Where it all began.

Making NATURAL INKS began for me in 2016 when training to be a sign-writer. I noticed that the triangular TOXIC symbol on the back of many of the paints I was using showed a dead tree and a dead fish. This led me to question how the materials I was using in my creative practice were impacting on the environment. They were also impacting my body.

I began researching natural dyeing and ink making online and alongside my sign-writing mentor. This began an experimentation period over the next year or so foraging for plant materials and making colour. I began with oak gall and avocado stones.

It did not take long before I was hooked, and making the WALKING, FORAGING for and MAKING INK became central to my making.

The process.

Creating colour from what can be found in parks, hedgerows, gardens, edge lands and the kitchen compost bin is a real joy. It lifts and inspires. The way colours react and respond to different factors. Different hues and tones found on different days. There are so many factors that can come into play.

I let the material, the ink, teach me.

I began to explore found PIGMENTS from rocks, earth and stone in 2019.

I like to explore blending colours together to see how the talk to each other. The colours don’t blend in the same way shop bought paints do.

This is the real alchemy.

It is sacred, sensory medicine. The whole process. Learning about what the plants do in different seasons, entering a landscape and looking deeply. Spotting potential colour-making matter. Asking the plant if I can gather from it and bringing that home to be simmered on the stove.

The more I do it, the more I am keen to learn more. Explore more.

The possibilities are endless.