L and I were exploring our backyard last night and he grabbed onto a pokeberry plant. I know these berries are a bit poisonous (early native americans used them to induce vomitting) so I of course screamed "NO!" but as I ran over to him, I saw the bright PINK stain on his hands and thought "wow, thats really beautiful!" I knew at that moment, I had to do SOMETHING with them. It certainly was one the prettiest color made by nature that i'd ever seen!
Why not make paint?!
Why not make paint?!
So I went to gathering
I first got out mortor and pestle just to see a bit of the color...ooo la la!
I decided that "blenderizing" it was the quickest and most effective way to achieve smooth beautiful paint so I put on some rubber gloves and went to stripping the berries off the vines.
I blenderized it till it was super smoooooth.
I put it in a pretty container until I can figure out what to paint with this amazing color!
Can someone make me a dress in this color plllleeease!
To preserve the color and extend it's shelf life (it will eventually mold), add a bit of salt and vinegar to your pokeberry ink.
Because this paint is toxic, sadly I can't let L paint with it until he's much older, with my supervision, gloves and a paintbrush. However, this did inspire me to let L make his own homemade paint with non toxic berries (blueberries, strawberries, blackberries).
See his Edible Berry Painting
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So neat Jess! Love the pics too :)
ReplyDeleteLove it! Did you have to add anything to it to preserve it so it doesn't turn brown?
ReplyDeleteTheresa, yes I added some salt and vinegar for a longer shelf life. However, it still needs to be used pretty quickly if you want to keep that bright pink color! AND store it in a cool and dark place. Thanks for stopping by! :)
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