Update: Living Ink Technologies surpassed their goal in less than 48 hours from the launch of their Kickstarter Campaign. For more information, visit their Kickstarter page.

Imagine receiving a greeting card in the mail that says, “Happy Birthday.” You leave it on the table, and the next day you notice a cake has appeared under the greeting. The following day, candles appear on the cake and you finally discover the card is “From Scott.”

That’s the magic of time-lapse ink, created by Living Ink Technologies at Colorado State University by biochemists Scott Fulbright and Steve Albers.

The discovery of Living Ink was almost as magical. In 2012, Scott and Steve were searching for an environmentally friendly product to replace regular laser-printer ink – a toxic substance that is also one of the most expensive liquids on earth per ounce. They were working with a sustainable algae-based product when something unexpected happened: The algae ink changed from one day to the next.

As scientists, they began to analyze this “problem,” but soon realized that this “living” ink was actually pretty cool. They set to work developing an ink that actually grows when exposed to light. Living Ink is a patent-pending time-lapse ink that allows anyone – artists, inventors, DIYers — to write, sketch or paint in the additional dimension of time.

Product now available

Scott and Steve have pitched Living Ink in business competitions sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, University of Colorado, South by Southwest, and the first CSU Blue Ocean Enterprises Challenge, where they took second place in the Collegiate Challenge. They spent a year in the CSU Hatchery at the Innosphere business incubator in Fort Collins, and have raised more than $100,000 through various competitions. The company just launched a Kickstarter campaign to share Living Ink with the world, and had reached nearly one-half of their goal by the end of the first day.

Learn more, and see Living Ink in action, at the Kickstarter page.