Catherine and her ColourField workshop recently featured on the BBC Countryfile autumn special TV show, where she gathered walnuts from Mulberry founder Roger Saul’s estate and then used them to make ink, dye and prints, with assistance from Countryfile presenter Anita Rani.
The amazing young artist illustrator Sol Whiteside has been using my special inks in his new work ‘Snow White’
W/inc ™is small batch produced in Wales by artist ink-maker Catherine Lewis. She uses ancient methods, locally gathered materials and a lot of love to make this special Welsh artisan product.
Organic walnuts are collected fresh in the autumn from Cardiff’s Bute Park and the beautiful Sharpham Park estate in Somerset; they are stored to mature and to obtain the richest colour possible; then they’re processed by hand, tested and finally carefully bottled and packed in hand-finished recycled packaging.
Each annual crop produces a limited supply, is numbered and dated by hand. Each batch colour may vary a little as each nut crop is unique!
Walnut W/inc™ is a rich, deep, autumn brown but it’s also is available treated with iron to give a deeper brown-black.
Natural Indigo W/inc ™
Testing Indigo W/inc™Each bottle of this beautiful deep sea blue ink has a sprinkle of natural indigo, a dash of local walnut, a pinch of Welsh sea salt and a swish of seaweed to thicken… ’tis the ink for a landlocked mermaid to write her message in a bottle.
Oak Gall W/inc ™
Made with foraged oak galls and scrap local rusted iron, this traditional W/inc™ is made to an ancient recipe that has been used for centuries for official documents, such as the Mapa Mundi, the declaration of Independence, official Post Office ink and many more. It is known to last for hundreds of years – it is still used for the writing of acts of parliament today.
Hibiscus flower W/inc™
Fair trade Hibiscus flowers are treated gently to extract their pretty pink colour and a few natural additives preserve and thicken it. On certain materials it will oxidise to a lilac grey.
I make lots of other products from local, natural materials and recycled or carefully picked organic textiles.
ColourField Natural Textiles 