Carbon Pigments

Part of Pigments and Paint

Making pigments from carbon sources — lampblack, charcoal black, bone black, vine black, and other carbon-based colorants.

Why This Matters

Black is the most essential pigment color. Before you can write, draw, mark, or create contrast on any surface, you need black. And the most permanent, lightfast, chemically stable black pigments are all based on elemental carbon. Carbon does not fade in sunlight, does not react with acids or alkalis, does not change color over time, and is compatible with every binder system known. A carbon black applied 30,000 years ago in the caves of Lascaux remains as dark today as the day it was painted.

Carbon pigments are also the most universally available. Every fire produces carbon in the form of soot and charcoal. Every community can begin making carbon pigments immediately with no specialized materials, tools, or knowledge beyond what is described here. This makes carbon black the first pigment any rebuilding community should master.

The variety of carbon pigments is broader than most people realize. Different source materials and production methods create carbon blacks with significantly different properties — warm versus cool undertones, transparent versus opaque coverage, fine versus coarse particles, and pure carbon versus carbon mixed with other minerals. Understanding these differences allows you to select the right carbon black for each application, from delicate ink work to heavy-duty structural coatings.

Types of Carbon Pigments

Overview

Pigment	Source	Undertone	Particle Size	Opacity	Primary Use
Lampblack	Burning oil/resin smoke	Blue-black (cool)	Very fine	Semi-transparent	Ink, fine painting
Charcoal black	Charred wood	Neutral black	Medium-coarse	Semi-opaque	Drawing, rough paint
Vine black	Charred grape vines/twigs	Blue-black (cool)	Fine	Semi-transparent	Painting, drawing
Bone black	Calcined bones	Warm brown-black	Fine	Opaque	Painting, tinting
Ivory black	Calcined dense bone/ivory	Warm brown-black	Very fine	Opaque	Fine painting
Peach black	Charred peach/apricot pits	Deep blue-black	Fine	Semi-opaque	Painting, ink
Carbon from cork	Charred cork bark	Deep neutral black	Fine	Semi-opaque	Painting
Graphite	Mineral (found, not made)	Silver-gray	Variable	Semi-opaque	Drawing, lubricant

Making Lampblack

Lampblack is the finest and purest carbon pigment. It consists of nearly 100% elemental carbon in particles so small they seem to float in air.

Oil Lamp Collection

1. Select your fuel — the smokier the better. Ranked by quality of soot produced:

   • Pine resin or pitch (finest, most pure carbon)
   • Rapeseed/mustard oil
   • Sesame oil
   • Linseed oil
   • Tallow (animal fat) — adequate but greasy soot

2. Set up collection apparatus:

   • Place a burning lamp on a stable surface
   • Suspend a smooth ceramic plate or metal sheet 5-10 cm above the flame
   • Support it so it can be removed without disturbing the lamp
   • The soot deposits as a soft, velvety layer on the underside

3. Collect frequently — scrape accumulated soot with a feather or soft brush every 15-30 minutes into a clean, dry container

4. Purify — raw lampblack may contain traces of unburned oil. Gentle heating in a crucible at 300-400 C for 30 minutes burns off any residual oil without affecting the carbon. Allow to cool before handling.

Resin Burning Chamber

For larger quantities, build a dedicated lampblack collection chamber:

1. Construct a chamber — build a small stone or brick enclosure (about 50 cm cube) with a combustion opening at the bottom and a chimney at the top
2. Install collection surfaces — place removable ceramic tiles or metal plates inside the chamber at various heights
3. Burn resinous material — feed pine pitch, resin, or resinous wood scraps into the combustion opening
4. Control airflow — restrict air to produce maximum smoke. The material should smolder, not blaze.
5. Collect — after each burning session, remove the collection plates and scrape off the deposited soot

Yield Estimates

A single oil lamp running for one hour produces approximately 1-3 grams of lampblack. The resin burning chamber can produce 20-50 grams per hour. A day’s production from a chamber yields enough pigment for several liters of ink or paint.

Making Charcoal Black

Charcoal black is coarser than lampblack but far easier to produce in large quantities.

Wood Selection

Different woods produce charcoal with different properties:

Wood	Charcoal Quality	Notes
Willow	Excellent — very soft, easy to grind	Traditional artist’s charcoal
Vine (grape)	Excellent — fine, consistent	Traditional European choice
Pine	Good — slightly resinous	Warm undertone
Beech	Good — hard, dense	Neutral black
Oak	Adequate — very hard to grind	Coarse particles unless ground extensively
Birch	Good — medium hardness	Clean, neutral black

Production

1. Cut wood into uniform pieces — sticks 1-2 cm diameter, 10-15 cm long
2. Pack tightly into a metal can or ceramic vessel with a tight-fitting lid
3. Punch a small hole in the lid for gas escape
4. Heat in a fire — place the sealed container in a wood or charcoal fire for 1-2 hours
5. Cool completely before opening — premature opening admits air and the hot charcoal burns to ash
6. Grind — the charcoal should be uniformly black and friable. Grind on a stone slab with a muller, adding a few drops of water to keep dust down.
7. Levigation — suspend ground charcoal in water, stir vigorously, wait 30 seconds, then pour off the water containing the finest suspended particles. The coarse particles settle quickly and are left behind. Dry the decanted liquid to recover ultra-fine pigment.

Vine Black

A specific charcoal black made from grape vines (or any thin, young woody growth):

1. Collect thin vine shoots or young twigs (5-10 mm diameter)
2. Bundle tightly and wrap in clay or pack in a sealed container
3. Calcine at 400-600 C for 1-2 hours
4. The result is a fine, soft charcoal with a distinctive blue-black undertone
5. Grind to powder — vine charcoal is soft enough to grind quickly

Making Bone Black

Bone black is unique among carbon pigments because it contains approximately 80% calcium phosphate and only 10-20% carbon. This mineral content gives it properties no pure carbon pigment can match — high opacity, excellent tinting strength, and a warm brownish-black undertone.

Process

1. Collect bones — any animal bones work. Dense bones (legs, jaws) produce the best pigment. Remove all flesh and fat by boiling.
2. Dry completely — sun-dry bones for several days until they are hard and brittle
3. Break into pieces — fracture bones into 2-5 cm chunks
4. Calcine in a sealed container:
   • Pack bone pieces into a ceramic crucible or metal can with a tight lid
   • The container must be sealed to prevent oxygen from entering — you want carbonization, not complete combustion
   • Heat in a fire at 400-600 C for 2-4 hours
   • Gas will escape through any small openings — this is normal (and flammable)
5. Cool in the sealed container — wait until completely cold before opening
6. Test — properly calcined bones are uniformly black throughout. If gray or white, they were heated with too much air and the carbon burned away.
7. Grind — bone black is hard. Crush first with a hammer or pestle, then wet-grind on a stone slab for 30-60 minutes.
8. Wash — suspend ground bone black in water, strain through cloth to remove any fat residue, and dry

Bone Black vs. Pure Carbon Black

Property	Bone Black	Lampblack/Charcoal
Carbon content	10-20%	85-99%
Undertone	Warm brown-black	Cool blue-black (lampblack) or neutral
Opacity	High	Low to medium
Tinting strength	Very strong	Moderate
Texture	Slightly gritty unless finely ground	Silky smooth
Oil absorption	High	Very high (lampblack)
Best use	Oil painting, heavy coatings	Ink, watercolor, fine detail

Specialty Carbon Pigments

Peach/Fruit Pit Black

Charring fruit pits produces an exceptionally fine, deep black:

1. Collect pits from peaches, apricots, cherries, or plums
2. Dry thoroughly
3. Pack in a sealed container and calcine at 500-700 C for 2-3 hours
4. The dense pit material produces very fine, hard carbon with a blue-black tone
5. Requires extensive grinding but yields a premium pigment

Cork Black

Cork bark produces a surprisingly fine pigment:

1. Char cork in a sealed container at 400-500 C
2. The porous structure produces lightweight, easily ground carbon
3. Deep neutral black with good tinting strength
4. Especially suited for mixing with other pigments as a darkening agent

Soot from Specific Fuels

The fuel burned to produce soot subtly affects the resulting pigment:

Fuel	Soot Character
Beeswax candle	Very fine, pure, slightly warm
Tallow candle	Medium fineness, slightly greasy
Pine resin	Ultra-fine, cool blue-black
Petroleum	Medium-fine, neutral black, very opaque
Camphor	Very fine, intense black

Processing and Refinement

Grinding Standards

The particle size of carbon pigment directly affects its behavior in paint and ink:

Application	Required Fineness	Grinding Method
Writing ink	Ultra-fine (no perceptible grit)	Wet-grind 30+ minutes, then levigation
Watercolor	Very fine	Wet-grind 20+ minutes
Oil paint	Fine	Mull with oil on stone slab, 15+ minutes
Tempera	Fine	Grind dry, then mix into egg medium
House paint	Medium	Mortar and pestle, 10 minutes
Rough coating	Coarse acceptable	Hammer and basic grinding

Levigation (Water Washing)

The best method for separating fine particles from coarse:

1. Place ground pigment in a tall, narrow vessel
2. Add 5-10 times its volume of clean water
3. Stir vigorously for one minute
4. Wait 30 seconds — coarse particles settle to the bottom
5. Carefully pour off the cloudy water into a second vessel, leaving the settled coarse material behind
6. Repeat steps 3-5 with the coarse residue to capture more fine particles
7. Allow the collected cloudy water to settle completely (12-24 hours)
8. Pour off the clear water
9. Dry the settled fine pigment — this is your highest-quality fraction

Storage

Carbon pigments are among the most stable substances known, but they still require basic storage care:

• Keep dry — moisture causes clumping and promotes mold growth if any organic binder is present
• Seal containers — lampblack is so fine that air currents carry it away and it contaminates everything it touches
• Label clearly — different carbon blacks look similar but behave differently. Mark each container with the source material and production date.
• Keep away from food — while carbon itself is non-toxic, the dust is a nuisance and some sources (bone black from unknown animals) may carry contaminants
• Shelf life — indefinite. Pure carbon pigments do not degrade.

Carbon's Unique Stability

Carbon is the only pigment that is truly permanent in every sense. It does not fade in any amount of light, does not react with any binder, does not change color with temperature, and does not decompose over time. A carbon pigment prepared today will be chemically identical in 10,000 years. No other pigment class can make this claim.