I love paint - especially watercolor of course. All the colors, the different brands, the different types of watercolor - tube, liquid, pan, etc. My paint collection keeps growing, but it hit me recently: What exactly is paint made of?
In a nutshell, paint and ink are essentially pigments or dyes mixed with a binder. But the journey of paint goes way, way back, spanning centuries. Imagine the quest for just the right pigments to produce those breathtaking, vivid hues—it wasn't a walk in the park. While today's paints often rely on synthetic pigments crafted in labs, our artistic ancestors worked with natural botanicals to create their masterpieces.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to make my own ink as part of the Nature Journaling community with Shaver's Creek. We met at the Center for Virtual/Material Studies at Penn State, where art history professor Sarah Rich provided us an overview of how ink was made. I stroll into the room and see a slide projected on the screen featuring an insect, some peculiar brown spherical structures, and the words "Oak Galls" underneath. Now, your average Joe might scratch their head at the term "galls," but not me. Thanks to my dad, a seasoned naturalist who's been leading talks on local history and nature in Connecticut for years, I'm well acquainted with these little marvels.
Galls are peculiar growths that form on various parts of plants, such as leaves, stems, or branches, in response to certain insects, fungi, bacteria, or mites. These formations occur when the plant reacts to the presence of the intruder, creating a protective structure around it. Think of them as nature's little fortresses!
While there are many different types of galls, the aleppo gall, made by tiny wasps on twigs of oak trees, are ideal for making ink. To make the ink, we took a handful of these hard little structures and crushed them with a mortal and pestle. This was pretty challenging as the galls are very hard.
We then steeped them like a tea with hot water and strained the hard pieces out. The smell of the "tea" was interesting - a nutty, earthy scent. The color was still brown and golden, not yet the dark black we associate with ink. To turn it black, it required a spoonful of ferrous sulfate, or crushed iron. We added a binder of gum arabic to make the ink slightly more viscous. I definitely felt like a chemist as we created our concoctions in clear beakers!
While we were making a quick and easy version of the ink, the process typically takes much longer to make a darker and more luxurious hue.
After making our ink, the real fun kicked in - using the ink on our sketchbook pages. Alongside paintbrushes, we experimented with unconventional tools like sticks and feathers. Much to my surprise, my favorite turned out to be the humble stick! I found that it allowed me to achieve the deepest, richest values with the ink. Its surface seemed to absorb more of the liquid, resulting in bold, dark strokes that added depth and intensity to my artwork.
This experience has truly piqued my curiosity about the substances I use in art. Until yesterday, I never gave much thought to the origins of my paints. Now, I find myself pondering the possibility of digger deeper into this. I'm intrigued by the idea of exploring what materials I can find right in my own backyard to transform into painting mediums.
A few resources that can help us to learn more about this are below. I'm definitely planning to explore some of these!
Thanks so much to Alexa Sarussi from Shaver's Creek and to Sarah Rich for organizing this event.
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