For ink making in 2021, I wanted to experiment with plants and other materials I hadn’t tried before, one of which was honeysuckle berry. These cheery red berries show up in July and are everywhere on the borders of the woods and fields near where we live in upstate NY.
I was so busy with summer events and life that I decided to freeze the berries for ink making when I had the time. This weekend was it! Here are my results and notes.
The process was pretty easy. Just mash the berries in a fine mesh strainer, filter through cheese cloth, and add gum arabic.
I just love the color. The soft peachy pink tone is very subtle and pretty. I will put some uv spray on it and hope it lasts for a while.
Ink Notes:
- Frozen berries when thawed have enough water in them that there was no need to add it for the right viscosity.The berry juice is not clear; it has a pulp that needs to be strained.
- It takes a while for the ink to dry and it dries shiny.
Leah's Notes and Art Blog 
Love this one
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It held up nicely on paper and fixative but it didn’t keep in the fridge. It also was very fibrous.
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thanks for the tips, I don’t have honeysuckle here I used to do allot of natural dyeing on wool and cotton, and eco prints we moved out of the woods a couple years ago and now live on the lake-was so thrilled to have black walnut trees here. I have reading online about the botanical inks-so many pros and cons about storing in the refrig. or not. many say not to-so far I am keeping mine in boxes in a cool closet and out of light. the blackberry ink is a month old now and no mold-I am using a clove and wintergreen eo
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