Pine Cone Ink Recipe
What will you need ?
You do need expensive equipment but I recommend that the equipment is seperate from your daily cooking equipment as you will be dealing with alkali.
A plastic ( Dishwasher , Microwave , Hot water safe ). lidded container which hold approximately 1 to 2 litres.
A glass/plastic measuring jug , 1.5 litre or you can as I do use my 500ml jug and do it in sections.
Small Pan , my pan is 1.5 litre :I advise to buy a pan dedicated to making ink.
Soda Ash. Readily bought from eBay and other shopping platforms. It is very cheap and you do not need a lot: please keep this away from children and pets
Plastic Funnel to decant into your Ink vessels. Different sizes if you are going to decant into small ink vessels for gifts.
Stainless Steel Fine Kitchen Sieve. to fit your measuring jug.
Cheesecloth for straining the organic bits when decanting or coffee filters.
Gum Arabic Powder. It is not expensive , you do not need a great deal. I normally buy 50g at a time.
Litmus Paper. You can buy this off eBay , it costs a few pounds and has within the booklet a colour guide for the PH levels.
Wintergreen Essential Oil.
Ink Vessel. I use jam jars which hold 250 - 500ml dependent on which ink I am making.
Small Ink Bottles. I collect Victorian ink bottles so I can gift to friend.
Foraging
I tend not to distinguish different pine cones but harvest what is abundant in my favourite woodland. It gives me the beautiful reddy brown I like and often seen on tree barks. You can find a single pine tree for their cones if flush with cones. These are primarily larch cones. I make note of places where there is abundance of pine cones for me to collect from the forest floor so I can return if needing more. I only take what I need.
I use a cotton tote bag , I think I bought 3 for about £10 and use them to forage with. Easily washed afterwards , light and packable.
Lets Begin
You will need a container to make the Ink.
I use a plastic container which is microwave and dishwasher safe so I can put hot water into it and also sterilise it. I sterilise with boiling water , I like simplicity. The plastic container seen in this recipe is 120 x 120 x 140mm high and holds just over 1.5 litres. I nearly fill the container with cones , of course you can cut them up to pack them in but I prefer to fill with whole cones , it just feels a better way.
I will top up the cones when I put in the water solution.
2. Making the liquid
I find my method saves on expensive energy bills with inexpensive soda ash to cook the cones in a PH10 water solution.
I steep the Pine Cones in a PH10/11 Alkali water for 48 hours and repeat the process 3/4 times.
I use volume of filled Pine Cones with same volume of water , approximately using 1.25litres of water solution. I use hot water from the kettle. The hot water gets the cooking started. As I have only 500ml pyrex measuring jug I will do this in parts. For every 500ml I will put 1 teaspoon of Soda Ash which will make the water PH10/11. Note you will need to experiment on this as your water supply may differ. A good tip is to put in 1/4 teaspoon at a time until you find what works for you, you can always add a bit at a time. You can experiment with higher alkali as it will affect the overall colour. I like to optimise my alkali as I don’t like using chemicals and also it will affect your paper you are using the ink on. Furthermore , I love the colour it creates and is a stable in my art making.
But it is fun to see what you can create by playing with additives.
You need to buy some Litmus paper strips , they are next to nothing on eBay. The Litmus paper pads will have guide to PH levels , PH10 is a dark purple.
3. Steep the Pine Cones in hot PH10/11 water
Once you have poured the PH10 water into the container I will push down the Pine Cones as they will soften and add a few more. Place a lid on the container and leave for 48 hours.
4. After 48 hours
As I only have 500ml measuring jug I decant the Pine Cone stepped liquid directly into a pan large enough to keep the 1.25litre.
I use a stainless Steel Sieve to decant the liquid. I place the discarded Pine Cones in my composter.
Check PH of liquid with litmus paper. It will of reduced alkali but not by much.
Add 1/2 teaspoon of Soda Ash to bring back to PH10/11
TIP : It is easier to add soda ash to bring up alkali levels , so put a little in at a time. Depending on your quantities , type of water etc it will vary so a bit of soda sh at a time and test.
5. Next Step
Fill the plastic ink making container with new batch of foraged pine cones to the same level as the 1st steeping process ready to receive the Ink solution.
Gradually heat up the Ink solution to simmering. This helps getting the cooking process for the new batch. Note: it does not need to be boiling and take care of hot alkali water , especially if children and pets are close by.
Decant into plastic container , top up to the same volume of water with some hot water from the kettle and stir. You should not of lost too much liquid , maybe 50ml.
Leave for 48 hours
6. Repeat Process 4 & 5
7. Decant Liquid into a measuring jug
Strain liquid into a measuring jug. I use a stainless steel sieve with cheese cloth placed over the top. I had 1000ml of liquid which I split into 3 iso that I can experiment with 2/3rds.
You. need to know where you are starting from., so it is a good idea to know what volume you have.
Have some test strip paper which you usually use as it will have different quality to different paper.
Heat up the liquid to a simmering point to reduce the liquid so you can intensify the colour.
As the colouring was not so intense I reduced the liquid from 300ml to 100ml.
Keep testing the intensity as I reduce the liquid. Dip a watercolour brush into the heated liquid and paint onto your test strip.
NOTE:
I do not always get a great colour from any of the plants I use , you are dealing with nature.
Tip:
If you do not obtain a great colour from your cooking process you can try and reduce down or you can keep.. You can do the following.
You can use it to lightly stain your paper rather than having bright white.
You can keep the liquid and use it as a base for cooking another ink making project rather than starting with water.
You can add additives to the ink liquid
You can mix it with another plant ink to change the colouring.
8. Decant into glass jar
I use a plastic funnel with cheese cloth placed over and decant from the pan directly into the jar.
You can also return back to measuring jug , sieving the liquid once again through the cheese cloth lines stainless steel sieve.
Let the liquid cool down a little whichever method.
If I am dealing with larger quantities I use the measuring jug but I have only 100ml of ink so I have directly put into a jar.
9. The Binder
this is the substance which binds the colour to the liquid.
I use Gum Arabic Powder. It is inexpensive and you only need a small amount. You do not need to buy expensive artist pre made gum arabic solution and you do not need to make a liquid solution. You can directly put the powder into your ink solution. As show beneath the powder forms clumps , I use a back of a teaspoon and press a clump against the jug , however if shaken and left alone it will eventually dissolve. The ink is usually Luke warm when this happens which allows the powder to dissolve quicker.
Generally I will make 300ml of ink at a time. and for 300ml I will use 1 teaspoon of Gum Arabic powder to the warm liquid. As I have retained Ink for other use and reduced this third down to 100ml I have added 1/4 teaspoon of Gum Arabic powder. It is not an exact science.
10. Preserve Ink
Once the Ink has been placed into your Ink jar then add 2/3 drops of Wintergreen essential oil for the 100ml I have used. Give it a good shake.
Just add one drop to small ink bottles.
Please remember you are making an organic plant ink which is natural and will eventually deteriorate.
Your Ink should last you more than one year , ready to make a new batch and see what the difference is.
11. Document your Ink
I document my Ink twice.
As shown on the left in a lovely handmade paper sketchbook. My ink will be used on my art organic assemblies so having the ink expressed on handmade paper is useful for me. However , I just like having a book with my inks swatches as a memory for me.
I also have a watercolour sketchbook where I put a swatch and to the side write the extract colour technique.
It is helpful to document swatches of colour as you can see how different the hues and tones are when you do it again.
12. Share with Friends.
I am a gifter so I collect beautiful old victorian ink pots so I a gift my ink to friends.
Although as a non drinker acquiring old wine corks is not easy I ask friends to keep them for me. I simply with a sharp knife cut the cork to make a mini cork for the Ink Bottle. One cork may do 2-3 one pots. I find this the easiest as each Ink Pot is different in size and it does not need to be professional as a gift, just effective to to seal. I use a red candle and melt wax over the top of the cork to seal.
To present the Ink , I would use a piece of organic twine which is inexpensive and make a label with some handmade paper. You can buy sheets off Etsy. I would not put sticky label on the bottle because it's a pain to remove. .
NOTE :-
You are making something organic and natural which may not be lightfast and have some PH level which may eventually deteriorate your paper.
Think of what you make like the life cycles of nature and its fading as natural and beautiful process of living art.
13. Have fun.
I think the world takes itself far too seriously and has forgotten to play , be childlike and curious about life. Expression is a gift nature has given human beings.
Have fun with your ink , some inks are great for calligraphy others make lovely washes.
Remember all human beings can create art it is unfortunate that the wrong people in society have created conditions and rules which dictate what is good or bad. These people did not exist in our ancient past so re wild yourself and have some fun.