Happy to have found this forum. Know very little about chemistry (don't even deserve the amateur title) and need your help.
How can I extract ink from paper? I was thinking of soaking the paper on ethyl acetate. But I imagine the paper would dissolve?
I'm an artist and I'm working on a project that involves removing the ink from a book. And then using the ink to write with it.
Thank you for your help in advance.
Aureliana
Adas - 1-2-2012 at 11:43
There is no solvent that can dissolve paper, but I don't know what the ink consists of. You can try various solvents.
And I don't expect you will get much of the ink.aureliana - 1-2-2012 at 11:51
Thank you Adas, that was quick
Will give ethyl acetate a try. I heard somewhere that they use it in forensic science to extract ink from paper.
Cheers, Aphlogiston - 1-2-2012 at 11:54
ink is much more than only the pigment, and it is unlikely you will be able to extract all the resins, lubricants, surfactants, etc. that were part of
the original ink, so you will probably need to prepare a useable ink from the extract that you get.
You might want to check out the methods used to separate ink from paper for recycling:
