Investigatory Project

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1. INK OUT OF TEA BAGS Prepared by: Group 2

2. ORIGINALLY MADE BY: Jamie Quilala
3. INTRODUCTION Tea is created by using the leaves of a plant known as Camellis sinensis . This
plant is a native to China, South Asia and Southeast Asia but is now found
4. Tea-drinking can be tracedback to the 10 century BC in thChina before it was spread toKorea and
Japan.Basically, this drink is made bybrewing tea leaves to create anextract. Due to the
chlorophyllsand other pigments in the leaves,the extract commonly appearswith a brown color.
5. It was mentioned thattheaflavin is the reddish brownpigment found in tea. It is anexample of a
flavonoid whichacts to create color.
6. OBJECTIVESThis research is being done to find outthe potency of the extract of theleaves from the
the plant Camellissinensis as an ink. Nowadays, ink is apigment in a liquid or paste form usedas
colorants and dyes. Also, they arebecoming more and more expensivebecause of their increasing
purposes.
7. Our research aims to produce thisink as a cheaper alternative tothose commercial ones.
Comparedto the ink we are aiming to create,commercially produced inks aretoxic and can
behazardous to apersons health once there isinappropriate contact with it.
8. To match with the color andconsistency of other inks, wewill be adding other substances,specifically
vinegar andcornstarch, whichare commonand easy to find.
9. STATEMENT OF THEPROBLEMGenerally, this investigatory project aimsto find out if tea bags can
be used tocreate an ink.Specifically, it aims to answer thefollowing questions:a. Can vinegar strengthen
the color ofthe product, ink?b. Can cornstarch contribute toachieving the right consistency of theink?c.
Are the processes boiling andstraining efficient in taking the extractout of the tea bags?
10. HYPOTHESES Extracts taken from tea bags have the potential to be made into an ink. If
vinegar and cornstarch are added to the mixture, then the product would have a stronger color and a
thicker consistency than
11. SIGNIFICANCE OF THESTUDYThis investigatory project will benefit us byproducing an alternative
for other inks.These other manufactured inks nowadayscome quite expensive prices, but since
thematerials to be used in our project arecommon and easy to find, you will bespending less money.
Also, no harmfulchemicals will be used in making our ink.Therefore, it is non-toxic compared
tocommercially sold inks which have thetendencies of causing harm to ones healthand to the
environment.
12. SCOPE ANDLIMITATIONSOur research and experiments areonly limited to making a simple ink
asa colorant. It does not include inksthat are used in machines such asprinters, copiers, etc. Also, our
studyincludes the effects of vinegar andcornstarch on the product. To haveaccurate observations, we
will becreating two set-ups: an ink withoutvinegar and cornstarch and one withvinegar and cornstarch.
13. REVIEW OF RELATEDLITERATUREThe history of Chinese inks can be tracedback to the 18th
century BC, with theutilization of natural plant dyes, animal,and mineral inks based on such
materialsas graphite that were ground with waterand applied with ink brushes.The India ink used
in ancient India since atleast the 4ath century BC wascalled masi, and was made of burnt bones,tar,
pitch, and other substances appliedwith sharp pointed needle .
14. Saffron is well known as the source of atruly brilliant if rather fugitive yellow andthere is evidence of
its use, both as acolorant and medicine, in the Greek andPersian civilizations of the same
period.Indian skill in vegetable dyeing andpainting reached a high point in the twocenturies from 1600

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to 1800 AD, whenthe painting and resist dyeing of cottoncloth known to us as Chintz became thebasis
of the largest trade in textiles thatthe world had ever seen.
15. The Strasbourg manuscript, of anearlier period, also describes the use ofa whole range of plants
used in themanufacture of inks and water-colours.Later we see developments invegetable blockprinting inks in 17thand 18th century Japan where it isinteresting to note that some colourswere
actually leached from previouslydyed cloth.
16. Early historical accounts of tea areunclear, for the Chinese character fortea had not been
standardized, andseveral other Chinese charactersappear in books referring very likelyto the same
plant, Camellia Sinensis,what we now call tea.
17. Tea dyeing is an easy way to mutefabrics or give them an older, antiquedlook. Tea stains the fibers
and gives asemi-permanent dull brown "dirty"tone to the whole piece. It is usedwhen you want to
"antique" a crafttextile such as a doll dress or smallquilt.Griffiths uses the medium of tea
andink (sometimes graphite, vodka,whiskey, and others) to create thesepieces.
18. Tea and ink as a medium hasbecome a trademark for Griffiths inthe art world.
19. METHODOLOGY
20. SET-UP A Experimental Set-up
21. MATERIALS7 teabags 1 1/2 cups of water 1 tablespoon of vinegar Cornstarch Strainer
and fork Bottle
22. PROCEDURE Place the 7 teabags in 1 cups of boiling water.
23. Create the tea for 6-8 minutes.
24. Remove the teabags from the boiling water. Use a strainer and a fork to remove all of the
extracts.
25. While stirring the tea, add a tablespoon of vinegar.
26. Continue to stir it. Add as much dissolved cornstarch as you need to have your desired
consistency.
27. Remove it from the heat and let it cool. When done, store in a bottle.
28. SET-UP B Controlled Set-up
29. MATERIALS 7 teabags 1 1/2 cups of water Strainer and fork Bottle
30. PROCEDURES Place the 7 teabags in 1 cups of boiling water.
31. Create the tea for 6-8 minutes.
32. Remove the teabags from the boiling water. Use a strainer and a fork to remove all of the
extracts.
33. Remove it from the heat and let it cool. When done, store in a bottle.
34. FINDINGSDuring the procedure itself, we have observedthat boiling is an effective process
ofextraction. Right after we have placed theteabags in the boiling water, the change ofcolor is very
noticeable. During this step themixture had a very strong smell from the tea.While following the
procedures for set-up Awhich included the placing of vinegar, therewas no immediate change in color
as weexpected. Instead, the vinegars effect wasseen when we tried to paint the two inks onpaper.
While applying the ink on paper, it washarder to use ink B because its consistencywas very watery.
Thus it became runny and
35. After letting them dry, it was seenthat ink A had a darker color while inkBs writings faded.
36. DISCUSSION OFRESULTSOur hypothesis which states that tea bagshave the potential to be
made into an ink ifvinegar and cornstarch is added is provencorrect. We had two setups which
wereSetup A that has vinegar and Setup B thathas no vinegar. Vinegar is mainly a diluteaqueous
solution of acetic acid which isan important reagent and industrialchemical, mainly used in the
production ofcellulose acetate.

37. 37. A cellulose acetate is used as filmbase in photography and a filmbase is a transparent
substancewhich acts as a support mediumfor the photosensitive emulsionthat lies atop it, its base
generallyaccounts for the vast majority ofthe thickness of any given filmstock.
38. 38. The addition of vinegar and cornstarchin making an ink can result to athicker consistency and
consistentcolor which is better for the usage ofthe ink. Our observations prove thatadding vinegar to
the mixture can bemade into an ink because withoutthe vinegar there would be noconsistency on the
mixture and itwill be less seen.
39. 39. CONCLUSION Tea bags can be used to create an ink. Vinegar can strengthen the color of the
product, ink. Cornstarch effectively contributes to achieving to the right consistency of the ink. The
processes boiling and straining are efficient in taking the extract out of the tea bags.
40. 40. SUMMARIZATION There are many different kinds of ink. In our experiment we will use tea bags as
the main component of our ink. Having two different set-ups will provide the chance to compare the
colors and consistencies. Cornstarch is an efficient additive to have the right consistency of the
product. Also vinegar is also efficient, though there is no obvious change in color, it was seen that it
gave the ink a consistent color whether wet or dry.
41. 41. We therefore conclude that one cancreate an improvised ink using theextract from tea bags. This
will bevery convenient and cheap becausethe ingredients to be used arecommonly found around the
house.Also, the said processes, boilingand straining, are efficient and canbe easily done.
42. 42. RECOMMENDATIONBased on the conducted experiment,we recommend the following forfurther
improvements. To have betterresults of extraction, suggest thatthere would be longer minutes ofboiling.
We also recommend that oneshould make use of a large amount ofcorn starch, a thickening agent, so
theapplication of ink would be doneeasier.
43. 43. Instead of directly placing your desiredamount of cornstarch in the mixtureabove low fire, it would
be better todissolve it first in cold or warm water toavoid forming lumps. We still recommendthe usage
of vinegar because of theresults we have observed. Depending onthe availability, one can also
useprocessed soybean oil as a drying oil.This is used as a base for printing inksand oil paints.
44. 44. REFERENCES Cannon, 1995 Ciba Review, 1938 Irwin and Brett,1970 Strange,1924
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Ink-from-Tea http://chemistry.about.com/b/2011/08/09/how-tomake-ink-easy-ink-recipes.htm http://www.diylife.com/2008/06/27/remove-ink-with- tea-bags/
http://www.ehow.com/how_4493973_create-ink.html
45. 45. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinegar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_bag http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_starch
http://www.stinkyinkshop.co.uk/blog/a-short- history-of-ink/
http://ancienthistory.about.com/b/2004/09/27/th e-history-of-ink.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tea http://www.chcp.org/tea.html
46. 46. http://www.2basnob.com/tea-history-timeline.html
http://www.freesciencefairproject.com/requirements. htm
http://www.investigatoryprojectexample.com/exampl e.html
http://www.webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/7H.html http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/boiling
http://www.wordreference.com/definition/straining http://www.thefreedictionary.com/extraction