How to Make Ink with Plants - Recipe #3: Nettle

Welcome to our third monthly seasonal natural ink challenge, this time using the ubiquitous stinging nettle. If you can’t find a nettle, try yarrow, spinach or goldenrod foliage instead. This recipe was courtesy of Bohemian Raspberry Art, who makes fantastic seasonal inks for sale. You can find her on Etsy and Instagram:
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Bohemian...
  / bohemianraspberryart  

Recipe and shortcuts:
00:00 Early Spring is the ideal time for making ink from nettles. While the leaves are fresh and young they give the best greens - older leaves tend to give muddier, brownish tones. The colours from nettles can vary a lot depending on the soil they grow in, so it’s worth experimenting with batches from different locations.

00:22 Cut just the top 6 or 8 leaves, and wear rubber gloves to avoid stings. Gather a good bunch of nettles – enough to half fill your ink making pot once chopped up.

00:55 With your gloves on, chop nettles into shreds and put into a small pot.

02:04 Pour over twice the volume of boiling water. Stir well and leave to steep overnight.

02:14 Bring the pot to a very gentle simmer – do not boil! Take off the heat immediately and leave to steep for a further 1 to 3 days. You’ll see the liquid colour gradually deepen from reddish-brown to dark green.

02:55 Strain the ink well to remove all the leaf matter, then return the liquid to a clean pan. Simmer gently, uncovered to reduce the liquid until you have a very concentrated solution. Use paper strips to test the colour every 10 to 15 minutes to see if it’s intense enough. Remove from the heat, cool and strain again to remove any stray bits of leaf.

04:03 For every 100ml of liquid, add 10-20ml gum Arabic solution and stir well. Decant into clean bottles. To deter mould, add 2 or 3 drops of essential oil, or a whole clove to each bottle.

05:55 Paint with your new ink!

If you would like to try out these inks but don't have time to make the recipe, consider checking out my Patreon, where you can receive a vial of previous months' botanical inks, plus see all the extended Daily Nature Journal content and paintalong videos. All patrons can also download printable pdfs of the month's recipe.
Patreon:   / alexboon  

You can also find me using the links below:
Instagram:   / the_daily_nature_journal  
  / alexboonart  
Website: https://alexboonart.com/
My Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AlexBoonArt
Contact: [email protected]

Journal by Lotus Blu Book Art
Small journal by BohemianRaspberryArt.