I don't want to live in a place where a baby dies & is found to have alcohol in her bloodstream
I don't want to live in a place where people have to be told to remember to handle their babies gently 

I want to live in a place where you can get so close to a Bumblebee that you can see it's fluffy body
And a child grows up knowing that she's part of a world where it's best if everything is handled gently

I’ve been boiling up tiny pieces of bark, small amount of leaves & abscissed branchlets from the only Tānekaha tree we have. 

The tree’s name is Nui - she’s named after our friend’s mum. In fact, we’re growing Nui for our friend who entrusted us with Nui as she doesn’t have ideal growing conditions at her own place for a forest tree.

We planted Nui as a long, skinny, fragile seedling who was so young her bark was greenish yellow. She's now about 6 years old & although her bark has changed & she's much larger than she was, she’s still not very big & she won’t be mature for many years yet. 

Tānekaha are not particularly common trees around our area so it’s been fun discovering things about Nui as we watch her grow. 

Tānekaha (Phyllocladus trichomanoides) is one of our native trees traditionally used for dyeing.
A tannin rich dye is able to be extracted from the bark & red/brown colours are obtained. Traditionally the fibres dyed were muka & after being removed from the dye bath the colour modified by rolling in wood ash.

My story isn’t about the dyeing process tho - it’s about the possibilities that opened up when we discovered that Tānekaha, & their close relative Toatoa, are in the habit of abscissing their leaves. 

When I started reading about this habit was when I realised the meaning of the Latin name of the tree which is when the story gets really interesting.

The leaves aren’t just your average photosynthesising leaves.
In fact the 'leaves' are not leaves at all - they are stem modifications. 
which got me wondering . . . 

Would it be possible to obtain colour from the abscissed leaves, which are dropped freely & frequently by the tree, rather than cutting off her bark ?!

The answer is yes. Yes it is.

Perhaps this is not the colour some would expect or want.
Perhaps it lacks the depth of colour that might be obtained from the bark.
Perhaps it will fade in time.
I don't care.

I had only the question - is it possible ? 
I am overjoyed to know that indeed it is possible. 
I will never strip bark from these trees - I don't need to.
I will celebrate the reciprocity I have with Nui.
I will cherish her & thank her often for encouraging me to be open to learning simply by dropping her leaves at my feet.
​
He taonga tuku iho
 
xxx

Long story short; a dye bath for fabric or fibre is dependant on having either fabric or fibre ready to dye which makes it not worth doing when you don't have fabric or fibre you want to dye. Further complication is that when you are dyeing cellulose fibres with plant based dyes you may end up with nothing other than boiled cotton fabric which has steadfastly refused to take up even a smidgeon of colour from the dye bath !
 
Make Ink A Foragers Guide to Natural Ink making by Jason Logan had been mentioned on Instagram & as it piqued my interest but wasn't available in NZ, I requested it through our local library & waited patiently for it to arrive. I knew it would be full of plant references which are pretty much useless in NZ & especially useless for me as I'm still far more curious about the potential of what we have available here, particularly in our own native plants.
That's ok. I'm used to that.

I was not expecting magic.
I was expecting a very beautiful book with a few tidbits of useful information.
It is indeed a very beautiful book.  
It is an absolute pleasure to read & it does contain magic.

The magic it gave me is freedom.
It gave me a reason to make colour for the sake of making colour.
It gave me a water based process which, for the plant based explorations, has it's origin in natural dyeing.
A process that is very familiar to me.
This particular ink making process removes the stumbling block.
It reduces the colour making to it's simplest form & the end point is when YOU get the colour YOU want.

"What distinguishes ink from other art supplies is its use as a tool for communication."
I could go on & on about how much I love this sentence.  

I'm going to add to it.
​
Making ink is about communication. 
Foraging is about observation.
Observation is about being attentive to your surroundings.
Being attentive to your surroundings is about developing a relationship with place.
It's about the unspoken dialogue you have with your surroundings which informs you of the health & well being of place.
It's about sharing. 
It's about reciprocity.
It's about acknowledging & honouring place through the language we use as writers, artists, stitchers, weavers, or spinners.

Now off you go.
Make Ink my friends & let's get this conversation started.

Sal xx