alcohol ink

technique overview

the first few photos just show me adding ink to my acrylic.

in this case i just used some plastic packaging. how cheap is that?!

there is no technique here other than knowing how to squeeze the bottle and point the nozzle onto the surface. yeah. tough. take deep breaths!

but take a look at how the first drops just kind of stay where they are.

when you start to layer the inks, they make some pretty funky patterns.

the ink does not dry right away, so there is a "path" for the added inks to follow.

my favourite part? if you don't like the colour or pattern. rub off the ink and start over. nothing is wasted. not even time. it is nice to have the opportunity to practice and not waste anything.

here is what you need:

i started with 3 bottles of alcohol ink.

you don't need to buy the expensive applicator tool and precut felt pieces. unless you just had a birthday and someome knows you well enough to buy such a cool tool for you! you can use a clothespin. and pick up some white felt. trim off a piece about 2 cm by 5 cm.

it also is a must to have newsprint or something under the acrylic. there will be some mess.

apply the ink from the bottle onto the acrylic shape.

use the felt/clothespin to DAB at the ink and spread it to where you want it. this step is a lot like stamping or painting.

add more ink to get a darker colour. or add another colour of ink.

each time you add more ink, DAB at it with the felt and move it around to where you want it placed.

here is another shape. you can see in the third photo how the ink is starting to spread out.

scroll back up and take a look at my collage. it may make more sense now.

and here is the finished project!

at the time i did not have felt on hand. i used a cotton pad instead. it did work okay. but i noticed some fibres on some of the shapes.

my piece of felt was about 2 square metres (HUGE). i cut off a 2 cm strip last night and then cut that into smaller rectangles. (cut the strip in half, half again, half again, etc.) it took me 5 minutes. i have enough felt for serveral uses. and i still have a TON of felt to cut out in the future. maybe i'll make some felt animals for the kids! lol!! and the cost? $8. yes. cost effective.

and more ideas to share:

and then i came across this use for alcohol inks today from Janine's blog. check out this cool technique for painting with alcohol ink. i cannot wait to try this out. this is similar to watercolour painting. without the watercolour. and no paintbrush. and on acrylic instead of paper. lol! the way that you move the ink on the acrylic and the forgiveness of the colour IS just like the painting part of watercolour painting. people LOVE it when i say stuff like this....something that is so simple, and i make it more complicated! just go check it out and then see if you can then understand what i am trying to say!

here is something much more complicated in the area of needed materials. but oh sooo cool! . check out the "categories" section on the left. but also follow his links in this blog entry. yeah. wow.

so i hope you have fun and feel more inspired to try something new. i wanted to make it seem less scary to try. if you have any other links of what you can do with alcohol inks, let me know!