Making Ink From Leaves... DIY Leaf Ink!

Published at : 14 Dec 2025

Hi, my name is Cory and I'm an artist that uses nature as a medium. A lot of times I like to DIY my own paper from grass or in this case leaves. Every time I make paper from plants, I'm left with a residual "tea" (not for consumption!) that I've always wanted to try and use for something else. Since in my last video I made paper out of leaves, I wanted to show you how I used the left over liquid and repurposed it to use as ink! I'm happy to say this DIY ink experiment was a success and is a great way to use fallen autumn leaves. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to use it for (besides drawing of course), but I'd like to use it in some creative ways in the future!

Chapters:
0:00 Intro and making "leaf tea"
1:09 Making leaf ink
3:05 Testing the ink
6:30 Final results and outro

Materials I used:
"Leaf tea" (boiled and strained leaves)
Gum Arabic (optional thickener)
Small stove (never boil plants inside!)
Small pot
Something to stir with (I use a disposable chopstick)
Mason jar (no plastic!)
Small jar for ink
Funnel
Strainer

My video on how I made leaf paper:
https://youtu.be/V10GaezQWhs

Winsor & Newton Gum Arabic I used:
https://a.co/d/1KsqQNO

National Park Service ink recipe (I didn't follow this to a T, but it's helpful!):
https://www.nps.gov/articles/ink-activity.htm

The Rhinoceros by Albrecht Dürer, 1515:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/356497

Artist Jay Matternes and the book I referenced:
https://www.jay-matternes.com/index.html
https://a.co/d/cQVOtRo

Artist Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/corym.art/

My website:
https://corymorrisonart.com/