Hawthorn berry ink
The sun finally came out this morning and I spotted these beautiful berries on the Hawthorn tree in my garden and decided to try and make an ink from them.
Hawthorn berry INK RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
110g of Hawthorn Berries
240mm filtered water
Gum Arabic
Clove
METHOD
Pick the berries and put them into a pot
Add water and bring to a gentle simmer for 30 - 40 minutes
Leave to cool in the pot
Strain mixture through a coffee filter
Add a clove and 10 drops of gum arabic
Leave to cool and soak
Once the water had nearly all evaporated, I took the pot off the stove and left it to cool down and soak up the last of the dye from the berries for about 2 hours
Strain the mixture
I strained the liquid through a coffee filter and, as you can see, there’s not much ink there.
I added some gum arabic and a whole clove
A surprising green ink
I did a little test patch which at first was a very pale pink with hints of grey - then I came back to it about 2 hours later and it had turned into this green colour!