Cotton sheeting dyed with oak galls and iron. A lot of the projects I’ve worked on over the past few years connect back to my childhood and the activities that occupied me then. Making cords by plying together strands
Threads
Accordion books
Accordion book with expressive calligraphy on white paper using oak twig and homemade iron gall ink. Additional marks made with watercolours. Board covers and supporting pages made from heavyweight brown paper painted with iron gall ink, watercolours and gouache. Measures
Oak
OAK At the back of the churchyard an oak has rooted beside a grave; each year the lichened slab is covered with galls. Searching among tussocks of wet grass I find celandines, primroses, violets, last year’s foxgloves springing again from
Rust prints and ink lettering
Following on from my previous iron gall ink making post, here’s a quick update on what I did next. After removing the linen wrapping I used the rusty metal to make several prints. For the darker one on the left it
Making Iron Gall Ink
Raw material – a mix of crushed oak galls and twigs. Ingredients assembled: selection of rusty iron objects, crushed galls, old linen cloth from charity shop, old saucepans. Combined fabric dyeing and ink making in progress. Oak galls and rusty