Date and time
Sat, 1 Apr 2023, 10:00 – Sun, 2 Apr 2023, 16:00 BST
Location
Cotesbach Educational Trust Main Street Cotesbach Lutterworth LE17 4HX. UK.
Wild Paints and Inks with Foundandground
Paints: Come and learn how to make beautiful paints from what we can forage in nature and find in our neighbourhoods. Using materials of earth, trees, plants and water, we’ll make colourful natural paints that our ancestors would have used on parchment or paper, particularly in Europe from 600CE until the Twentieth Century, as well as in India and the Middle East. You’ll go home with simple paints and refined watercolours, but more importantly, the knowledge of how to make art materials from what’s around you, wherever you are. You will learn how to ethically forage your materials without harming your environment.
We will cover watercolours and gouache from gum Arabic and cherry tree gum, tempera and glair from egg, and vegan alternatives to egg paints. The day will be hands-on and practical, but we’ll also learn about the traditional uses of all the paints we make and there will be ample time for questions. Bring a sketchbook and favourite brush or two, to make swatches of your paints throughout the session. All other materials will be provided.
Inks: In this class we’ll learn to make oak gall and iron gall ink, the traditional ink of the Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence and almost all European illuminated manuscripts, such as the Book of Kells. We will learn a foraged, simple, technique as well as a studio method, both will make beautiful black inks. You will learn how to ethically forage your materials. Then we will make other botanical inks and learn how to create, test, and modify a variety of plant-based materials for colourful inks. We will make quill pens and brushes from goose or turkey feathers, as used in Saxon times in the scriptorium. I’ll be explaining some of the history and chemistry of our inks and how to use and store them.
You’ll go home with inks, pens, brushes, and the knowledge of how to brew up simple colourful inks and long-lasting tannin-based inks at home. Bring a sketchbook and favourite brush or two, to make swatches of your inks throughout the session. All other materials will be provided.
What to bring for either workshop: wear old clothes as some of the materials we’ll use can stain. Feel free to bring any large feathers (such as goose, swan, gull or crow) that you find in the meantime, as well as any oak galls or seashells you find.
Booking and more details via Eventbrite
