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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 45 minutes of video instruction that begins with how to select plants that are suitable for making ink. You will start by creating a lovely brown color from your selected plants and I teach you how to modify the color of your ink to create darker brown and black hues, all from one plant source! This course also includes lessons on storing and caring for your botanical inks, as well as many suggestions and demonstrations on how to use them including writing, drawing, and painting. As a bonus I teach you to paint a beautiful landscape using your handmade botanical ink. Even if you don’t think you’re a painter, I promise you can do this!

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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