natural inks

I learned how to make my own inks after reading Jason Logan’s ‘Make Ink’. It was one of those rare occasions where a book happens to you. I had read about botanical dyes in the past but often found that books on the subject assumed you have ten buckets; some sort of Victorian outhouse to put them in and weeks to spare. So once I realised Logan’s book was about making art materials for actual free, sometimes in minutes, I sank to my heels, trying to Borg it all. I was still sat on my heels going; ‘Omg, WHAT?’ when my family came to find me an hour later.

Making your own inks is environmentally sound; yes, of course it is. But for me the real appeal is in the jolie laide transformation of unprepossessing materials. If making colour out of the knobbly marbles that baby wasps grow in isn’t a Cinderella story, I don’t know what is.

I started by making oak gall ink (an incredible, witchy black) and graduated to making inks like turmeric (yolky yellow), copper (a humming, minty turquoise) and avocado (anything from peachy pink to a murderous blood red). Over the last few years I’ve spent a long time teaching myself to shift the colours and find new ways to print, draw and paint with them. It’s messy, often foul-smelling and hugely gratifying.

After a lot of experimentation, I hit upon my own method for thickening inks for use in screen printing. I now use a plant-based, biodegradable modifier that allows me to print my designs – making paper, prints, homewares and notebooks. As I don’t use solvents to expose or clean my screens, this means the whole process is pretty free of plastic and chemicals (I don’t mean chEmIcalz R bAd here, obviously; just that there’s a lot of pretty horrible ones used in regular screen printing).

Below are some examples of textures, prints and products I’ve made using natural, botanical, plant-based and mineral inks. Current products are in my shop, here, but I also sell my prints in The Whitworth Gallery shop, Bowery in Leeds, Merseyway Workshop in Stockport and Stockport Art Gallery.

I’m also available to teach classes using natural inks, including mark-making, mono-printing, leather work (making purses, printed with oak gall ink) and drawing. Send me an email if you want to collaborate or hire me to teach a class.