Making Ink

"Fingers are an incredibly calibrated tool 

for understanding our environment....

Stained hands are the reward and mark

of a color pioneer."

p. 64

Wouldn't you just automatically fall in love with the person who wrote that? I did. A virtual ardor.

After I read this article on Jason Logan, artist, forager, father, ink maker, I had to know more.  So I ordered his book, Make Ink, posthaste. Not only was I not disappointed, I was inspired! Swoon.

The book is gorgeous.  The kind of paper you want to stroke and caress; the photos are large, provocative and beautifully shot.  Even the cover of the book begs me to pet it.  It was a good read even if I had decided that the recipes were beyond me.  But of course I didn't, I gave it a go.  Of course.

Because part of Logans "conversion" to natural ink making was due to the realization that his illustration supplies were potentially toxic for his children, his ingredients are often found in the kitchen.  I did hit the art store for gum arabic (a binder to paper):

and the pharmacy for rubbing alcohol (90%).  

My husband believes I am a trash collector....I prefer the title "forager." This skill comes in handy for ink making.  I assembled my acorn caps, tea leaves, turmeric, copper bits, rusty nails...see? what fun!

And what my spouse lacks in imagination he more than makes up for in patience as even though most of this magic is safe to conduct in the kitchen, it doesn't always smell as delightful as one could hope...and it does seem to take over any flat surface.  But I heard no complaints.

Boil and bubble, toil and trouble... Logan says (on p. 24) that "ink making is easiest when you are patient and remain open to everything." (describes me, right?) And (p. 45) "If the process seems slow and moves only a drip at a time, you are doing your job right." Gotta love it.  

All in.  I'll spare you the details but it was everything he predicted ...and more.

(forgive my camera shadows...long story)

As he suggests, I became a "citizen-scientist" and recorded my progress hour by hour.  Above strips are from acorn caps and iron (a silver grey brown, light) top, and the bottom strips are from darjeeling tea (a warm, soft brown).

Tumeric became an alcohol ink as opposed to a water based ink.  I know I will love using this one.

And a bundle of hibiscus flower brought back from Mexico (sold as tea) became a deep alizarin crimson color.

I'm hooked.  On the porch I have a jar of copper becoming a blue ink and from the freezer I'm tempted to get out the bags of marigold flowers I have foraged and see what they offer.

As usual I have my cart before the horse as I have no idea how or where to use these colors.  Some may be fugitive or there may be fixatives needed.  I don't really use ink in drawing but I can paint with them (see his live painting demo here) as he did for the NY Times.

You may imagine this artist/father as living on a secluded farm growing all his natural his ingredients; the surprise is that Logan forages in the city where he lives in Canada.  Drywall, weeds, cigarettes, and even peeling paint get gathered and processed in his goal of color exploration.  It makes me want to order beakers and test tubes and sweet little ink jars.  Sigh.

I could order these inks from Logans website or have him make me a custom blend as others do.  But I really enjoy the making and experimenting part of the equation and, as discussed in this article about his work,  there is a sense of satisfaction in knowing where the product came from and what is in it.  

Now to finding out how I will use these beautiful colors...

FORAGING ALWAYS,

Cindy 

p.s. - Hoping that however you celebrated Thanksgiving you were able to take time to be grateful for what is important in your life.  I am brimming over with thanks for each of you who read and respond to my weekly passion of writing on the artistic pleasures of life.  I have gained much from your sharing.

Eco-dyeing with Fall Leaves

 Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. 

Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. 

Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, 

So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. 

Robert Frost

Nothing gold can stay.....unless you capture the image!  Autumn gives us all a thrill and I knew I could preserve some of it when I was seduced by eco-printing.  My friend Barbara must take full blame for my obsession with this technique as she wore the first scarf I ever saw done this way and I pestered her until she revealed the secrets.

I have posted some note cards I made using a similar process but several readers have asked me to do a blog and explain more!  I will do so now. Keep in mind that I am far from an expert but that with an adventurers spirit anyone can give it a try.  If you take a notion to try please reference "eco-dying" or "steam printing leaves" on google or pinterest.  You will get lots of helpful info.

Gathering the leaves, foraging, is the fun part although it is trial and error as to what will print.  Wool and silk (proteins) are most easily printed after mordanting with an alum mix that is dependent on the amount of fabric you soak.  This was a fun way for me to learn my leaves and trees and the most dependable in western NC are sumac, sassafras, beech, alder, japanese maple, sugar maple (actually almost any maple), geranium, red cabbage leaves, marigold petals and rose leaves.  Oak was a bust for this experiment.  

After the mordanting process we stretched out the wet silk and arranged the leaves, "earth side down," on top.  Sometimes we just scattered, other times I tried to intentionally make a design.

two silk undershirts

Then the fabric and leaves get rolled tightly around (for us) a PVC pipe or a length of branch.  This is secured with a tightly wound string.  Now processes take a twist.  Barbara's instructor seals the bundle in shrink wrap which is really cool.  My notes never indicated that as necessary so I skipped it.

sorry no pics of using the shrink wrap

Now if you have an electric turkey roaster that you can dedicate ONLY to dyeing drag it out.  I, on the other hand, jerry-rigged a steamer with an old covered roaster, glass jars to lift the fabrics and a hot plate to heat it all up.  Again, methods differ: immersion dyers set the entire bundle in the water, steam dyers prop it up out of contact with the bath.  I have done both and see very little difference.  

my pseudo-electric roaster without lid

Heat it up to a good steaming and....again, methods differ: if wrapped in shrink plastic steam it good for one hour; I have done the 2 hour method.  Some artisans swear you should leave and open in the morning (which I do with my paper prints), others urge opening as soon as cool to the touch (which is really fun if you are impatient like me).  

unrolled shirt with leaves still on it

Everything I read however does agree on one thing: do not rinse or wash your fabric for at least 48 hours after unrolling.  I have never done otherwise so I cannot say with any certainty that the print will disappear if you wash sooner.  Why risk it?

silk scarf drying

Since I like to use silk products I noticed that they seem to lose the "hand" after this process (the soft, draped feel of silk) and I discovered a product called Milsoft NB.  Used as directions suggest in a final rinse restores the gorgeous fabric to its original texture.  I buy most of my scarves and shirts from Dharma on-line.

So what do you think my precious daughters-in-law will say when they get these for Christmas?

Probably "yuck!" It is an acquired taste....but hey, these are undershirts, right? no one ever has to really see them and yet those sweet gals will be all warm and comfy.  Or if they take up deer hunting they will have their camouflage ready to go.  

I'm thanking Barbara over and over again for opening this magic window for me.

However you celebrated Thanksgiving I know that you had much for which to be grateful. Wishing you creative weeks ahead.

Foraging for Color,

Cindy 

Foraging a Garden

I take comfort in the numerous different styles

of Picasso, that he constantly found a new way to paint.

And I love that he said : 

Art is the elimination of the unnecessary.

I'm not a Picasso.  But if he can change his style and paint as the muse moves then why can't the rest of us?  I confess that I get restless painting in the same genre over and over again and often choose to play with a piece before I tackle it realistically.  Sometimes I like the "play" better than the "intentional." 

I have a supply of 12 x 16 black supports designated for "experiments." Color just seems to pop off the page when placed on black so I am having fun doing some simple pieces as I get familiar with my subject matter.  I can't wait to paint this foraging basket on an old chair in a more realistic manner but first I wanted to play as a way to get familiar with the lines and shapes of my subject.

chalk sketch of chair and basket

While this will result in a very simplistic painting, it actually involves a lot of pre-thinking.  To keep it simple I need to slow down and think about each color.  Using pre-mixed acrylics means I need to eliminate the unnecessary even before I touch a brush to the canvas.

step 2, the centerpiece

I start with the main focal point and eliminate everything else.  Where the chalk lines are will be a black outline, something I am trying hard to maintain.  There is no blending or shading of color; each segment is one color, forcing me to think about the shape of that color (something very useful in other applications).

  

Garden Forage, 16 x 12, acrylic

available

Here it is.  Part of the challenge with a colored support is to utilize that color in the composition.  Just like I did with the Angel Tree I wanted the black to play a major role in the subject matter.  I think it is very clear what we are looking at, no?

This is a great exercise.  It forces me to slow down and take the composition apart piece by piece and color-shape by color-shape.  It is almost meditative in its execution and a wonderful way to become very familiar with the subject at hand.  With an inexpensive support and fairly cheap paint I can play to my hearts content while learning more of the lessons that will show up in more complicated pieces.

Happily foraging,

Cindy

Red Clover, Red Clover, Send Some Right Over

I know the game is "red rover" but

for some reason that little rhyme plays in my head while

I am looking for clover, er, foraging for clover!

I'm still on a "foraging high" thinking about all that free food out there just waiting to be sampled.  I got excited about clover ( trifolium) because it is so easy to identify and seems to be prolific.  Then I realized that there are at least two types of clover on my radar: red (trifolium pratense) and white (trifolium repens).  While they share many commonalities (good for tea making and used to add nitrogen to the soil where it grows), they are also distinct (the red having isoflavens, calcium, potassium and vitamin C, the white offers a higher protein content and helps cattle battle bloating).  

My local hunts turned up plenty of white clover (no random lucky four leaf clovers...yet) but I began to despair over finding much of the pretty, high growing red.  Alas, as we hiked on Father's Day I came upon many large patches of the variety and if I'd had a little baggie with me I would have gathered the blossoms for tea.  As it were I took photos and, tired from my hike, nibbled on a few heads (placebo affect!) while doing so.

Herewith my companion piece to the Dandelion.

Red Clover, White Clover  8 x 6

on cradled hardboard, no frame needed

$45 plus shipping

Crawling around in the fields I confirmed that the red clover leaflet (of which 3 join to make a leaf) is longer and a tad more narrow than the rounder, fatter ones of the white clover.  Both have a V-shaped white marking on each leaflet.  And while the Indians would use the red clover blossom tincture to ward off hot flashes and reduce bone loss, I can add the tiny leaves of the white clover to my soups and salads for a little zing of protein.  

detail of the 3 leaflets of both species

detail showing the red and white blossoms which are composed of 

40-100 teeny tiny little flowers

So I will match my price on last week's piece (it sold quickly, thanks for the additional inquiries) -- I know you are hoping this might be the last of my foraging efforts?!  I'm not entirely sure, I've found that painting these plants has been a great way to further my education on the identification as well as the value of each one.  Who knows what's next??

In Foraging Fun,

Cindy

p.s. If you are in western NC don't forget the Tour de Art tomorrow, June 25, from 10-4.  There is a map on my facebook page here.  Open studios and an opportunity to meet the artists as you browse original work. 

Waaay Under-Valued: the Dandelion

Did you know that the humble dandelion is responsible for most

of the pollution of our rivers and streams?

AND that is also one of the most nutritious plants on 

our planet? 

Well, neither did I.

So I took a foraging class recently and was literally blown away, inspired, amazed and educated.  But I can only learn so much at a time so I decided to focus first on the common dandelion, taraxacum officinale, in the asteraceae family.  Like I will ever remember that?  Yeah, but what I can remember is that dente-de-lion refers to the tooth edged leaves, lion teeth, get it?  Helps make a positive id.

About that pollution: millions of dollars are spent every year by Americans trying to rid their yards of the lovely little yellow flowers with the only result being that the poisons run off lawns and ruin our waterways....while the sturdy little weed returns again and again.

The nutrition is exceptional: the greens contain high levels of vitamin A, calcium and potassium. The teacher remarked that if word gets out how good these are for us we will probably never seen another one as they will be harvested, packaged and sold for really big bucks.

You can tell the dente de lion won me over.  So I made tea, put greens in a salad and researched dandelion wine recipes, oh and I painted them to further burn the identification into my memory.

I wanted a fun background so I started with some acrylics

until I liked what was happening

a detail, I loved finding a plant that had all 3 stages

of the flower on it....yes, I did blow and make a wish

A Dandy Deal, oil, 8 x 6, $45.00

on cradled board, no frame needed

There is a lot of information I would suggest you read as you head out to the yard with your harvest basket, one source is here.  And another, just for starters, is here.

Did I mention they are low in calories?  Did I remind you that making Dandelion Wine is one of the great rites of spring?  Need I say more?  I may get around to a series of these wonder plants but just in case I don't and you want to buy this one, (it, like the plant, is so under value!) you may contact me here.

Going GREEN,

Cindy