The Vision
In the future printed materials will feature vibrant, sustainable botanical inks rendered from community compostables.
The Project
Basic Botanical Ink Recipe
- One cup of leaves, flowers, or berries
- One dash salt
- One teaspoon white vinegar
Heat mixture to just below boiling.
As liquid takes on the deep color of your botanicals, test a strip of paper in your ink.
Experiment with various colors—ink may adjust radically as it dries.
The Consideration
How biomimicry was considered
- Flowers use bright colors draw the attention of pollinators. Similarly, botanical inks utilize naturally derived colors to draw attention to printed and written messages.
The Plan of Action
How we can achieve this vision of the future
- Print shops, schools, homes, and workplaces utilized reusable ink cartridges filled with botanical inks rendered from Ink Spots—a network of small community spaces that rendered specific compostables—from onion skins to grass clippings—into botanical ink.
- Ink Spots, staffed by EcoCorp volunteers, whose higher education was paid for by the U.S. Government in trade for their work on behalf of an ecologically focused national program developed to staff innovative work that counters climate change, distribute inks community wide for educational and messaging purposes.
