"Grow" your Own Artwork on Paper with Living Ink Technologies' Algae Ink

The ink is make from algae, and the designs you make with them grow from exposure to sunlight. Welcome to the "world's first "Chia Pet" pen."

The innovators at Living Ink Technologies have created a pen that is filled with algae-based ink, which grow into whatever you wrote after one to four days. The creators call this "timelapse" ink because the designs only appear after the necessary time has elapsed.

The ink contains cyanobacteria, algae, and chlorophyll with disappearing ink. The disappearing ink is so you can see what you're putting down on the paper. The pink disappearing ink indicates the "fast ink" which means that the bacteria and algae grow in one to two days. The blue disappearing ink indicates the "slow ink" which means the organisms grow a little slower, about three to four days. Using a combination of the two will allow you to create a design that has two reveals for more fun.

The ink can't grow without a little help beyond the chlorophyll and that's where the greenhouse comes in. Acting also as a picture frame, the condensed greenhouse contains agar that promotes further growth to the algae.

Gizmodo has confirmed that if removed from the frame the algae will eventually die and fade away, but they will have stained the paper enough for you to see the images for over two years from creation.

As the company's page states, Scott Fulbright and Steve Albers, two PhD students from the Cell and Molecular Biology Program at Colorado State University started Living Ink Technologies in 2013. Since then they have won first place at the National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition regional competition in Boulder, Colorado in May 2015, among other accolades.

According to Built in Colorado, the invention of the algae ink arose from what Fulbright and Albers thought to be an outdated, expensive, and toxic substance: ink. It started in China in the 23^rd century BC, is over $5.5 thousand a gallon, and the components that make up the ink are unsustainable and toxic to humans. The company wants to eventually use their algae ink as a sustainable replacement for all ink.

If this unique pen set is something that you or someone you know would love, the company has launched a Kickstarter to help them fund the production of the pens. The basic set is $30 and comes with both pens, the greenhouse, and five sheets of high quality paper.