Making and painting with botanical inks
I began researching ink making in 2020 while working on The Monk's Garden; a visual art, heritage, and medieval inspired gardening commission. Having made my drawing charcoal for many years and drawn with burnt cork I was eager to learn more about natural inks.
I began by walking a farmer's hedgerow and foraging materials – oak galls, acorn caps, fallen beech bark, elderberries, sloes, holly berries and discovered the wonders of tannins. I experimented, documented my results, and in 2023 exhibited a solo exhibition of works in botanical inks Small Finds at the Refectory, St David's Cathedral, Wales.
Explore David's botanical ink artworks in Small Finds
Read David's illustrated account of The Monk's Garden project
How to make oak gall ink, instructional video
Written, directed, edited by David Begley
Filmed by David Begley and Hanneke van Ryswyk
2 minutes
© David Begley 2024
Oak gall ink
Oak gall ink and iron oak gall ink have been used by illuminators, artists, writers, and composers for thousands of years. Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Victor Hugo, Goya, and Van Gogh drew with oak gall ink. It is a permanent ink, is light fast, and was the main ink used in medieval illuminated manuscripts including The Book of Kells.
What are oak galls?
Oak galls form when a gall wasp lays her eggs on the branches of an oak tree in spring. The tree to protect itself from parasites produces tannin, an astringent, bitter tasting compound. Over the coming months this compound ‘grows’ around the gall wasp larvae into a circular form known as a marble gall. The gall will be green in late spring, turning brown in late summer.
Pick oak galls from the tree when they are brown, from late autumn and winter onwards – and only when the galls have holes. These holes are created when wasps eat or burrow their way out of the gall and leave. Rinse galls and allow to dry. When crushed and allowed to steep in water, oak galls leech tannic acid, this solution when combined with a gum produces oak gall ink.
What water can I use?
Use rainwater for tannic inks as it is slightly acidic. I use distilled water with inert materials such as burnt cork and charcoal. I also use well water, sea water and river water for ink making – depending on where I forage materials. Filter and boil rainwater before using. Tap water which contains chlorine should be avoided.
Oak gall ink recipe
1 Crush 30g galls with a pestle and mortar: crush one at a time, giving them a tap first, then a good bash! Crush the galls into very small pieces - no need to crush them to a powder.
2 Cover and steep in 300ml rainwater in a clean sealed jar for a minimum of 24 hours, but ideally a month. This ratio of 1:10 works very well although for my own work I prefer to make a stronger solution – 1:4 galls:water.
As you steep galls they will leach tannins and create a mild tannic acid. The longer you steep galls, the deeper the colour - expect to create a rich brown colour which varies from amber / raw Sienna to an umber. Give your jar a shake every few days.
Instead of water you can experiment with white wine if you wish. Medieval recipes recommended ale, mead, or wine. I have experimented with these and found that rainwater works best for me.
If using rainwater, gather with a water butt and filter through coffee papers. Boil rainwater to kill off any unwanted organisms.
3 Label the jar with contents and date.
Experiment with water filtered from a well, river, sea etc.
4 After a month strain this tannic acid solution in muslin or cheesecloth into a clean saucepan. Remove mould if present.
5 Bring to the boil and simmer on a medium heat (3 - 10 minutes) reduce to your preferred consistency. Heating your solution intensifies colour, darkens it, and thickens it.
6 As your solution simmers, test it for colour and consistency with a strip of paper.
Make sure to test with paper that you plan to paint on as each paper will receive ink in its own way. Test your colour with a brush, reed pen, or dip pen on paper.
When making your own ink, create it to your own preference.
7 Add a teaspoon of salt - intensifies colour (optional).
8 Allow to cool to a warm liquid.
9 Decant into a sterilised glass bottle or jar.
10 Add gum arabic: 1 part liquid gum to 10 parts solution.
11 Add 1 clove to preserve. Cover and shake well.
12 To darken or blacken oak gall ink add iron water (see iron water recipe, below).
Explore David's oak gall ink paintings
Cave painting
oak gall ink on Fabriano Rosaspina paper
17.8 x 25cm
© David Begley 2024
How to make alder cone ink, instructional video
Written, edited by David Begley
Filmed by David Begley and Hanneke van Ryswyk
4:35 minutes
© David Begley 2024
The sower
alder cone, oak gall ink,
iron water and salt
on Fabriano Rosaspina 290gsm
21cm x 30cm
© David Begley 2023
Private collection
Small finds a journey into ink
Written, directed, edited and piano by David Begley
Filmed by David Begley and Hanneke van Ryswyk
4:30 minutes
© David Begley 2023
Relict
oak gall ink on paper
29 x 41cm
© David Begley 2023
Wexford County Council collection
As part of David Begley’s Ancient Connections artist residency commissioned by Wexford County Council (2020 - 2023) and inspired by medieval manuscript making, David began foraging materials from farm hedgerows in Ferns in 2020. He brewed these with rainwater, water from St Mogue's well, Ferns, and seawater, to make inks. Relict was created during this residency and was exhibited at The Refectory, St David’s Cathedral, Wales and County Hall, Wexford.
Relict: a thing which has survived from an earlier period or in a primitive form. . . an animal or plant that has survived while others of its group have become extinct . . .from Old French relicte ‘(woman) left behind’.
'As I worked in The Monk’s Garden at St Edan’s National School, Ferns, I grew to love the cries of a pair of buzzards which flew over The Harrow. Each time I returned, their calls cut the breeze. The cry was wonderful. I could imagine their 'song' ever present in medieval Ferns. It was a constant reminder that the red kite would also have been present in medieval times but was later hunted almost to extinction in Ireland.
Every time my family and I visit Wales I love to see the kites, their distinctive wings stretched wide, and their shadows draping the road when they swoop low.
The title 'relict' refers to the many species which may have been made or are about to be made extinct due to human activity. This painting was made by dipping a sheet of paper in a pot of boiling oak gall solution. This action caused the paper to stain, buckle, and appear to crack. When the ink was dry I added iron water to the base of the painting. This reacted with the tannic acid in my oak gall ink to produce the dark area – and for me, considering the recurring droughts over recent summers in Ferns, this dark stain was hope: the possibility of recovery in the remaining moisture deep in the soil.
The mark over the top right 'peak' of the earth was a smudge, an accident, a blot. I saw in this form a beast, and added to it a wingspan. It could be a kite, a Welsh dragon, or some creature we have never witnessed. It appears as a lone beast, proud, or perhaps left behind, or calling out for its companion.'
My ink making and painting process
'Dousing paper in water and brushing or pouring ink onto this surface produces pools. Colours form rivulets and leave residues. I am fascinated by the images that arise from this process, how they shift and settle, how they mirror percolation in land. Dipping paper in ink forms strata. Blotting creates light. In these layers and shapes I find the soft open slopes of Ferns. I see monks, pilgrims, crones, beasts.
Leaving image-making to chance is unpredictable but in this I discover and I learn. By treating the paper surface as a laboratory, witnessing chemical reactions unfold, some small wonders occur. The surface becomes volatile, colours evolve and cure. Ink dries and leaves its stain. It reminds me of how we have treated land.'
– David Begley
Fossil
alder cone, oak gall ink and iron water on Fabriano Rosaspina
25 x 35cm
© David Begley 2023
Wexford County Council collection
Carving a sycamore spoon
Written, filmed, edited and piano by David Begley
1:06 minutes
© David Begley 2023
Painting with burnt cork
Film, edit and music by David Begley
2:16 minutes
© David Begley 2024
Iron pieces and iron water jars
© David Begley
How to make iron water
Tannic inks turn black on contact with iron salts – tannic acid and iron react to create this transformation. As tannic ink is acidic it is mildly corrosive: always wash metal nibs after use.
Traditionally, iron sulphate is added to oak gall ink to create black (known as iron oak gall ink). Iron water is a versatile alternative to iron sulphate. I use iron water as iron sulphate is the main ingredient of moss killer and I have found it to be an irritant.
Iron water recipe
1 Add 1 part white vinegar and 1 part rainwater or distilled water to a jar of rusty nails, screws etc.
2 Add a teaspoon of salt as a catalyst.
3 Allow approximately two weeks for preparation; timing varies. Do not seal airtight while the mixture is reacting. Strain into a clean, labelled storage jar, removing the nails and other metal pieces. Seal only once the reaction has finished.
4 Iron water produces a strong odour which can be unpleasant. Work in a well ventilated space.
5 Wash brushes and implements in water after use.
Add a few drops to any jar of tannic ink and witness its magical transformation! Experiment by painting with iron water directly onto tannic ink. Try painting with iron water directly on paper, and adding tannic ink to this. Experiment with washes (dilutions) of iron water.
Vary the strength of your iron water solution by using more/less water and/or more or less rust.
I added iron water to alder cone and oak gall ink in Fossil, pictured below.
