Q&A for Printing By Hand discussion

Hi Lena,

I'm currently looking for natural inks (from plants and insects) that could do the job for woodblock printing on linen.

I found some ifnormation about Kalamkari and indian block printing; It seems they use natural inks to print on fabric... but I can't find any information or recipes on how to make that kind of inks.

Do you have any informations about this subject, or do you know where I can find some ?

thank you ,

Claudia

Hi Claudia,
My friend Kristine wrote a wonderful book called : The Modern Natural Dyer. If you can make a natural paste of some kind, you could add any natural dye pigment. Good luck!

Best,
Lena

Hi Lena,

Thank you for you answer !

The paste you talk about would be used to thicken the ink?
My concern is about what natural material i can use to make the ink washable... but I guess I should first use mordant on all fabric and then print with the ink...

I'll buy the book you talk about and see if I can find more inside!

Thanks again!

Claudia