Making my own inks
Following on the looking at Mithu Sen's work, I decided to make my own inks, so to continue with the natural theme of my work, instead of using synthetic inks.
I decided a good place to start was black ink.
From my existing knowledge of chemistry, when incomplete combustion occurs, soot can form as a result. Soot is impure carbon and is black in colour. Burning a candle is an example of incomplete combustion, and by using a spoon to collect it, the soot can be scraped off and placed in a pot. It can then be mixed with water to produce a black (or very dark grey) ink.
Next, I made a yellow ink. I have fond memories of cooking with my nan, and one of my favourite spices has always been turmeric, and I remember as a child always having yellow stained hands. Therefore I felt turmeric would be best to use for yellow ink. To make the ink I mixed ground turmeric into water and put it in a pan to boil. By boiling it allows more of the ground turmeric to dissolve into the water, making a more concentrated solution.
Moving on, I tried to make a red, as I thought it would be best to make the primary colours. To begin I used some frozen berries which I blended in water and boiled in a pan to try and remove as much pigment from the cells of the fruit as possible. But when it came to painting with the ink, the colour dried to a purple shade instead. Although it turned out purple, I find this is a useful colour to have. As it's very pigmented and can create a variety of shades based on the amount of water diluting the pigment.
When considering making another colour, I decided to make green as its the colour that represents nature and goes with my concept. My initial idea was to crush up leaves and boil them in water to extract the chlorophyll. But when I did this the water turned out a muddy brown with green specks, which didn't leave a very pigmented ink. For another trial, I decided to use parsley and boil it in water, to release the pigment of the parsley. I felt the dried spices would contain more pigment which will be able to be released when it's hydrated. However, when I did this the solution was very weak in pigmentation and felt I could make a better green.
I tried mixing my purple and yellow together, as blue and yellow make green, and the purple I have is very blue undertones, which I found when mixed created a green. I plan to use these inks to create more natural pieces which go with the natural and organic theme of my concept.
As s small experiment, I created a small painting with the inks inspired by leaves and how they blend together. Upon reflection I find the colour scheme matches that similar to William Morris. My knowledge of William Morris is very limited as the last time I studied his work was at GCSE. So more research will be needed, I plan to look into colour theory to investigate what colours complement each other and still give a natural feel to it.
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| Using a spoon to catch the impure carbon, a product of incomplete combustion |
I decided a good place to start was black ink.From my existing knowledge of chemistry, when incomplete combustion occurs, soot can form as a result. Soot is impure carbon and is black in colour. Burning a candle is an example of incomplete combustion, and by using a spoon to collect it, the soot can be scraped off and placed in a pot. It can then be mixed with water to produce a black (or very dark grey) ink.
Next, I made a yellow ink. I have fond memories of cooking with my nan, and one of my favourite spices has always been turmeric, and I remember as a child always having yellow stained hands. Therefore I felt turmeric would be best to use for yellow ink. To make the ink I mixed ground turmeric into water and put it in a pan to boil. By boiling it allows more of the ground turmeric to dissolve into the water, making a more concentrated solution.
Moving on, I tried to make a red, as I thought it would be best to make the primary colours. To begin I used some frozen berries which I blended in water and boiled in a pan to try and remove as much pigment from the cells of the fruit as possible. But when it came to painting with the ink, the colour dried to a purple shade instead. Although it turned out purple, I find this is a useful colour to have. As it's very pigmented and can create a variety of shades based on the amount of water diluting the pigment.
When considering making another colour, I decided to make green as its the colour that represents nature and goes with my concept. My initial idea was to crush up leaves and boil them in water to extract the chlorophyll. But when I did this the water turned out a muddy brown with green specks, which didn't leave a very pigmented ink. For another trial, I decided to use parsley and boil it in water, to release the pigment of the parsley. I felt the dried spices would contain more pigment which will be able to be released when it's hydrated. However, when I did this the solution was very weak in pigmentation and felt I could make a better green.
I tried mixing my purple and yellow together, as blue and yellow make green, and the purple I have is very blue undertones, which I found when mixed created a green. I plan to use these inks to create more natural pieces which go with the natural and organic theme of my concept.
As s small experiment, I created a small painting with the inks inspired by leaves and how they blend together. Upon reflection I find the colour scheme matches that similar to William Morris. My knowledge of William Morris is very limited as the last time I studied his work was at GCSE. So more research will be needed, I plan to look into colour theory to investigate what colours complement each other and still give a natural feel to it.
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