Make Botanical Ink with Sarah MH

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Make Botanical Ink Learn to make botanical ink to use for drawing and painting. We’ll start by learning about the basic chemical compounds that create pigments in plants and some history on how different plants have been cultivated for color in art-making. Next, we’ll get to make our own botanical ink extracts and binders, using locally grown dyers chamomile, cosmos and oak galls. While they cook, we will get some time to paint with water and alcohol inks, experimenting with brushes and line quality. Once the extracts are ready, we will combine with binders and bottle up ink. Participants will be able to take home 3 inks to use as well as resources to continue to experiment. Learn to make botanical ink to use for drawing and painting. We’ll start by learning about the basic chemical compounds that create pigments in plants and some history on how different plants have been cultivated for color in art-making. Next, we’ll get to make our own botanical ink extracts and binders, using locally grown dyers chamomile, cosmos and oak galls. While they cook, we will get some time to paint with water and alcohol inks, experimenting with brushes and line quality. Once the extracts are ready, we will combine with binders and bottle up ink. Participants will be able to take home 3 inks to use as well as resources to continue to experiment. BIO: Sarah MH is a painter, textile artist, natural dyer, and printmaker based in Oakland, California. Her work often begins with foraged and homegrown pigments and inks, blending natural, synthetic, and mineral materials. Through painting and pattern, she explores inner worlds, nature’s quiet details, and recurring forms like spirals, seeds, water, and fossils—symbols of transformation, presence, and possibility.