greentiger

I believe a lot of early inks were just different kinds of soot, such as from wood or petroleum, mixed with animal glue (bone-glue, basically gelatin). Maybe soot and gelatin packets would work? I know the other major type of historical ink was iron gall ink - it's corrosive to paper in the long term, so its been a big headache for historical preservationists. I believe its made of iron salts.. not sure of the rest of the ingredients. Okay quick wikipedia check: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_gall_ink Ferrous sulfate (iron salt), plant tannins, and gum arabic as a binder... I wouldn't try this one though.

So I'm a chemistry major, and I do great in school - but it occurred to me recently that I rarely use my knowledge in any practical way in my real life. I used to buy a pretty expensive formulation of niacinamide gel for my acne... I decided to try to make it on my own from the much cheaper capsules you can buy at Walmart. I just want to see if this makes sense. I know niacinamide (vitamin B3) is very water soluble, and heat stable, and non-toxic. The capsules I bought have "whole rice concentrate" as a filler, which is apparently rice bran and germ. If i dissolve the contents of the capsules in hot water and then run it through filter paper to remove the filler, I should get a decent solution of niacinamide right? I case you're wondering, I'm just going to mix this solution with prepared aloe vera gel to make my final product. Niacinamide was the only active ingredient in the cream I used to buy, so if i work the concentrations out correctly I think i should get a good quality substitute.