How do you craft inks?

[Russet]

Like I know the game is vague about some things but seriously the game is now nothing but stalled for me because I cannot craft inks.

The wiki is all "Oh this is super easy! you need this skill and 2 sky well NOTHING WORKS
I either end up making some bollocks or nothing or their is no work bench that accepts stuff.

Can ssomeone please just write down
"
DO this in this workbench with these things to make inks
Because quite frankly I am about to uninstall the thing, there is "Learning in the game" and impossibly obtuse. I have tried everything nothing produces inks even the simplest of simplest inks.

[Pandorian]

Workbench doesn't matter.
No clue what wiki you're looking at but if it says add 2 sky it's trash.

Ink recipes are based on the challenge thresholds of 5/10/15.
Listing all the ways to make inks will be a chore as there are ~50
Here are the simple ways:

Inks of Containment
Inks of Power
Inks of Revelation

Any of those with 5 Sky will get you Stargall
Any of those with 5 Nectar will get you Yewgall
Inks of Containment with 5 Moon is Catwink
Inks of Power with 5 Scale is Perhibiate

For any skill just try and get 5 aspect that matches it's primary or secondary aspect to see what they make as there is more than just those 3 skills that can make ink.

[Jewel]

The workbench / desk / other object you use only matters to the extent that it restricts which Aspects are allowed in its slots, both the principle aspects (like Sky) and the item types (like Memory). The thing that is crafted is dependent first on the Skill being used, and then which Aspect of the skill (each has 2) is above the 5/10/15 threshold.

Here's a list of Ink recipes: https://book-of-hours.fandom.com/wiki/Ink . Spoilers, obviously, but you sound frustrated. Only certain skills are capable of crafting inks, but they are not all intuitive like the "Inks of" skills. The game is designed for you to experiment with your skills to see what you can get out of them, but if you want to make sure you have an ink skill available, check the ones of Aspect Level 5. Figuring out how to craft the final inks is basically one of the major puzzles of the game.

Edit: Like Pandorian says below, the way to read this table is that "Aspect Level" refers to the requirements for crafting, while "Aspects" refers to the stats of the item produced. For example:
Perhibiate | Aspect Level: 5 | Weaving & Knotworking [Heart]
Should be interpreted as: "Weaving & Knotworking with 5 Heart or more will produce Perhibiate." The game refers to having 5 or more in an aspect as having "Prentice-level [aspect]" and tries to telegraph this to you in the crafting pane.

For an example usage: One of my go-to ink skills was Weaving & Knotworking with Heart 5. Here are some various ways I could reach that:
At Hallowed Drum: W & K + Chor + Health
At Reading Room Desk: W & K + Chor + Memory: Solace
At Kitchen Range: W & K + Health + Basket of Vegetables + Isle-Water

The higher level the skill is, the higher level its own principle aspects. Weaving & Knotworking at Level 4 has 5 Heart all on its own. Put it at literally any workstation that accepts it, and any soul element usable at that workstation, and that's it. No other ingredients required.

The trick for crafting is to realize that for the most part, the "ingredients" don't really matter (sort of), only the aspects do. For Prentice-level (5), they literally don't matter. For Scholar-level (10), each recipe requires that 1 of its ingredients be of a particular type (like Memory), but it will tell you so. For Keeper-level (15), each recipe wants one very specific ingredient, and the crafting pane will not give you hints, but the other slots are still just a way to get enough of the Aspect.

[Edit: It also occurred to me that you said you were totally stuck due to the inability to craft ink. I have a suspicion that there's something else going on here, because while inks are useful, the only thing you NEED inks for are the reply to the Trust (you should be able to find random inks in the house for this) or the very end of the game via writing in the journal (this can wait, it's literally endgame).]

[Book]

Originally posted by Jewel:

The workbench / desk / other object you use only matters to the extent that it restricts which Aspects are allowed in its slots, both the principle aspects (like Sky) and the item types (like Memory). The thing that is crafted is dependent first on the Skill being used, and then which Aspect of the skill (each has 2) is above the 5/10/15 threshold.

Here's a list of Ink recipes: https://book-of-hours.fandom.com/wiki/Ink . Spoilers, obviously, but you sound frustrated. Only certain skills are capable of crafting inks, but they are not all intuitive like the "Inks of" skills. The game is designed for you to experiment with your skills to see what you can get out of them, but if you want to make sure you have an ink skill available, check the ones of Aspect Level 5. Figuring out how to craft the final inks is basically one of the major puzzles of the game.

For an example usage: One of my go-to ink skills was Weaving & Knotworking with Heart 5. Here are some various ways I could reach that:
At Hallowed Drum: W & K + Chor + Health
At Reading Room Desk: W & K + Chor + Memory: Solace
At Kitchen Range: W & K + Health + Basket of Vegetables + Isle-Water

The higher level the skill is, the higher level its own principle aspects. Weaving & Knotworking at Level 4 has 5 Heart all on its own. Put it at literally any workstation that accepts it, and any soul element usable at that workstation, and that's it. No other ingredients required.

The trick for crafting is to realize that for the most part, the "ingredients" don't really matter (sort of), only the aspects do. For Prentice-level (5), they literally don't matter. For Scholar-level (10), each recipe requires that 1 of its ingredients be of a particular type (like Memory), but it will tell you so. For Keeper-level (15), each recipe wants one very specific ingredient, and the crafting pane will not give you hints, but the other slots are still just a way to get enough of the Aspect.

[Edit: It also occurred to me that you said you were totally stuck due to the inability to craft ink. I have a suspicion that there's something else going on here, because while inks are useful, the only thing you NEED inks for are the reply to the Trust (you should be able to find random inks in the house for this) or the very end of the game via writing in the journal (this can wait, it's literally endgame).]

Interesting. So the aspects need to be level 5, and you need 2 of whatever it calls for for that rank. Example, you need 2 Sky, but Sky needs to be level 5. I was curious and went to the page and just looked at the requiring Sky. This helps me understand the game mechanics better overall. I don't need ink yet, but I've seen this question come up a lot. Thanks.

[SK RaZoR]

the small inks, can be made with lvl 1-3 ink skill.

You should have enough stuff variety to make them all if you reached the chemistry set.

The bigger and more powerful inks I prefer making with the non-ink skills.

Hope it helps:

https://imgur.com/KnIe3hS

[Pandorian]

Originally posted by Book:

Interesting. So the aspects need to be level 5, and you need 2 of whatever it calls for for that rank. Example, you need 2 Sky, but Sky needs to be level 5. I was curious and went to the page and just looked at the requiring Sky. This helps me understand the game mechanics better overall. I don't need ink yet, but I've seen this question come up a lot. Thanks.

I fixed that for you. Don't get confused by the 2 sky on the right of that page when looking at Stargall Ink. That 2 sky is the aspects of the item you are making. You only need 5 aspect of Sky to craft it. So for example a Soul(as you need soul to do all crafting), the skill(which has 0 Sky), and 5 sky from a memory will allow you to make stargall ink.