ink will be waterproof or water-soluble, and the quality of your carbon determines how dark and smooth the ink writes.
What Goes Into India Ink
Every india ink recipe has three components: a pigment (carbon black), a binder (to keep the carbon particles evenly suspended and adhered to paper), and water as the solvent. Carbon black is the pigment that gives india ink its deep, pure black color. You can buy it as a fine powder from art supply stores, or you can make your own by collecting soot (more on that below).
The binder is where you make a choice. Gum arabic produces a non-waterproof ink that rewets easily, making it ideal for wash techniques where you want to soften and blend dried ink with a wet brush. Shellac produces a waterproof ink that resists water once fully dry, which is what most people think of as “true” india ink. Traditional Chinese and Japanese ink sticks use animal-hide glue as the binder, pressed and hammered into solid form with carbon soot.
Collecting Your Own Carbon
If you want to start from scratch, you can gather soot from a burning oil lamp or candle. Hold a ceramic plate, metal spoon, or glass jar above the flame at a distance where soot collects on the surface without the object getting dangerously hot. Scrape the soot off with a palette knife or razor blade and collect it in a small container. This takes patience. Expect to spend 30 minutes or more collecting enough soot for a small batch of ink.
Pine resin, sesame oil, and rapeseed oil lamps historically produced the finest soot for ink making. A standard candle works but tends to produce coarser, greasier soot. If you’d rather skip this step entirely, lampblack pigment powder is available from art suppliers and gives consistent results.
Wear a dust mask when handling dry carbon powder. The particles are extremely fine and easily inhaled, and prolonged exposure to carbon black dust can irritate your lungs and airways. Work in a ventilated area, and wash your hands and any contaminated clothing when you’re done.
Non-Waterproof Ink With Gum Arabic
This is the easiest version to make and a good starting point. Mix your carbon pigment with gum arabic powder at a 4:1 ratio. For a small batch, that’s 4 teaspoons of carbon pigment to 1 teaspoon of gum arabic. Stir the dry ingredients together first, then slowly add distilled water a few drops at a time, grinding and mixing as you go. A glass muller on a flat surface works best for breaking up clumps, but a small mortar and pestle or even the back of a spoon in a ceramic bowl will do.
Keep adding water and mixing until you reach an ink-like consistency. The more thoroughly you grind the pigment into the binder, the smoother your ink will flow. If it’s too thick, add more water. If it’s too thin or the pigment settles quickly, add a pinch more gum arabic. Strain the finished ink through a fine cloth or coffee filter to remove any remaining grit.
This ink will dry to a matte black on paper but can be reactivated with water, which makes it forgiving for artists but unsuitable for anything that needs to be permanent.
Waterproof Ink With Shellac
A shellac-based ink takes more effort but produces a result that resists water once dry. The traditional recipe starts by dissolving borax in boiling water, then adding dewaxed shellac flakes. The historical ratio is 8 parts water to 1 part borax to 4 parts dewaxed shellac by weight. Scaled down for a small batch: bring 1 cup of water to a boil, dissolve 1 tablespoon of borax, then stir in 2 tablespoons of dewaxed shellac flakes.
Keep the mixture at a gentle simmer, stirring frequently, until the shellac fully dissolves. This can take 15 to 20 minutes. The borax acts as an alkaline agent that helps the shellac dissolve into water, creating a liquid binder. Once the shellac solution cools, mix it gradually into your ground carbon pigment the same way you would with the gum arabic method: a little at a time, grinding thoroughly.
Work in a well-ventilated space when heating shellac. The fumes aren’t acutely dangerous at small-batch quantities, but they can irritate your eyes and throat. Let the finished ink cool completely before bottling. It will thicken slightly as it cools, so aim for a slightly thinner consistency while warm.
Getting the Right Consistency
The most common problem with homemade india ink is grittiness. Carbon particles that aren’t ground fine enough will scratch the paper and clog your tools. Spend more time grinding than you think you need to. Professional ink makers in the Chinese tradition historically pounded their carbon-and-glue mixture with heavy hammers until it reached a fine, glutinous, uniform consistency. You don’t need a hammer, but the principle holds: the more you work the mixture, the better the ink.
If your ink separates and the carbon settles to the bottom within a few minutes, you need more binder. Add small amounts of gum arabic or shellac solution and remix. A tiny drop of liquid dish soap (one drop per ounce of ink) can also help as a surfactant, keeping particles suspended longer and helping the ink flow more smoothly on paper.
Store finished ink in a sealed glass jar. It will keep for months, though you should stir or shake it before each use since some settling is normal. If mold develops on gum arabic-based ink, add a single drop of clove oil as a preservative, or store the ink in the refrigerator.
Choosing the Right Tools
Homemade india ink works beautifully with dip pens, brushes, and reed pens. Do not put it in a fountain pen. Carbon particles, no matter how finely ground, will eventually clog the narrow feed channels inside a fountain pen. Even commercial india inks carry this warning. The particles settle in tight spaces and dry into a cement-like residue that’s extremely difficult to clean. Stick with tools that you can easily rinse and wipe clean after each session.
For brush work, natural-hair brushes hold india ink better than synthetic ones. For line work, a metal dip nib gives you the most control over line width. If you’re using the ink for illustration or calligraphy, test it on your actual paper first. Some papers absorb homemade ink differently than commercial versions, and you may need to adjust the water content to get clean lines without feathering.
Adjusting Color and Opacity
The darkness of your ink depends almost entirely on the carbon-to-water ratio. More pigment gives you a dense, opaque black. Diluting with water produces gray washes that are useful for shading and tonal work. You can prepare several small jars at different dilutions to have a ready-made range of values for drawing.
If your ink looks brownish or gray at full concentration, the carbon itself may be the issue. Soot from paraffin candles often has a slightly warm, brownish tone compared to pure lampblack. Switching to a purer carbon source, or using commercially prepared lampblack pigment, will give you a cooler, more neutral black.