Cooking Up Ink - Plant Based Inks

I'm shortly going to revisit my 'Evolution of the Pod' series using natural inks from plants and vegetables instead of the acrylic and spirit based ones that I currently use. This introduction to the process is a little reminder to myself that ill have to get cracking as woodland fruits will soon becoming avaiable. 

Introduction to Making Ink from Berries and Vegetables

Creating your own ink from natural sources like berries and vegetables is a rewarding and accessible way to connect with traditional methods of mark-making. These homemade inks are often rich in earthy tones, offering a unique aesthetic that can’t be replicated by synthetic alternatives. Common ingredients include blueberries, beets, red cabbage, spinach, and onion skins—each yielding distinctive hues when boiled down and strained. The process typically involves simmering the plant material in water, adding a mordant (such as vinegar or salt) to help fix the color, and sometimes incorporating a binder like gum arabic for better flow and permanence. Whether you’re exploring natural art materials, calligraphy, or experimental printmaking, making ink from kitchen scraps and garden finds is an eco-conscious and creatively liberating practice.

A Short History of Ink Making – For Artists

For artists, ink is more than just a tool—it’s a medium rich with history and expressive potential. The earliest inks, used in Egypt, China, and Mesopotamia over 5,000 years ago, were crafted from earth pigments, soot, and plant dyes bound with gum or animal glue. Chinese artists refined ink into a fine art, creating solid ink sticks from pine soot that could be ground and mixed with water for calligraphy and painting. In medieval Europe, iron gall ink became the standard—its deep, flowing lines ideal for manuscripts and sketches, though it darkened and aged over time. Artists through the centuries have also turned to nature, extracting color from berries, bark, and roots for vibrant botanical inks. Today, many contemporary artists are rediscovering these traditional methods, blending craft, sustainability, and personal expression in every drop of handmade ink.

1.Jason Logan – Urban Foraging + Alchemical Inkmaking

• Source: Rusty metal, pokeweed, walnut husks, red cabbage, soot, berries from urban environments.
• Technique: Carefully boils or steeps materials, adjusts pH to shift color (e.g., vinegar or baking soda), and adds binders like gum arabic.
• Application: Supplies inks to illustrators, designers, and writers; emphasizes locality and emotional resonance of each color.

2. Sonya Philip – Kitchen Waste + Sketchbook Practice

• Source: Avocado pits/skins, onion skins, turmeric, spinach.
• Technique: Simmered in small batches, strained, and sometimes mixed with alcohol or salt as a preservative.
• Application: Hand-bound sketchbooks, ink washes, textile experiments; promotes reuse and daily creativity.

3. Linda Davies – Eco-Dyeing + Foraged Inks

• Source: Local hedgerow plants like elderberries, ivy, nettles, and walnut.
• Technique: Wild harvesting with ecological care, steeping or fermenting materials, modifying with iron water or ash.
• Application: Works on fabric and paper, often layering botanical ink with eco-dye prints or hand-drawn elements.

4.Mariah Reading – Waste Integration + Minimalist Palette

• Source: Found objects, natural pigments, and sometimes food-based dyes.
• Technique: Combines ink and pigment from natural sources with acrylic mediums, sometimes directly painting on trash or reclaimed materials.
• Application: Paints landscapes on found debris, often using earth-based colors and plant tints to reflect environmental themes.

5.Beatrice Coron – Paper Cuts + Natural Pigment Collaborations

• Source: While not making inks herself, she has worked with natural ink artisans.
• Technique: Uses inks for washes or background color in paper cut narratives.
• Application: Her collaborations highlight the texture and fragility of botanical color in narrative scenes.

Here’s a curated list of high-quality step-by-step guides and recipe posts for making botanical inks—each with clear processes, ingredient lists, and artist-focused tips:

Making Ink From Berries — Dana Driscoll (The Fruit Nut)

Complete berry-based recipe with ingredient measures (berries, vinegar, gum arabic) and detailed straining instructions ideal for calligraphy-level inks. 

Natural Plant Inks

Lost in Colours by Jyotsna

Multiple DIY recipes using ingredients like rooibos, onion skins, avocado pits, chard, plus techniques to tweak color with pH and preservatives. 

The Basics of Natural Ink Making Tanya Val

Beginner-friendly guide covering simmering, binders (gum arabic), preservatives, and safety best practices—great foundation for plant-based inks. 

Artist’s DIY: Natural Inks from Plants & Vegetables Sunnu Rebecca Choi (Illustrator’s Project)

Covers linocut-ready inks using vegetables like spinach, onion skins, beetroot, turmeric, and techniques for thickening and preserving. 

Making Ink from Flowers & Berries Felicity Jenkins Art

Garden-foraging method with vinegar, salt, gum arabic; includes color-shift examples (rose petals to green/blue), exploring surprises in nature pigments. 

5 Natural Ink Recipes — Hobby Farms

Five varied recipes (coreopsis, avocado pit, black raspberry, tea, walnut), plus mordant & preservative guidance using alum, gum arabic, thyme oil. 

30 Days of Natural Inks Tanya Val

A month‑long creative challenge—basic recipe plus daily plant‑based experiments (avocado stones, beets, gooseberries) with pH modifiers and deep dives. 

How to Make Natural Inks from Plants Kathryn Davey

Gallery + meditative instructions for simmering plants (nettles, avocado, coffee, elderberry) into inks/paints using coffee filters and simple binders. 

All these resources include complete lists of materials, step-by-step extraction, filtering, and preservation methods—perfect for artists diving into botanical inks.

©️Graeme Webb 2025