EDIT: NOW WITH VIDEO (awyeah)

At some point this blog post became list formatted, so we are just gonna roll with it.

Here is my progress so far:

1.

I experimented. A lot. I think I’ve tried almost all the chemicals in the print shop, plus the basic assortment of rubbing alcohol  normal alcohols, bleaches and other cleaning things. 90% of the things did absolutely nothing to the ink on the page.

2.

I had limited success with a few substances, pictured here {Kodak Negative Image Remover, Fujifilm Plate Image Cleaner, and two chemicals I STUPIDLY did not record the names of)

3. Built this prototype:

Prototype for Ink Extraction from Nicole Anderson on Vimeo.

This model is entirely mechanical, but in the final version the gears will be motorized on a timer system. This is very much a working model and building it has taught me a lot about what I need to change in my final. This is a gear and rack sort of construction, but I think that some sort of sliding track with wheels will be a lot more stable. I will also make it at a slope so that the hypothetical ink run off can actually flow downward. The final will probably all be done in Rhino and then laser cut/CNC routed.

4. Since I had such limited success with finding a solvent to dissolve the book ink, I think I will move on to plan B, which is using acetone on printed paper, which means that I will have to scan, reprint, and rebind the book that I choose. A pain, but better than dealing with ineffective solvents. The results of acetone on printed paper is shown here.

A little frazzled, but hopeful.

ps. I got Everclear, and it doesn’t really work that well, it came off a little on the sponge, but not from the page. It was only 150 proof, because that’s all that is legal in Washington, so hopefully our permit will pass and we can procure the 190 proof. If not, I can still do my acetone/book reprinting/rebinding deal.

-Nicole