Monica Perez Vega

Contemporary Artist | My Life in Trees

Tag: natural pigment

Tree Pigments

Back in March, I was given the task to look for and collect Norwegian Maple buds- for their incredible yellow-making ability, by my ink-making mentor Carolyn Morton, in preparation for an upcoming zoom-laking-lesson. (Laking is the process of making a dried pigment from ink). At the time, the budding Norwegian Maples were apparently abundant where

Pine Cone Ink

After a sloppy and amateur start last week… I feel I redeemed myself slightly with my Sequoia pine cone ink this week. I just boiled them with soda crystals. I roughly tried to follow measurements I found online and record my process. I think I was getting a little confused between making ink or pigment

Dispatches from the Sloppy Chemist

Ok… I wasn’t sure I would publish this post because it’s actually so embarrassing- my absolute ignorance in the field of pigment-making. I know there’s a lot of people who have been doing this for a long time, that I feel silly even trying. It’s part of what deterred me for so long- thinking what’s