• Walnut ink A weekend project
HARNESS THE AMAZING COLOURS OF THE NATURAL WORLD BY TRYING YOUR HAND AT MAKING INK
Designer and artist Jason Logan’s obsession with making his own natural inks started when he was cycling to work in Toronto. Passing a beautiful old walnut tree in the park, he was reminded of an oddly shaped bottle of ‘black walnut ink’ he’d purchased seven years earlier – and loved using for its qualities: pale caramel brown when mixed with water, an almost mahogany-black when brushed on paper in layers. He began to see the potential for making his own ink everywhere in the city – from berries to roots to common weeds. Subsequently, Logan started the Toronto Ink Company as a citizen science experiment, making ecofriendly, urban ink from streetharvest pigments. In the process, he’s scoured ink-making recipes spanning centuries, from medieval recipes for Bible ink to Han dynasty-era recipes for pine-sap black.
Making your own ink is more straightforward than you may think, governed by the simple formula, colour + binder + water or oil = ink. Basically, according to Logan, you can throw almost any pigment-rich base ingredient into an old pot with vinegar and salt, boil it up for an hour or two, add a couple of drops of gum arabic as a binder and “voilà – you have an ink”. If that sounds a bit too vague, there’s a more detailed basic recipe, right, that can be adjusted for use with different natural materials.
It doesn’t require huge amounts of expensive equipment to get started – some old pans (that you’ll only use for ink-making), a little space for working, some old utensils for stirring, a strainer and a funnel – but it does demand patience.
“Natural ink is a whole landscape, condensed into a little bottle,” says Logan. “If the process seems slow and moves only a drip at a time, you are doing your job right.”
Then it’s time for a bit of experimenting to find a colour and consistency that feels right to you. If your ink is too thin, keep cooking a little longer; if your ink gets too thick, add a bit more water. It’s pretty hard to “ruin” an ink, according to Logan.
Even the faintest ink could become a favourite so don’t worry too much if the colour gets a little pale. Remain open to everything, advises Logan, and “follow your instincts”. You’ll reap the benefits of not only having a beautiful ink to work with, but also getting to see the colours of the natural world in a whole new way.
Natural ink A BASIC RECIPE YOU CAN ADAPT FOR YOUR CHOICE OF PIGMENT
Makes around 8 x 60ml bottles
YOU WILL NEED
Water A colourful base ingredient (such as berries, rocks, charcoal, nuts, roots or leaves) Potato masher Measuring cups and spoons Pestle and mortar A pot or pan that you don’t mind devoting to ink-making Spoon or stir stick White vinegar (cleaning grade, if you can find it) Salt Thick white paper, for testing Gum arabic (find it at most art supply stores)
Wintergreen oil (available from baldwins.co.uk) or whole cloves Glass containers with tight-fitting lids Self-adhesive labels Large bowl Fine-mesh strainer or colander Funnel An old coffee grinder (optional) Coffee filters Glass dropper bottle Litmus papers Rubber gloves and some rags for a clean-up
1 Sterilise your materials: put clean bottles, dropper, caps, and utensils in a large saucepan. Add enough water to cover all the equipment, making sure there are no air bubbles. Bring the water to a boil and boil rapidly for five minutes, then turn off and allow the water to cool completely.
Next, prepare the base colour ingredient. For berries: crush using a potato masher; add 120ml water and 450g berries. Then skip to step 4. For rocks, charcoal or other dry pigments: grind 30ml of the material down to the finest dust using a mortar and pestle or similar. Add 660ml water and 2 tbsp gum arabic. For nuts, roots, or leaves: combine 480ml water and 120ml of plant material in the pot as is.
3 Now to intensify the colour. Put the base colour ingredient into a large, old saucepan. Add 2 tbsp vinegar and 1 tbsp salt. Heat to just below boiling and cook for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until you have an intense ink colour. (Dip a strip of paper into the coloured water to test.) Remove from the heat and let cool.
4 If you have large pieces of plant matter, like roots and leaves, first strain the liquid over a bowl through a colander. For further filtering, place the small end of a funnel into the mouth of a glass container and line with a coffee filter. Pour your strained liquid through the funnel slowly. The coffee filter should remove smaller particles – particularly important if you plan to use the ink in a pen.
5 To fix the colour, add gum arabic as a binder only after your ink has reached your desired shade. For each 60ml bottle of ink, use about 10 drops of gum arabic. If you’re using a dry pigment as a base, you’ll need to use more binder (usually 1 tsp per 60ml bottle). If you plan to use your ink for a pen, try to limit yourself to just a few drops of gum arabic for each small bottle (more can gum up the pen nib).
6 Bottle your ink and add a few drops of wintergreen oil, or 1 whole clove, to each bottle to keep the ink from going mouldy.
7 Now test it: a single drop of natural ink on paper will develop a lot of subtleties as it dries, often intensifying as it evaporates and darkening toward the edges. Another level of variation emerges as you test the ink using various tools: ink droppers, pens, nibs, brushes, and even sticks or feathers change the effect of the ink – as do different paper stocks.
Maker’s note: While less intense than chemically produced ink, ink-making can get messy and can stain clothes, worktops, and wooden spoons, so having rags, soap and kitchen towel nearby can help keep you and the non-ink-making members of your household on friendly terms.