Plant and Ink

£15.99

Make Your Own Plant-based Ink by Judith Rosema

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Book Description

Create a rainbow of vibrant, natural inks from the plants and flowers around you.

Plant-based inks are richer in colour than synthetic inks, producing a wide range of tones and unique, stunning visual results; extracting and storing these inks ready for use is made simple in this beginner-friendly book. The 27 seasonal plant ‘recipes’, which yield 49 colours of ink, are ordered seasonally, to accompany you through the creative year.

Discover:

Warm yellows from daffodils in spring;
Rich reds, pinks and indigo from poppies in summer;
Light blue and mint green from sage in autumn;
Warm orangey-browns from hazel in winter.

Each recipe contains a guide to the plant used, the lightfastness of the ink created, written step-by-step instructions for extracting the ink, and beautiful visuals to illustrate the colours available; handy tips are also included for working with plant-based ink.

For artists who like to work with different mediums, the book also includes guides to creating pigments from your plant recipes, then using different binders to create oil paint, egg tempera, watercolour, gouache, chalk pastel and screen-printing ink.

Plant and Ink is an invitation to embrace sustainability, to see the world around us in vibrant colour and to create with love and attention. Whether you’re an experienced artist or a curious beginner, this book will open your eyes to the creative possibilities that nature has to offer.

Preface: My love for ink and nature
Introduction: The history of paper and ink
Discovering nature
What is ink?
Handy to keep in the house
Bottling ink
The basis of plant-based inks
Three golden rules for working with plant-based inks

DYE PLANTS / TUTORIALS
Madder,Woad, Weld

INK / TUTORIALS
Spring - Bracken, Cow parsley, Gallnuts, Daffodil, Tulip, Black hollyhock
Summer - Tansy, Dahlia, Goldenrod, Hibiscus, Poppy, Elder
Autumn - Birch, Privet, Horse chestnut, Saffron crocus, Sage, Walnut
Winter - Grapevine, Alder, Hazel, Holly, Red cabbage, Rose

My journey to plant-based printing

PAINT, CHALK AND PRINTING INK / TUTORIALS
Pigment
Lake pigment
Oil paint
Damar varnish
Oil colours
Egg tempera
Watercolour paint and gouache
Chalk pastels
Screen-printing ink

PRODUCTS AND RETAILERS
Product information
Useful addresses

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About the Author

About Judith Rosema

Judith Rosema is a botanical artist, illustrator, multi-disciplinary creative and sustainable entrepreneur. She trained at an art academy in the Netherlands, where she specialized in graphics (lithos, lino prints, wood prints and etches). Afterwards she started her career as an artist and has exhibited her work in the Netherlands and Belgium.

In 2009, concerned by the suffering inflicted on the planet, Judith decided she no longer wanted to work with materials that harm our world, so began to experiment with plants and flowers found by roadsides, exploring their dyeing properties.

In 2017 she founded Het lnkt Atelier (The Ink Atelier), a sustainable company which focuses on the production of botanical inks, and organizes workshops, courses and group trips.

Judith lives in Den Bosch, Netherlands.

Visit her website at www.hetinktatelier.com

Press

@londonpigment

As I set up a new dye garden, Ive been uprooting and relocating a lot of ferns, leaving me with heaps of leaf debris. Instead of letting it go to waste, I turned to Judiths book to see if there was a way to transform this plant material into ink. And there it was, a recipe for Bracken Ink.

I had to give it a go. I followed the instructions (admittedly skipping the filtering step, hence the added texture), and it worked beautifully! I modified the process by adding sodium carbonate, which shifted the colour to a stunning orange rust brown with a soft yellow undertone. (See swatches) Intrigued, I experimented further, introducing iron sulphate (which deepened the ink to a dark teal green) and copper acetate (yielding a gorgeous sap green). Safety note: I wore gloves for protection, just in case. I'd love to hear if you have tried any recipes from the book or even tried making a fern lake pigment?

Im incredibly grateful for this book, especially as Ive been expanding my ink making practice with weekly experiments. Plant and Ink is a richly illustrated, user friendly guide that not only offers fantastic ink recipes but also includes binder formulas, perfect for anyone passionate about natural inks. I would highly recommend checking this book out, especially if you want to broaden your botanical ink horizons.