Alder Cone Lake Pigment

Alder cones are high in tannins, which produce an attractive warm caramel colour that I use to make a lake pigment, making a lovely watercolour paint.

Alders grow on moist ground and can be identified by their flowers.

Common alder has both male and female flowers on the same tree which appear before the leaves in early spring. The male flowers appear in the form of hanging catkins which turn yellow. Female catkins are green and oval-shaped and grow in clusters.

Once pollinated the female catkins gradually become woody and appear as tiny cones from autumn to release their tiny seeds. The female catkins stay on the tree throughout and can be found all year round.

Recipe

Cover 100g of cones in boiling water and leave to steep for 3 days.

After 3 days transfer the cones and liquid into a dye pot/beaker and cook gently on medium/low heat for about 45 minutes.

Strain through a cheesecloth. (The cones can be dried and used later for a paler shade if required).

Add 50g alum to the hot liquid and stir well to dissolve.

Mix 25g of soda ash in about 100ml of hot water and slowly and carefully add this to the alum mixture – this will create a high effervescent – whisk well until the foam has subsided or when a pH of 7 has been achieved. Scrape everything from the side of the beaker as this contains lots of valuable pigment. This is the Lake pigment.

The following day draw off as much of the surface fluid as you can with a syringe.

Filter the sediment through a coffee filter adding a little distilled water if very thick.

The next step is to wash the pigment to remove any residue colourant, alum or soda ash that did not bind to the pigment.

Transfer the pigment to a fresh beaker using distilled water to rinse the filter paper. Add distilled water to the beaker containing the pigment and leave it to settle overnight. Repeat the washing process a few times until there is a clear separation.

At this stage, the pigment is clean and can be dried and then ground to a very fine powder