Last year, I enrolled in an online ink making workshop given by Maiwa School of Textiles. It took me a while but I finally finished it this winter. Although I have been experimenting and making inks for a few years I wanted to learn more about the process of making lake pigments. A lake pigment is a pigment made by precipitating a dye bath with … Continue reading Lake Pigment
Walnut Ink 2022 A gift! Last fall my friend James dropped off a bucket of walnuts! After sitting through the winter and drying out. I was ready to cook. My set up was outside on an early April day. They cooked on a low temperature for 6hrs. Then sat overnight. Looks like it is ready. First strain through a metal strainer, the again through a … Continue reading Walnut Ink 2022
This year I decided I would try to grow a few things in the garden for making inks. I chose 5. Safflowers for the pretty pinks they can give, calendula and marigolds for the yellows, amaranth for the intense fuschia and Hopi black sunflowers for the purple and turquoise colors. I also had to take into consideration that I live in a place where the … Continue reading Ink Garden 2021
Making safflower ink Continue reading Safflower Ink 8.2021
PhaseIII/6ft and Making Color from Nature Continue reading PhaseIII/6ft. and Making Color from Nature
I have been taking a lot walks to find plants to make more ink. This time of year there are so may things to choose from. In July I decided on wild bergamot, Queen Anne’s lace and a few day lilies I still had growing in my garden. I use wild bergamot to make infused vinagar (btw it’s really delicious) it causes the vinagar to … Continue reading Ink Making 8.18.20
I finally dove in and made ink for the first time. It is as gratifying as any creative project I have ever done with the added bonus of making my own medium that is one of a kind. I finally got the supplies I had been waiting weeks for the day before I planned another visit to Pa to see mom, so I decided to … Continue reading First Ink
clover bud tea for ink Continue reading Clover
For my next natural dye/ink experiment I decided to see what happens with dandelions. When I picked them there was a really beautiful yellow stain on my fingers, so I hoped that that would be the color I got after the steep. I steeped the flowers for 10 hrs by pouring boiling water on them and putting the lid on. The tea came out more … Continue reading Dandelions
Leah's Notes and Art Blog 