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Tobacco Dye

Servings 200 mL
Total Time 3 hours

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups water (distilled preferred)
  • 1 cup tobacco leaves
  • 2 tbsp vinegar
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 30 drops gum arabic
  • 2 drops wintergreen oil

Equipment

  • pot
  • spoon
  • sieve
  • coffee filter

Instructions
 

  • Combine tobacco leaves and water in a pot.
  • Add the vinegar and salt.
  • Heat to just below boiling and simmer for at least 2 hours. Stir occasionally.
  • When mixture gets to your desired color (you can test this by dipping paper into the pot) remove from heat and let cool.
  • Into a heat resistant container (I use an old Chemex) place a coffee filter into the funnel and filter the ink solution. You may need to sieve the mixture first if you have particularly large plant matter.
  • Add gum arabic: For each 60 mL of ink, use roughly 10 drops of gum arabic. Add more for a viscous solution and less for a more fluid solution.
  • To preserve mixture, add a few drops of wintergreen oil into each container.