Making Ink: Hibiscus Tea

 

Hibiscus Tea Ink with Gum Arabic, writes red, then turns purple as it oxidizes.  

This is after the ink had dried, and oxidized.

 

I made a batch of Hibiscus Ink, using Hibiscus Tea, which includes not only hibiscus, but also blackberry leaves and Indian lemongrass.

 Hibiscus Ink, red as blood in the pot.  

Here the leftovers dried in the pan, before it had a chance to oxidize and turn purple.

I used a recipe that advised 1/2 cup of hibiscus flowers (in my case the whole box of tea) with 1 cup of boiling water.  I let it steep for a few hours, then squeezed out the tea bags, and simmered the remaining blood red liquid down until it reduced to about 1/4 cup.  

I then separated it so I'd have 2 small spice jars with about 2 tablespoons of ink in each jar.  

I added about 1/8 tsp of gum arabic to one jar, and a few drops of tung oil to the other jar.  

Here's the recipe that advised adding tung oil.

The ink is a deep red color--like Ox Blood, but when you write with it, or set it to paper, it quickly oxidizes as it dries and turns purple. Nice!

 

Do I have a preference for the gum arabic ink over the tung oil?  Yes--I have to say I prefer the gum arabic -- but prob. only because I'm used to it in other inks, and the fact that it makes for a smooth flowing writing ink.   

Did I go out and buy tung oil specifically for this experiment in ink-making? No -- It was left over from another wood finishing project a few years ago.

 

Here is a blot print where the red ink is still wet.

 Here are some of the other ink sample tests, along with one of the spent tea bags that was died a lovely red. color.  This was a mercurial ink, in that sometimes it changed to purple, and sometimes it stayed red on paper, as you can see int he samples above.  The only thing I can think of to say about that is the speed at which it dried.  If it dried on paper BEFORE It had a chance to oxidize, it stayed red -- This was more likely to happen if I spread a thin layer of ink.  If it took a long time to dry (meaning I applied it thicker than not, it took a longer time to dry and turned purple on paper.

 

This one dried on paper before it had a chance to oxidize, so it kept the red color. 

I love how this card turned out.