Wild Ink / Winter Berry

I found this shrub while exploring the creek at our property one day thinking I’d like to try making it into a Wild Ink after smushing one of the berries between my fingers and discovering the prettiest purple stains on my fingers.  I didn’t harvest any that day as I wanted to research to figure out what type of berry it actually is. Well, my husband knows my love language, and brought me home a few branches that contained the berries after one of his walks so I decided to give it a go!  I’ve been able to identify it as Chinese Privet.

If you haven’t read my article over at Mother Earth News about my process of creating Wild Inks, you can read it here or check out my free workshop on my process here.

The winter berries after harvesting off the stems

Using modifiers to shift the pH level, I was able to get 2 additional colors. I used Baking Soda and Citric Acid as two modifiers for this wild ink.