Windblown, hemlock root bark, ink.

After I (Edward) heard a passing comment about the red that can be found from the bark of Hemlock fir trees I decided to investigate. This peaked my interest for it also corresponded with discovering a better technique for drawing out colours from 'woody' plants which of course very much includes trees.

Having previously noticed quite a Hemlock firs in Mabie forest near to Dumfries, I thought that is where I would go and see if I could collect some branches. There area about 8-10 Hemlock different species of the trees, that are native to America and Asia, but are planted here, although not in large numbers, as part of forestry operations. Apparently the tree has the same name as the highly poisonous hemlock due to it's foliage smelling similar when crushed.

I wandered the forest to see what I might find and came upon a Hemlock that had been blown down in a recent winter storm exposing lots of roots. Deciding to collect some of them I immediately noticed the red under the bark when I cut the roots. This appeared to confirm what I had heard about a red that comes from the bark. Upon returning I cleaned the gathered roots and stripped the bark from them cutting them into smaller pieces with the intention to make an ink. I simmered the cut roots in an alkali solution for an hour or so and left them soaking overnight and during this time noticed a lot of colour coming out.

When the mixture had reached it's desired consistency I tested it out and it was indeed a lovely earthy red on the page moving towards a reddish brown as it dried. I like it a lot and plan to make a batch of inks called ‘Wind blown Hemlock root ink’ which will form part of my collection of foraged inks that'll be available at the wild food festival near Stirling on the 17th and 18th May.

I now am wondering how the colour might appear on fabric and so the next project is to dye some wool with the roots and see what happens!