Pokeberry Ink

While pokeberry is a native plant in North America it is generally considered a weed. It spreads readily from birds eating the berries and can often be found clustered under fences and trees where the birds were enjoying (and expelling) their meal. Phytolacca americana comes from the Greek word phyton which means “plant” and lacca which means “crimson lake.” Crimson lake is a traditional red pigment. It was a common source of ink in early America (hence the name inkberry) and during the Civil War particularly, it was the most common way for soldiers to write home and journal. The Kiowa people used the dried berries for jewelry and the Mahuna made dyes and inks. The Pawnee people made a red paint that they decorated horses and clothes with. Early settlers dyed cloth with pokeberry by fermenting it in hollowed out pumpkins. I totally want to try this– peak Halloween.

Pokeberry is one of my favorite plants this time of year, its deep purpley berries are so black and mysterious making ink and dye from them seems like a perfect Halloween/ Samhain craft. The berries produce a shocking pink ink or dye which also seems appropriate for this time of year for some reason. The berries (and most of the plant) are poisonous to humans (and dogs) and while I think this adds to their spooky mystique, please be careful around littles. You can use your ink to draw or write special messages. You can use the dye on fabric, cornhusks, wood or anything else that absorbs the color. It isn’t lightfast forever, but stays pink for awhile. (Eventually it oxidizes to brown.)

Pokeberry Ink

Pokeberry the easiest natural ink to make- you just mush it up and it’s ready to use- no cooking and no additives. The berries stain quite readily so you may want to wear gloves and or work outside.

Materials:

• ripe pokeberries
• a morter and pestle that you don’t use for food OR
• a glass jar and a stick
• cheesecloth
• a jar to store your ink
• a whole dried clove (optional, it will help the ink last longer)

Method:

You have a few options to make the ink– basically you want to squish the berries up and collect the juice. In order to do that you can:

1. Place berries in a morter and pestle and smush away. (Make sure it is not one you use for food!)
2. Use a glass jar and a blunt stick to do the same thing, place the berries in the jar and squish with the stick. The upside to this is the stick gets dyed bright pink too. (cover image)
3. If kids are helping, it’s fun to place the whole stems into t big jar (we use old pretzel containers) and shake until the berries get smashed up.

Once you have made a berry slush, strain it into a jar through some cheesecloth. Discard the seeds and pulp (or make seed paintings, below) and use the resulting ink to make a masterpiece.

You can add a clove to the jar to extend the shelf life of the ink somewhat. It can be stored at room temperature and will likely oxidize to brown before it gets stinky.

Pokeberry Seed Paintings

The seeds of the pokeberry left over after making ink or dye still have a ton of color, but it’s hard to use. It will bleed away from the seed in water though which is how i arrived at these fun paintings. Its the same idea as putting drops of water all over your paper and then adding color to them.

Materials:

• pokeberry seeds (from making ink)
• watercolor paper
• water
• paintbrush

Method:

Use your paintbrush to drop little islands of water all over your paper.

Carefully drop some seeds into the water drops and they will start to leech color. Leave the whole thing, without moving it, until the water has completely dried and then you can brush off the seeds.