Making Ink from Flowers and Berries
I have always been interested in making natural dyes, using tea ,coffee, onion skins, turmeric and red cabbage. Recently I have tried my hand at making my own natural inks to use like watercolours.
The idea of making my own inks from the flowers and berries that grow in my garden and in local fields and hedgerows really appeals to me, providing a perfect complement to my artistic focus on the natural world around us.
Making inks from flowers and berries is relatively straight forward and the following simple instructions should work for most flowers and berries.
1 First collect a cup of your chosen petals or berries (the biggest and juiciest are best).
2 The next step is to extract the juice from the berries or the dye from the petals. Simmer the petals or berries gently in a small amount of water until the colour is extracted. With berries you can mash them up first and then strain your liquid after simmering. You can test the colour as you go along and if you think the colour is not strong enough, you can simmer for longer to reduce the liquid. But make sure you keep to a gentle simmer over a low heat, as some plant dyes will brown at a high heat.
3 When you are satisfied with the colour you have extracted, add a teaspoon of salt (which will act as a preservative), and a teaspoon of vinegar (which will act as a mordant or fixative).
4 The final step is to add some Gum Arabic to slightly thicken the ink. Gum Arabic is a water soluble resin from certain acacia trees, it is widely available and has the effect of keeping pigments in suspension in a liquid medium. You should add small amounts of Gum Arabic until the ink has the consistency of something between whole milk and single cream. Slightly thickening your ink in this way will enable you to use your ink with a pen as well as with a brush.
Earlier this year I made my first attempt at making flower ink. I chose a really dark, rich red rose which I was sure would produce a beautiful colour. I carefully extracted the dye from the petals and gently simmered the liquid waiting for the colour to deepen. However, I was to be disappointed. The dark, rich red rose only provided a wishy washy pale pink ink! Clearly, not everything turns out the way you hope and expect when you make ink from flowers and berries. But if you enjoy a bit of experimentation this is all part of the fun.
So, next I tried some bright scarlet begonia petals. These also provided a pink coloured ink when I initially applied it to paper. However, as the ink dried, it changed to a lovely green/blue, as shown on the cover photo of this blog. Another surprising outcome, but this time one that I was really pleased with! I also tried Golden Rod which gave me a delicate pale yellow ink.
I have since learned that daffodils and poppies make good colours for dyes and inks, but I will have to wait until next year’s flowering to try them out. Coreopsis (which I haven’t been able to find) is, apparently, very exciting as not only does it give a lovely yellow, if you add a sprinkle of bicarbonate of soda to the ink it will darken to an orange and if you add a squeeze of lemon juice it will turn to an almost neon yellow.
More recently I turned my attention to berries and fruits. I had read somewhere that plums make a purple ink, so I tried my luck with local windfall damsons, but they were very disappointing. Next, I gathered some elderberries, and this proved to be well worth while. The delightful purple colour they produced is shown on the cover photo of this blog. Blackberries and mahonia berries were also successful, producing a lovely lavender colour.
If you enjoy working with watercolours I know you will also enjoy making and using your own natural colours. And although there are more flowers and berries to choose from in the spring and summer, if you look around carefully you can always find something to experiment with whatever the time of year.
My next investigation is going to be into some of the natural brown and black inks which people from across the world have been using for many centuries. I shall let you know how I get on in my next blog.
Until then, why not see what colours you can create.
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