Ink has been around for centuries. It has been made from all sorts of material, from plant dyes, to animal dyes, to dyes made from minerals and rocks. The ancient world utilized ink, as do we today. While much ink has been saved with the advent of email and virtual documentation, we still use and consume ink everyday, whether we know it or not. Any packaged good consumers purchase from stores which is almost every single product has ink involved in some way for the packaging. Even bananas and apples have stickers that have been inked with a logo or the company name. Ink has a number of versatile uses, which even include using ink on skin henna tattooing. Many blogs featuring toner cartridge articles have popped up to showcase the versatility of the ink industry.
In the times of Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain, fountain pens were the norm. These pens required that you dip the end into a bottle of ink before writing. This dipping had to happen several times a minute to complete a letter correctly. Obviously, as seen by old documents, this ink can fade depending on how strong it was when it was made. Today, ballpoint pens have taken over basic writing tasks, which are disposable pens that use ink until they run out and then we buy more. Now that home computing and printing are commonplace, ink is once again back in most household expenses as it was over 150 years ago.
Many inks are becoming more and more eco-friendly. Instead of manufacturing them out of chemicals and volatile organic compounds, which are hard on the environment, most inks are going towards the direction of vegetable oils and other organic substances. Most people want to consume things that are renewable to be environmentally sustainable, in addition to the lower hazards inherent in such materials.
Blogs and toner cartridge articles written for and by consumers can help in choosing the best ink for you, in matters of taste, need, sustainability, and more. Make sure to do your research before buying ink!