Inks
I am making inks from plants in the area of Concord/Lincoln. These include: trees such as oak, walnut, elm, maple, birch; ink cap mushrooms, pokeberries, ferns, and other flowers and leaves.
Researching medieval ink recipes, fibersheds, the agency of plants, plant communication, chemistry, printmaking, and font design.
These inks will be used in the production of field notes, field broadsides, and other works in the Field Station during the residency period.
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- ink drawing in the parking lot
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- Nuclear Metals Superfund site oak and hemlock bark
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- Cherrie Corey’s backyard stinging nettle leaves and roots, plus deCordova iris heads
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- madder root
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- ink materials shelf, May 2013
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- birch bark steeping in solar oven May 2013
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- deb todd wheeler ink drawing May 2013
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- Birches student observational drawing, April 2013
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- early leaf print from walnut ink April 2013
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- walnut ink first experiment
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- walnut field
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- walnut production
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- pignut hickory nuts
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- Juneberry 07/02
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- bottles
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- bottles
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- bottles
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- tests
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- Sumac and weld ink steeping
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- ink stores on 08/01
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- Mill Brook earth pigment
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- Weld from Gaining Ground
7/4 Steeped Hemlock ink
Hemlock Bark
rainwater
ethyl acohol
crush Hemlock bark into small pieces with hammer, steep in rainwater for 3 weeks in solar oven, strain out bark bits, simmer to concentrate, add ethyl acohol to preserve
7/17 Sap Green
Buckthorn Berries
rainwater
alum
ethyl alcohol
smash berries, boil alum in water, add to berries, add ethyl alcohol to preserve
08/01 Weld ink
strip all seeds leaves, and flowers from Weld plant, steep in water (do not boil) for at least 24 hours
strain all plant parts
boil 1 T alum in water, add to ink (brings out yellow)
grind calcium carbonate with morter and pestle
add to ink to make a lake
add ethyl alcohol to preserve
08/01 Sumac ink
pluck sumac drupes at full ripeness, and strip all berries from drupe
steep with leaves for a few hours
simmer down to thick paste
add ethyl alcohol to preserve
Stinging Nettles and info on mordants
29th May
Today I visited Cherrie Corey’s garden and we gathered stinging nettles from all around her garden. Now I am boiling the leaves and roots separately, with no mordants right now. If this doesnt work, I’ll try a copper mordant with the leaves and maybe tin with the root…
Some good info I found while researching stinging nettle root dyes:
Mordants: water-soluble chemicals, usually metallic salts, which create a bond between dye and fiber thus increasing the adherence of various dyes to the item being dyed
Alum
Brightens the colors obtained from a dye source
Iron/Coppers
Darkens/saddens hues, produces blacks, brown, gray
Copper vitriol
Improves likelihood of obtaining a green hue
Tin
Produces bright colors especially yellows, oranges, reds
ink plant search
21st May
some plants to make ink out of:
Madder dig pencil thick roots anytime,
Weld, July
Dyers Knotweed (at Gaining Ground?)
Japanese Knotweed?Stinging Nettle
Shaggy Ink Cap mushrooms
Pokeberry
Oak Galls
Acorns
Woad, after the leaves reach about six inches in length, June or July
Iris
Goldenrod, late summer
Walnut
buckthorn berries
lots of good stuff on native american dye sources here
lichens,
more dye plants
Sumac berries and leaves (blueblack)
Solar Cooker Ink
15th May
finally got the solar cooker up and running and the sun disappeared behind some clouds. Hopefully tomorrow will work. Need to make some reflectors to increase the solar energy. measure and plan tomorrow… bring cardboard for mockup…
birch bark steeping in solar oven May 2013
desk, May 2013
Deb leaf printing
13th May
Artist, tinkerer, and collaborator Deb Todd Wheeler came over to the Field Station today to inspire and make leaf prints from walnut, elm, and pine inks…
early leaf print from walnut ink April 2013
deb todd wheeler ink drawing May 2013
Glycerin as a Preservative
7th February
“It is also used in the production of watercolor paints, printing inks, and cosmetics.”
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-different-uses-of-liquid-glycerin.htm
“extracts made from Vegetable Glycerine typically have a shelf life of 14-24 months whereas alcohol extracts can have an extended shelf life of 4-6 years.”
“You can make a simple, herbal glycerite by simmering herbs in a mixture of 60% glycerine and 40% purified water for two to three hours. We have generally used about 1/4 cup of cut and sifted, dried herbs per 1 cup of glycerine/water solution. When you strain this solution, bottle it and store it in a cool, dark place. It retains its effectiveness for two to three years.”
http://www.morethanalive.com/Vegetable-Glycerin
“It seems that you can use glycerin as a preservative when you use 50% glycerin or more in a product.”
” foot lotion recipe with 25% glycerin, and it feels great on my feet…but it feels awful on other …
more ink recipes
4th February
iron gall ink
walnut ink black walnut ink
butternut ink
lamp black ink
fermented pokeberry ink
shaggy ink cap ink more about the mushrooms
other wood/berry/dyes
bring in: 100 proof vodka, cornstarch, ethanol, salt
thickening ink
3rd February
EXTENDER BASE:
PLUS-9090
PLUS-9090 is basically ink that contains certain inert or opacifying materials with no pigment. It is clear (creamy color) ink base that can be added to plastisol to extend the ink and get more volume out of the ink.Since Extender Base is a balanced ink – any amount can be added to plastisol. The more Extender Base added, the less opaque the ink will be.
Although Extender Base will make an ink less opaque, it is generally not used to specifically make an ink more transparent. For that purpose see TRANSPARENT BASE. It is designed more as a “bulking” agent and will basically provide more mileage from an ink at a lower cost because Extender Base is less expensive than pigment ink. If used to make an ink more transparent to print color-over-colore, the secondary color achieved may not be …
Lets Get Rusty
1st February
If you want to make metal rust faster…
Method 1:
“Wet down entire piece with chlorine bleach, sprinkle lightly with salt, and allow to sit until it dries. Spray the piece with water, but lightly so the dried salt/bleach mixture doesn’t rinse off. Just wet the surface down. Let sit overnight.
The next morning, mix up a pint of FRESH hydrogen peroxide (standard 3% stuff found at drug stores) with a tablespoon of muriatic acid. Spray this mixture onto the piece. Allow to dry. Once dry, spray once more with this mixture. Let sit overnight.
Next morning, rinse completely with clean water, and you should have a decent rust by now. If there are areas that need more rusting, go back to step 5. Once you are happy with this rust, let it sit for a few days, lightly wetting the surface with water …
to thicken ink or not to thicken ink?
1st February
Try using cornstarch, boil off excess water, leave ink out in air to evaporate(stir occasionally), extender base will thicken and make more transparent, pva glue( dries flexible, acid free), magnesium carbonate, molasses, ground chalk,
http://www.ehow.com/how_6659090_make-ink-thicker.html
http://www.gigposters.com/forums/screenprinting/51522-thickening-ink.html
http://www.barenforum.org/archives/vol14/v14_1343.txt
http://www.briarpress.org/20882
http://www.bombingscience.com/graffitiforum/archive/index.php/t-71.html