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simple inks - Coffee and tea

11/5/2018

3 Comments

 
 After doing some researches online and readings articles and books about how to make natural and simple inks, I decided to experiment my first ink with coffee and tea.

Coffee ink:
My husband is a coffee lover. I emptied the content of an already used coffee capsule to do my ink. I understand that I started with a lighter coffee that I would have if I was used new coffee, but it is always important for me to think of recycling (or second use items) before doing a project.

I use 4 larges capsules and only 1/4 cup of boiled water and I transferred the coffee 5 times to get a deeper brown color. To preserve my ink, I added a bit of white vinegar and a pinch of salt. The ink color was a light brownish and dried the same color.
​
Hibiscus Tea:
I am the tea lover at home, so I thought it could be a good idea to make some ink with pure Hibiscus herbal tea. I bought this delicious tea in a local shop called "Experience Tea", months ago.
I poured boiled water over the tea, set it aside for few minutes then added 2 teaspoons of cornstarch to get some thickness, (more like paint than ink) and  a bit of vinegar. I drained the ink through a sieve and let it aside for 30 minutes.
My daughter had some fun with! The color was like a mat pink but turned into a nice grey after an hour.​
I really wanted a pink/reddish color so I tried it again but I did not add any cornstarch. That ink was a bright reddish pink, that turned into a beautiful blue-violet on the paper.
I finally tried something else. I dipped a piece of fabric (an old white cotton pillow cover) into the pink ink then let it dry overnight.
In the morning I expected to find a nice blue-purple result, but the fabric stayed pink!
3 Comments
Iván
11/12/2018 12:49:03 pm

Thank you Aline! great project.
Great input on using used coffee to extract color. What I do - if it might provide another perspective - is that I always save the coffee leftover in the pot (which is richer than re-using the leftover in the filter) in a bottle until is full, and then I take it to work, where I make the inks. This works well because there's always a bit of coffee left in the pot and day after day it adds up to a great source for color.
Your tea experiment is fantastic and the colors look great.
It would be interesting to see how that pink on the fabric survives washing. Let us know! great job Aline. Iván

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Madeline
11/15/2018 10:17:37 am

Hi Aline! I really like the blue color you got from the Hibiscus! I wonder if the hibiscus ink would washout without any mordent to your fabric. Has it continued to stay pink? .... looks great!

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nicole
12/12/2018 05:37:57 am

Hi aline!
I loved the color you got on the fabric! it was pure cotton? And I also have the question of ivan and madelyn, if it keeped the color after washed.
What is life without tea and coffee isn't it? What i love about those projects is that it look like us and our life style. And also, that we can put a little bit of our pleasures on surfaces and inks!

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