#anthocyanins

grape hyacinths are one of my favorite spring ephemerals. not only are they adorable, but the flowers can be used for making syrup that tastes faintly and sweetly of grapes.

and if that’s not your thing, they can also be used for making color-changing ink. the initial ink might look purple in color, but as it hits the paper and begins to dry it will turn blue. and if you add an acid, it will turn pink. and if you add a basic it will turn green (you can do this with the syrup, too!)

this happens because of naturally-occurring pigments called anthocyanins – the same pigments found in purple cabbage, violets, and blueberries!

COLOR SCIENCE 🧪

___________________________________

Ink Recipe

Ink Tutorial | Part 1 | Part 2

Walk with me: October in the Cheat River Canyon. Fall color is now approaching peak in the lower elevations of NC-WV (by comparison, the high Alleghenies were at peak about a month ago). While always memorable, on certain cold, overcast days, the forest's disparate colors, enabled by a volatile mix of carotenoids and anthocyanins, seem to coalesce into a single, radiant being, whose final act of self-immolation lingers in memory long after the embers have burned away. Contributing yellows and golds to the fire are yellow birch, sweet birch, witch-hazel, American beech, tulip poplar, northern spicebush, striped maple (moosewood), and several species of hickory. Reds and burgundies come courtesy of red maple, sourwood, sumac, dogwood, and various oaks. Sugar maple, big-tooth aspen, yellow buckey, serviceberry, and sassafras contribute variable color, from yellow to vivid orange. But my favorite of all is the wine-colored foliage of mapleleaf viburnum, which pairs exquisitely with lustrous purple-black berries.

With all this hot sunny weather in the UK, you might be wondering about how the plants are responding to these conditions. Join me, Dr. Katia Hougaard, as we explore the connection between purple coloration in Persian Basil (Ocimum basilicum) and exposure to sunlight.

While plants need sunlight in order to perform photosynthesis, plants can get "too much of a good thing" when they are exposed to excessive UV radiation from the sun. In response, plants make red and blue coloured pigments called anthocyanins to protect themselves from DNA damage. These pigments serve as anti-oxidants that protect against oxidative stress caused by free radicals created via UV exposure. Anthocyanins can have a similar anti oxidant function in the human body when a person eats red and purple fruits, vegetables, and herbs as part of a healthy diet.

Stay curious about plants today, and every day!

Most recently (like, today) corn starch/glycerine/vinegar bioplastics (+yellow onion skin dye for the orange, not yet set fully) Should be good to take out of the plates in like 8 or so days

WIP drying pumpkin out to hopefully make a patterned container, found a pumpkin someone had thrown on the sode of the road and carved a design into it/emptied it out

i'm *hoping* packing it with salt will let it drain of enough water like the last pumpkin i made this way. I think i might not have thinned the walls enough and it'll take a while to dry before i can test this guess

Spun yarn (raw wool washed using saponins extracted from lambsquarters/goosefoot seed coatings)

SPIDER SILK plus beginnings of a very tiny weaving attempt again with them; i think it's too tiny for the warp though

A small sampling of plant pigments (usually anthocyanins) i've tried working with recently (mostly mixed with water, some egg tempura experimenting as well)

Hoping that posting this will kickstart my brain to post more about these specific things with even more detailed observations soon

Berry Magic: Create Natural Purple Dye with Blackberries and Blueberries