AVOCADO INK

MATERIALS

You’ll need:

• Glass container with tight fitting lid

• Stainless steel pot (used only for ink/dye making)

• Funnel (used only for ink/dye making)

• Coffee filter or cheese cloth

• 2 cups of hot water

• Around four cups of broken up, dried avocado skins

• 3 tablespoons of white vinegar

• 1 TBSP salt

• Wintergreen essential oil (3-6 drops)

• Spoon (that you will only use to make ink) or stick for stirring

• Rubber gloves (optional)

MAKING THE INK

1. In your large pot for ink making, add your dried avocado skins and fill with water until just covering the broken up pieces.

2. Heat to boiling, stirring often, then reduce to a simmer.

3. Simmer for 2-3 hours, until the liquid in the pot has reduced visibly. Look for rich, brown pink coloration in the ink color, testing often with strips of scrap watercolor paper. I label my strips by fifteen minute intervals to track color changes.

4. Once you’ve reached your desired color, stir in your vinegar and salt to preserve your ink.

5. Filter your ink using a strainer or cheese cloth. For those that want a less “gritty” ink, strain again through a coffee filter balanced in your funnel straight into your glass container.

6. Add your wintergreen oil—avocado ink is prone to mold, and this acts as a fungicide to prevent it from growing. If the ink does form a layer of mold a few months or years down the road, don’t panic! It grows most often in a “puck” of mold. Remove it, and keep painting!

EXPERIMENTING

The more avocado ink you layer, the darker it gets. And while it isn’t as ready to accept drastic changes in pH from our additives, add a sprinkle of iron to have one of my favorite ink colors: a gorgeous dark gray.