Ascendance of a Bookworm

Chapter 127: Preparation for Making Ink (2)
Translator: Forest Zou
Every year I had a fever and fainted because of it. So I had no chance to get involved in pork processing in my neighborhood, nor to work in the butcher’s or the smokehouse. I put my hands together to thank Mr. Benno’s advice.

“Can you get the glue if you have animal skin and bones?”

“I know how to make it somehow, but I’ve never made glue. Because it has broad use, I want to make at all cost.”

To make the glue, we should soak animal skin, bones and the like in lime water to remove unnecessary things such as hair, and concentrate them by boiling till they are solidified, then dry them. The ingredient taken from the skin is more water resistant than the one from the bone.

If possible, I want to make the glue that is distracted from the skin first.

The main ingredient of glue is collagen, a sort of protein, so the ink made by an amateur will rot if it is stored too long. It is unexpectedly difficult to use because it is easy to rot in places where the temperature and humidity are high in hot summer days, and it hardens if the temperature is too low.

“So, you need to add some ‘lime’ into the ‘glue’.”

“What’s that?”

“Well, people use it when building a house. To make the white wall…”

“Oh, is it lime?”

According to Lutz, I come up with the wording of lime here.

Lime is also used in mortar. Lutz’s father works in architectural industry, he must know where we can buy it.

“So, Lutz. Can you ask Uncle Deid where to buy lime?”

“Ok, I see. … The lime. It looks like paper ash. Do you need only a little?”

“Yeah.”

Now it’s different from the first time when I made paper. This year, Lutz is able to write. And his parents have allowed him to be a merchant, so we can buy the materials with money. Last year, he had no money of his own, and could not get useful material with his parents’ consent. Now his condition has changed a lot.

While I am thinking, Lutz has noted down. He looks up at me.

“Is there anything else you need?”

“Eh, for ‘Chinese ink’, soot and ‘glue’ are ok. For ‘oil paint’, we need ‘linseed oil’. Maybe Mr. Benno know this?”

When I turn to Mr. Benno, Lutz also turns to him. Mr. Benno thinks while scratching his head, then he shakes his head slowly.

“… I’ve never heard about it. What’s that?”

“The cloths shop sells linen. Can we get hemp yarns there? ‘Linseed oil’ is simply extracted by squeezing hemp seeds. So I think it is sold anywhere.”

“Oh, linseed oil? Ok, I see…But the oil is not so cheap, right?”

I respond to Mr. Benno’s words with a vague smile. I have no choice even if it is not cheap.

“I have to buy it. I cannot cultivate hemp in order to get its seeds. Besides, there is no squeezer even if I buy the seeds. I would rather buy the linseed oil than to buy the machine to squeeze it. I will decide what we should do next year, after comparing the price of the seeds and the squeeze machine.”

“I see.”

Meanwhile, some other drying oils come to my mind. But it is easier to get linseed oil than safflower oil or sunflower oil. Because it is used to make cloths at this place. Neither safflower nor sunflower has seen in this area.

“If we have enough raw materials, we can make the simplest sort of ink. Then let’s think about the equipments. The best way is to mix the materials with a muller on a solid table such as marble.”

“Are there any strange tools as you use when you made paper?”

I shake my head.

“No, I don’t need so many tools. We can start if we have a plate, a muller, a sealed container for storage and a putty pallet, etc. If we ask the painting workshop, probably we can get the tools. My mother works at the dyeing workshop, so I will ask her, too.”

“… I see. So let’s prepare the materials and bring them to Maine’s Workshop.”

As Mr. Benno ends the discussion, we start to go.

To collect the soot, I have to clean the house. Thus both my mother and Aunt Carla will be pleased. So I try my best to clean the chimney. It’s to kill two birds with a stone. As a result, I run a fever and fall in a faint. While I am unconscious on my bed, Lutz cleaned up Maine’s Workshop and Mr. Benno’s house, and have the soot collected.

“As you said, the quantity doubles without much trouble.”

Lutz reports to me when he comes for a visit.

While Mr. Benno is talking to Colinna about how Lutz had cleaned the furnace and chimney for soot collecting, Otto has collected soot from her own house and given it to Lutz.

“Otto is a true love slave. You will definitely win Corinna.”

“Besides, gray-robed priests all did their best.”

“Huh?”

The gray-robed priests heard that Lutz was collecting the soot. Because they must clean the house for blue-robed priests before winter, they collected the soot from the blue priests’ fireplaces, furnaces and every kitchen for me.

It was Gil that cleaned the furnace and fireplace of my house.

“Because of that, a lot of soot has been gathered in Maine’s Workshop.”

“Really?”

“My boss has bought linseed oil, and I also asked my father to buy the lime. I have also asked the painting workshop about the painting tools, and ordered the tools from the workshop that makes them. So the tools will be delivered soon.”

Thus, more and more materials and tools had been collected to the workshop while I was collapsed by the fever. Human-wave tactic is great.

“Now that we will prepare for the coming winter soon, let’s make the glue later. First we should try to extract the oil for making ink. Then we will make the engraving and print it. Oh, I have to order the boards for engraving. But the ink is only the trial product, maybe I can use a stamp instead. Lutz, what do you think?”

“… Maine, don’t get so excited. First of all, if you don’t bring the fever down, you cannot do anything, right?”

“Awe…”

I’ll start with oil painting tools after the fever goes down.