Making DIY Ink

Ever since I heard that it is possible to make ink from natural substances, I wanted to try it with my children. Yesterday Tyler triumphantly brought me pokeberry ink that was nearly ready to be used. He had pounded the berries with his mortar and pestle (plastic cup and a stick). I strained the liquid and mixed in vinegar and salt to preserve the color. 

Today in the children's creative journals, I assigned the children to write a message using a quill and pokeberry ink. 

But if one color is good, more is better, right?

We looked for things in nature that stain your fingers. Walnuts. Leaves. Flowers. 

To get green ink, I collected a wad of green leaves and blended them with a little bit of water. Walnuts shells needed to be boiled for 15 minutes, as did the vinca petals. Once I had highly colored liquid, I added salt and vinegar to each color, which supposedly preserves the color. 

Boiling yellow mum petals failed to make yellow ink, but I remembered reading about turmeric being a good choice. I ran out of time and patience in waiting for the turmeric to fully dissolve in water, so we used it prematurely. If we were going to paint canvases to sell, I would have wanted to find a way to have my yellow less watery.

But the yellow paint worked fine for our purposes. We used the quill to do smaller spaces, words, or outlines and brushes for everything else.

Maybe someday I'll experiment with more kinds of berries, onion peels, dirt, chili powder, and purple cabbage. I'd also like to try mixing paint colors to see the new combinations we can come up with. But for now, my desire to make natural ink is fully satisfied.