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Making Botanical Ink:
Write, Draw & Paint with Nature

Making your own natural ink not only gives you beautiful and interesting colors to create with, but it provides a deep connection to the natural world. It’s also just really fun! Ink is an incredibly versatile art medium and using plants to make ink is not only a great way to get interesting colors but it also a very rewarding way to interact with nature no matter what the season.

This course includes all the information you need to make your own botanical ink and I’ll show you many ways to use it, include teaching you to paint a simple landscape with your ink.

This course is hosted on Skillshare. For one membership fee you will have unlimited access to this course as well as my other 6 courses and thousands of exciting classes from artists and experts all over the world!

As a Top Teacher I am happy to be able to offer you a 1 month free trial!

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Here’s what you’ll get in this course

Lesson 1: Introduction

Lesson 2: Class Project

Lesson 3: Choosing Botanical Material

Lesson 4: Supplies & Equipment

Lesson 5: Extracting Color From Plants

Lesson 6: Filtering Your Ink

Lesson 7: Modifying the Color

Lesson 8: Adding a Binder

Lesson 9: Play Time! Using Your Ink

Lesson 10: Painting a Landscape

Lesson 11: Final Thoughts

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This course includes a full hour of video instruction that includes tips on selecting wool yarn to dye and mordanting the yarn, which is a process of preparing yarn to bind with natural dyes. You will learn to identify plants (including kitchen cast-offs) that will create beautiful, permanent color as well as sources to purchase things you may not have locally. I walk you through the process of applying natural materials to yarn to create numerous colors and patterns. Several bonus lessons are included in this course, covering mordanting (preparing) cotton fiber to dye as well as several ways to apply the natural materials to create different color patterns and designs on your yarn.

Here’s what students are saying:

  • “Very informative and well made! Takes the intimidation out of making inks and inspires me to want to try making some of my own!”

    John V.

  • “This is such a lovely class everyone can do with not a load of supplies. I like it that the materials come from nature and can be found anywhere. I am going to try making ink with fresh walnuts a friend gave me yesterday. And I am going to ask her for the soft outer parts also to give a try, for they contain lots of colour. Casey, thank you for this nice class, I learned a lot and am looking forward to your next class with more colours in it! With love from Marjon in the Netherlands”

    Marjon D.

  • “Casey makes this process so clear and very approachable. I already have most of the supplies and I can’t wait to try it myself!”

    Joanna C.

  • “Really enjoyed the class and will be making some inks this next week. I've always wanted to make some of my own inks and now I can experiment. Thank you!”

    Ernie W.

  • “Delightful class on making inks, she really breaks it down so lovely and so easily!”

    Jennifer R.
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