Make Ink: A Forager’s Guide to Natural Inkmaking

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The materials that are widely available to you are the true beauty of this process because there are so many things that produce vibrant, pigmented color. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. The binder you choose depends on the final use; I’ve heard of people using honey for thick inks designed for print making. It will take a few days to get the vinegar good and strong and I'll add it to the black walnut ink to see how it affects the colour. This book not only shares a story, it teaches the basics in the draft of ink-making, provides a history, displays photographs of stunning beauty, and ultimately is poetic.

Note: In addition to the equipment and items above, these are the materials I recommend every ink maker have handy. Make Ink: A Forager's Guide To Natural Inkmaking is the gorgeously colourful new book by designer and artist Jason Logan, delving into the world of ink making and the science behind it. Plus I wasn’t concerned about needing the mordanting benefit of the aluminium pot, as I would be adding iron into the dye, which acts as a mordant instead.I loved styling this ink with the tea petals and letting the color of the ink blend into the tea particles, producing more bits of color. I think for someone who just needs an overview of the basic idea of ink making but wants to put the time and effort into several experiments themselves, this is a great book. You'll learn how to forage for materials such as soot, rust, peach pits and walnuts and how to mix, test and transform them into your very own rich, vibrant inks. The high tannin content along with the iron will give the print a very good level of colourfastness! His illustrations appear regularly in the New York Times and his fine art has been exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, and the Yukon.

It’s important to be knowledgeable about the toxicity of plants and that comes with knowing exactly what you are gathering especially if your ink studio is your home kitchen. If you’re using a dry pigment as a base, you’ll need to use more binder (usually 1 teaspoon per 2-ounce (60 ml) bottle). Tip - In hindsight this seems obvious, but Lavender didn't give a good purple ink, as even though the flowers were vibrant, they were overwhelmed by the green parts. Personally, I try not to worry about the image I am creating and just sit back and let the ink do its thing on paper,” Logan says. Label the ink with a sticker, give it a name,I knew I’d be soaking the walnuts for quite a few days and just didn’t want the mess in one of my aluminium pots — the metal is reactive and can be very hard to clean. If you are wanting to get into more serious ink/dye making with kids, I would suggest you get a pan that you *never* use for cooking food in.