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http://66.media.tumblr.com/1cc4b1eb575415aca0ca5a6b990d1f11/tumblr_o8ak50zQCl1u3srypo1_540.jpg I am looking to make an ink recipe for a fictional character. She is a shape shifter, and made entirely of ink. This image will give you a better idea of what her colors she should be (while the above better captures her personality.) There's quite a few of us with ink characters, some good and some not so good. My ink creature has run into a bit of trouble and now she's trying to fix that by making a new ink recipe. I thought it might be neat if this character's recipe was an actual real world working recipe that could be turned into actual ink! The strange thing about this ink recipe is that writing isn't the only thing she's worried about here, but it also being a functional medium for a living creature. For example, some inks have ingredients in them to keep them from being flammable- for her this would be very important as she doesn't want to walk near a candle and then burst into flames- that'd be horrifying! Also, leaning toward slower drying than fast drying is important as well- not being contained in an inkwell except when she's sleeping her ink surface would be exposed. I'm also thinking she might drink glycerine Here are the character/fantasy elements I would like to incorporate: ° Non-flammable (for above reason- Polydimethylsiloxane ?) ° Slower drying (for above reason) ° Glycerin compatible (something she can drink to re-hydrate herself- it's sweet and I've heard it used to make inks more liquidy.) °Eggs (they contain the basis for life AND are used in actual ink making) °Purple ink (I don't know what base component to use to get this color. It would be a dark nearly black purple.) ° Possibly something to make her smell nice? Some ingredients can be gross and she'd rather not stink to high heaven. This one isn't super important. I have no idea on how much of any ingredient to use at all (°3°) __________________________________________________________________________ With that in mind this is the fantasy recipe I had in mind but... I'm posting here as I've never actually made ink before? ∙ I am thinking of using the juice of Oregon Grapeholly as suggested in this thread for the colorant for the purple ink ∙ Gum arabic as the vehicle/varnish and to bind the colorant to the paper so it can't be rubbed off additional additives: ∙ Polydimethylsiloxane to make the ink nonflammable. It is also an antifoaming agent and the basis for SILLY PUTTY so as to help with her shape shifting abilities and make her a more bouncy character. ∙ Honey to make it dry slower along with increasing the viscosity/thickness of the ink ∙Glycerin as a base ingredient and also something she drinks when she feels dried out. ∙Eggs (not only is it the basis of life-aka living cells so she could live- the yolk would color her eyes, the whites would be in the purple part) ∙ Unsaturated polyester resin to increase flexibility, reduce cracking, and also help her change her viscosity at will as this ingredient is also used to make hard things- so should she want to shape shift into a beast with claws, these would allow her to harden her ink into said claws ∙Boric acid would function as her immune system as well as being an ink preservative and flame retardant ∙Lavender to smell nice (possibly from boiling the flowers to a condensed liquid, it could work as a vehicle due to the ∙Water to suspend the other ingredients in as well) ∙ a bit of Carbon black or lamp black pigment to help darken the color as needed ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Titanium Dioxide would be used for the white ink along with some egg yolk to yellow slightly and the other additives. I might also use Benzine an additional additive to help prevent drying out but I think the glycerin probably does more than enough?