drawing with walnut ink

January 25, 2025April 2, 2026 | lemonbalm79

I love outlining and detailing my paintings with fine ink. But even the best artist quality ink pens have been a huge pain in the butt, always getting ruined when trying to draw over dried paint. It feels wasteful, all those plastic pens just giving up so easily. And I’m constantly scribbling them on a separate page in attempts to revive them, only to just get a few more lines before they crap out for good. I had an aha! moment while enjoying another amazing artist residency program at Oak Spring Garden Foundation.

I arrived here in Virginia in mid-January. Not a great time to forage for botanical inks, but a good time to stay indoors and be creative. I happened to be here during the Arctic blast system that sent snow to Florida! The highs were in the teens, lows in the single digits for many days. All the plants are dead or dormant. But I did know from the previous times I roamed about in warmer weather here, that the stand of Black Walnut trees behind the farm might have some fallen and frozen fruits. I just couldn’t help myself, so I got on all my winter gear and wandered around, trying to remember where exactly those trees were, and then searching around the ground underneath for the fruits once I found them.

I found some in the snow, decomposing. Yay! I gathered a few, washed them off, and then let them soak in snow for several days in the studio. One had some dead little grubs inside, so I accidentally took some winter bird food away from the critters. Although I wonder what they taste like, soaked in that intense tannic juglone chemical that keeps many other plants from growing nearby.

After soaking in melted snow for a few days, I gently simmered the watery brown liquid for an hour or so until is was concentrated enough to my liking. I then strained, bottled, and labelled a little jar – and that’s it.

As I was doodling and painting various birds and getting frustrated again with those dang pens, I wondered….could I find a dip pen and try my own recently made ink?

It seems anything you need at this place, appears if you ask. When I first arrived, I inquired about a humidifier for my room, as the dryness was parching me. I’m so used to Florida humidity, and not adapting well to the cold and dry. Headaches, thirst, bloody nose. Ugh. The next day, James (our artist resident coordinator) showed up at my door with one! So I asked – might there be a dip pen around I could borrow? And there was!

So I tried my freshly made walnut ink and it’s a dream! The detailed lines I got with this simple pen were amazing. Neither the ink or pen were ruined by the paint at all. I was delighted and surprised at how long the ink lasted in the little dip pen reservoir, before needing another dip.

This is a game changer for my work. I can now use my own handmade inks and avoid wasting plastic pens. It’s also really pleasurable to hold an old and effective tool in my hands, doing slow and methodical work.

The only downside I see thus far, is that that the walnut ink is not waterproof. So I can’t paint over it once the final lines are drawn. This particular nib also seemed a bit scratchy, maybe from being practiced with by amateurs like me. Perhaps a new one, in a more skilled hand will glide better. It will also likely work better on smoother, hot press watercolor paper compared to the cold press and more textured paper I tend to use.

I have so many colorful botanical inks in my collection, and can’t wait to try them! I just ordered a sampler set of nibs and a holder so that I can keep practicing when I get home. I might try making my own version of India ink, from burnt pine bark chunks I have from a prescribed burn site.

make ink from plants

January 19, 2025April 2, 2026 | lemonbalm79

I like making both inks and paints, and there are differences both in how they are used to make art, and practically – how they store and travel, how long they last, and how much is involved in the process of making them.

Ink is ancient. It’s been prepared and used for thousands of years, transmitting language on various surfaces. Dark brown ink made from oak galls was used to create many famous manuscripts (like the US Constitution); Leonardo daVinci drew with it.

Basically it’s a concentrated colored liquid used to write with. It is fairly simple to make with fewer ingredients and steps compared to paints, but is perishable, harder to transport, and not as easy to use due to its fluidity. But the fluidity can be a good thing, as colors readily run together and dry in beautiful and unexpected ways. Additives to improve stability and thickness can be used to produce high quality ink.

I started with inks and graduated to paints, but keep both for use in my artwork. Much of the artwork in this sketchbook was created with inks. Jason Logan’s book, Make Ink: A Forager’s Guide to Natural Inkmaking is very inspirational.

For lots more detailed information, pigmented plants to find in Florida, techniques, plant info, and lots of my art – pick a copy of my book!

Buy my book!

Spiderwort flowers make a lovely ink. With a dash of citric acid to the warmed ink, it maintains true to color.

Gather up supplies and ingredients

Plants (fresh, frozen, or dried)
Muddler
Fabric pieces or fine strainer
Pot (that you don’t mind possibly getting stained)
Watercolor paper (regular paper can’t handle liquid ink, I prefer the more textured and absorbent cold press type)
Paint brushes
Optional chemicals to initiate pH induced color shifts:
- Alum, citric acid, cream of tartar, lemon juice and vinegar are acidic
- Baking soda and soda ash are basic
Jars, dropper bottles or other small vial with a leak-proof lid
Watercolor medium and preservative. See here for recipe.
Clove or thyme oil as preservative

Process

Simmer plant material in water (except for berries that may not need additional liquid), muddling several times. 1-2 hours for flowers and petals, much longer for bark, roots and other tough materials. Simmer until a rich colored and concentrated dye is obtained with as little water as possible. Cut the heat and rest overnight. Repeat again if needed to allow tough plant tissues to break down further; likely not necessary for delicate petals. Avoid burning and boiling. Attend your pot closely, set timers periodically so you don’t forget to check!
Allow liquid to cool enough to handle.
Squeeze out all plant material through a cloth or very fine sieve. Compost the plants.
Pour your new liquid ink into a very clean and labelled jar or bottle. Include plant + date and anything else you want to capture. A separate notebook is good for the finer details you can’t fit on a small bottle.
Optionally, add 1 part watercolor medium to 3 parts ink, or approximately 10 drops to 2 ounces of ink.
Add a drop of preservative oil, shake to mix. Store in refrigerator ideally but will last weeks or months at room temperature.
Alum, copper, iron oxides and cream of tartar may be used to make the ink more permanent. Experiment with what works for various hues.

make paints from plants

January 19, 2025January 27, 2025 | lemonbalm79

Paints are solid and can be re-wetted with water for use. Creating them is an involved process but worth the exploration if you become more serious about homemade colors. Pure pigments are drawn out of botanical material through a chemical process known as “laking”, which binds the pigment to a metal salt.

The resulting pigment is dried, finely ground, and mulled with a watercolor medium into a paste which is then used like watercolor paint. Earth based materials like clays and stone can also be used.

Compared to inks, paints are more portable, do not need refrigeration, and tend to be more stable. I am slowly converting most of my colors to be in paint form as I find them easier to create art and travel with. However, some have better colors as an ink and are best used that way. For example, both beets and malabar spinach berries are bright pink inks, but dull brown paints.

For lots more detailed information, pigmented plants to find in Florida, techniques, plant info, and lots of my art – pick a copy of my book!

Buy my book!

A homemade palette of watercolors using re-purposed plastic bottle caps and an Amex card metal tin.

Gather up supplies and ingredients

Plants (fresh, frozen, or dried)
Muddler
Fabric pieces or fine strainer
Pot (that you don’t mind possibly getting stained)
Watercolor paper (regular paper can’t handle liquid ink, I prefer the more textured and absorbent cold press type)
Paint brushes
Large, clear, heat safe glass jars
Alum (aluminum sulfate or aluminum potassium sulfate)
Soda ash See here how to make.
Stirring sticks/spoons
Coffee filters
Rubber bands
Glass board (old microwave dish or cutting board)
Glass muller
Palette knife/spreader
Spatula
Paint containers (bottle caps, acorn tops, paint wells)
pH papers (optional)
Watercolor medium:

Process

Simmer plant material in water, muddling several times. Perhaps 30 minutes or up 2 hours for flower petals until rich colored dye is obtained. For bark, roots or other tough material, chop and simmer over a few hours, rest over night, and repeat again if needed to allow tough plant tissues to break down. Unlike ink, it’s not necessary to reduce water to a very low volume, but you do want to make sure you’ve pulled as much pigment into the water as possible which could take time, depending on the material.
Squeeze out all plant material through a cloth or very fine sieve. Reheat liquid if cooled before the next step.
Prepare chemical solutions. See here on how to prepare
Mix alum with enough boiling water to fully dissolve.
Mix soda ash with enough boiling water to fully dissolve.
Stir alum solution into warmed colorful dye liquid.
Slowly stir in soda ash solution and prepare for foaming action! Container should be big enough to allow expansion and overflow.
Continue stirring and scraping the foam till settled down.
If you have pH papers, test for a neutral 7 and tweak acid/base addition (more alum to decrease, more soda ash to increase).
Rest at least an hour or overnight allowing pigment to settle.
Pour off liquid on top (supernatant) and carefully strain out the remainder over another container fitted with a coffee filter secured with a rubber band or clothespins.
Carefully remove coffee filter once all liquid has drained and a colorful pasty sludge remains. Lay flat to dry over a towel. While not necessary, it is preferable to get the cleanest pigment possible by washing after the first strain. If frothy bits or white crystals are present, I recommend this extra effort. When pigment has been fully strained, re-submerge in a clean bowl of water. Let settle and pour off water once or twice more till clear and clean looking. Strain again and dry.
Once pigment is fully dried, grind into a fine powder using a mortar and pestle. The finest powder possible is required. Sieve and re-grind if necessary.
Measure approximately equal amounts of pigment powder and watercolor medium onto a glass board.
Mix with a palette knife and then mull with glass muller in circular and figure 8 patterns, repeatedly scraping back into the center, and continuing until smooth and gliding easily. Additional water droplets or medium may be needed. This may take a lot of time, and takes practice to get right. Enjoy the process!
Scrape into a container. You now have paint! Yay!
Test the color and enjoy painting, using like watercolor paints.
If your supernatant (clear liquid above settled pigment) is still very dark in color, you can lake that again for a different color! It’s also a sign that more chemicals could have been used the first time.