Botanical Ink Making - Simple, Easy Method for Willow Ink
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 มิ.ย. 2024
- Welcome to the first of our seasonal natural ink challenges, starting off with willow bark or twig ink. If you can’t find willow, try birch, cherry, apple, or plum bark instead. This recipe was courtesy of Bohemian Raspberry Art, who you can find on Etsy and Instagram (see links below).
Recipe and shortcuts:
0:00 Fallen branches can easily be collected after winter storms - or you can carefully trim twigs from trees using secateurs. You can use bark for this too, but I chose to gather twigs this time.
0:55 Cut twigs into 1-cm sections. You need roughly a double handful of chopped twigs/bark.
Place your prepared bark in your ink pot (a pan you use for craft and ink making only) along with ½ teaspoon washing soda. See why I think you need to have washing soda for this ink at 4:16
2:20 Pour over twice the volume of boiling water, cover and leave to steep overnight (or longer).
2:35 Simmer gently for 1-2 hours, topping up with hot water if needed. Make sure you have good ventilation and be sure not to lean over boiling pans. Check the colour strength every 20-30 minutes by removing from the heat and dipping a strip of paper into the liquid.
Switch off, cover and let cool. If you have time, let the ink steep overnight or longer.
6:06 Strain the ink, then test the colour. If it’s not intense enough, return the liquid to a clean pan. Simmer gently, uncovered to reduce the liquid until you have a well concentrated solution.
7:00 For better flow and adhesion, for every 100 ml of liquid, add 10-20 ml gum arabic solution and stir well. Aim for a consistency similar to single cream.
7:28 Decant into clean bottles. You can add a whole clove to each bottle to deter mould, (and/or you can try add 2-3 drops of thyme, bergamot or clove oil).
7:52 Be sure to test out your new ink, trying multiple layers and perhaps trying it out with other inks.
Hope you enjoy the recipe. We'd love to see your results, so please do share on Instagram using #botanicalinkchallenge and tag @bohemianraspberryart and @the_daily_nature_journal or let me know about your experiences in the comments.
If you would like to try out these inks but don't have time to make the recipe, consider checking out my Patreon, where I will be running a botanical ink club from1st Feb 2022. In the club, you can receive a vial of previous months' botanical inks, plus see all the extended Daily Nature Journal content and paintalong videos. Numbers receiving the botanical inks will be very limited as I make them in very small batches, so be sure to join up soon!
Patreon: / alexboon
Botanical inks by Bohemian Raspberry Art:
www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Bohemian...
You can also find me using the links below:
Instagram: / the_daily_nature_journal
/ alexboonart
Website: alexboonart.com/
My Etsy store: www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AlexBoonArt
Contact: thedailynaturejournal@gmail.com
Music by Epidemic Sound
Wondering what the use of the clove is! 😊
this video was inspiring- I may have a go at making my own inks soon!
Hello, the cloves are there to help reduce the formation of mould in the bottle. Adding some thyme/bergamot/clove essential oil and ensuring a good strain of all detritus can help too. Good luck trying it out!
Hi Alex thank you for the video! I would love to try this with my students. Do you think a similar method could be used for flowers?
Yes, though it is a slightly different method for flowers as a mordant like alum or baking soda might be needed depending on pigment strength. There's a video on making ink from gorse flowers on my channel somewhere 🙂
@@AlexBoonArt That's helpful to know, thank you so much:)!
I have some old dried willow from yrs ago. Would that work? Or does it need to be fresh? I wish it didn’t have Cloves, the smell is too strong for me.
I don't know whether it would work, all I can say is try it and see! You don't have to use cloves, a drop or two of bergamot or another essential oil can have a similar effect.
Alex can I ask how long the ink will keep for. Thank you
Hi Julie. There are many factors that affect this - like how well you strain it to remove any small particles (a fine mesh advised) and whether you use any preservers (like the cloves and/or essential oils). Also how you store them makes a big difference, using airtight vials, keeping them in a cool place, out of sunlight etc. Hope that helps!
@@AlexBoonArt thank you for your reply. That was really interesting. It hadn’t occurred to me that the cloves were to be a preserver. X
@@juliereilly6308 Oops, if I didn't say it in the video, I should have 😅 Yeah, it has natural antifungal properties 😊
@@AlexBoonArt thank you Alex I was just wondering. X
Keep botanical inks, paints and dyes in the fridge.
Can you use any tree or only willow?
You can use this method other trees, just got to watch out for which are toxic etc. Fruit trees are very good, cherry, apple etc. There's different methods for other tree parts, like seeds/acorns, which I'll be sharing through the year as I learn them too 😊
Can’t wait!