ACORN INK

Written By Gabrielle Eisma

ACORN CAP INK RECIPE:

  1. Uncap all of your collected acorns. Last year’s acorn caps are fine, as long as you attempt to clean off some of the mud. Set aside the acorn body for a different version of acorn ink if you’d like. Otherwise, put the acorns back outside for wildlife to use.

    1. Never take more of a material than you need. For an ink, you will only need a little more than a cup of acorn caps. To learn more about the rules of the honorable harvest from an expert, head here.

  2. Add your cleaned acorn caps to your large pot (used only for making inks or dyes), covering them with water. A good ratio is 2 cups of water to 1 cup of acorn caps.

  3. Add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar and 1 tablespoon of salt to the ink as you’re bringing the ink to just below boiling. Cook for at least an hour, stirring occasionally.

  4. Take a minute to enjoy the maple syrup smell the beginnings of this ink gives off.

  5. Keep strips of watercolor paper nearby to dip into the ink and test the depth of color throughout the boil time. If you’ve reached your desired color earlier than the time suggested, remove the pot from heat and let cool. Take notes on your strips—date, amount of time of boil, and ingredient you are making your ink with are all good things to keep track of.

WHOLE ACORN INK RECIPE:

  1. Choose large, ripe, brown acorns from the same year you are harvesting from. Try not to grab last year’s acorns, as they tend to be bug-eaten inside and won’t release the same color.

  2. Put your acorns in a tough cloth, tarp, or burlap bag. Take a rolling pin and crush the acorns to a consistency you would want to eat with your ice cream.

  3. Put the crushed acorns in your dye pot, covering them with water. A good ratio is 2 cups water to 1 cup of acorns. As they absorb water and swell, add a little water to keep them covered.

  4. Heat the beginnings of ink over low heat until it’s lightly simmering. Simmer for 30 minutes, then turn off the heat and take the acorns somewhere well-ventilated to sit overnight.

  5. Take a second to enjoy the maple-syrupy smell.

  6. Add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar and 1 tablespoon of salt to the ink as you’re bringing the ink to just below boiling. Cook for at least an hour, stirring occasionally.

  7. Keep strips of watercolor paper nearby to dip into the ink and test the depth of color throughout the boil time. If you’ve reached your desired color earlier than the time suggested, remove the pot from heat and let cool. Take notes on your strips—date, amount of time of boil, and ingredient you are making your ink with are all good things to keep track of.

STRAINING YOUR INK:

  1. Remove the large pieces of acorn or the caps from the cooled ink first with a spoon, strainer, or large bowl and colander (depending on size and your materials at hand—just know these tools should only be used for making inks after use).

  2. Filtering the ink can happen a couple different ways:

    1. Use a funnel and a coffee filter, placing the small end of the funnel into a glass container. Pour the liquid in small batches and wait for the coffee filter to remove the smaller particles for a cleaner ink.

    2. Use a strainer or tea infuser basket, placing it over a glass container and pouring the liquid in slowly and waiting for the strainer or infuser basket to filter out a little less of the smaller particles for a more gently-textured ink, great for painting.

    3. Pour through an old bedsheet rubbed-banded or tied tightly over a large bowl. Pour in small batches, waiting for the liquid to filter through and lightly stirring it to encourage the flow. Watch carefully, because the ink can travel through fabric and you can lose a small amount of ink to the sheet. Which will be permanently brown now.

  3. Note: you can save the acorns or acorn caps for another ink making session if you leave them to dry out on a flat surface for a few days, then place in a brown paper bag or jar. Acorns are rich in tannins, and it will take more than one ink session to exhaust its supply.


MAKE IT (MORE) PERMANENT

  1. While I don’t often add gum arabic to my inks so I have a greater ability to change its color, adding this binder to your ink after you’ve reached your desired color can help preserve your ink.

    1. For each 2-ounce bottle of ink, use 10 drops of gum arabic (this is a Toronto Ink Co. tip!)

    2. If you use pen with your inks, the less drops the better off your pen will be.

  2. To hold off the molding and stinking these inks will naturally want to do, add a few drops of wintergreen oil, or 1 whole clove to each bottle.

  3. Use glass to store your ink in with a tight-fitting lid.

  4. Add a label to your ink—and also record this in a notebook or sketchbook for your reference later—like this:

    1. Name of Ink

    2. Ingredients

    3. Date

    4. Location of harvest


TEST YOUR INK

  1. Here’s where its up to you and your experimentation process—there is an endless amount of ways these natural inks will surprise you, as they react differently with different things along the pH scale—see the drawing below.

  2. A single drop of ink when added with one of these mordants can change your color or consistency. For acorns, the most dramatic is ferrous sulfate (20% iron), which you can buy online or make something similar yourself with rusting nails in a vinegar and salt bath.

    1. Iron is one of those mordants you don’t want to mess with. Have a stirring stick that is dedicated for inks + iron, and only add it to the glass container, and not to your pot, to prevent all future inks from getting contaminated

  3. Add other inks to your acorn ink, or add spices like turmeric to see how the color spreads or gathers around the additive.

  4. Try the ink on different paper stocks. Or, try dipping the paper to see how concentrated you can make the ink in intervals.

  5. Use ink droppers and compare them to pens, then compare that to brushes—compare to your fingers, even, if you don’t mind the mess.


CLEANING UP

  1. A little less fun, but no less important. Keep rags around to use for this, maybe even the rest of that bedsheet you might have cut up to use as a strainer.

  2. Wash out your dye pot thoroughly with soap and water.

  3. Wash your hands—staining skin can sometimes be reversed more quickly with sugar scrub soaps.

  4. Make sure to clean your utensils and put them somewhere that is not the kitchen, so no one is tempted to use them for their next batch of curry.


QUESTIONS?

Leave your questions, comments, or ink attempts here or on my instagram page! I love to help others problem solve with their inks, and acorn is one close to my heart.

Gabrielle Eisma
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