Char & Bloom

Starting something I always was curious about. Making my own ink. Char & Bloom is a all natural ink using local resources and crepe myrtle charcoal as the main pigment. The goal is to be sustainable while providing a boutique ink that has characteristics professional artists will love. I’ll have the first vial ready for testing come early May 2025. I will use these posts as a way to document my journey. I have been making my own drawing charcoal for about a decade now. I just kinda put 2 and 2 together finally. I will be expanding into other products such as compressed charcoal and calligraphy inks. Heck, I might even bottle the excess charcoal powder and sell it as a stand alone product. So this is it, this officially marks the beginning of my journey into ink making. I have already committed to buying the correct filtration and setup to become successful. My goal is to work with local stores initially and also work in tandem with local lawn care services for my supply of crepe myrtle branches. I’ll be using local honey and oils to add to the sustainable appeal. Eventually if I get the opportunity I want to have a zero waste system in place but I have got to make enough to get up to that level. I’d even like to collect things like the vapors given off in the charcoal making process, but I’d need a condenser and licensing. All of which is just a dream. With your support maybe we can make that a reality. Making high quality art products like Char & Bloom completely friendly to the environment. I’d like to eventually grow my own crepe myrtle trees on my own land to make it better. Maybe even have my own bee hives to harvest honey. But for now I am working with what is given to me. Being as eco-friendly as I can with aspirations of a cleaner world and premium art supplies for everyone to use. I’ll be back with a little update once I have the first vial ready for testing.