Hi there, good to see you. I hope you are having a great week and are ready for some inspiration. Today I am showcasing my first attempts with alcohol inks. These have recently become popular in the world of crafting, however I have never used them before. I was very mesmerized and intrigued by all the Youtube videos out there and order myself some. Of course, I have lots of other tools and media in my stash, did I really need something else. Well, after using them I would say yes. They are truly different to anything else I have and I love the vibrancy of the colors. However, I was also able to obtain a more soft subtle look when playing about. So if bold colour puts your off, stay tuned for future post for a more subtle look.
Materials required for:
- Alcohol inks – I used a selection of Ranger alcohol inks (links are listed below for colours)
- Synthetic paper – I used Yupo paper – you cannot use regular card as the ink absorbs into this and will not move around. It will also give a very dull look to colour.
- Blending solution
- Straw
- Gloves
- Baking parchment – I used this a worksurface
- Additional items to assemble into a card
For links to some of these products, see the end of the post.
Alcohol ink Tips
Bare in mind alcohol inks do stain, so if you don’t like messy fingers I suggest wearing gloves. In addition, alcohol inks can colour a variety of non-porous surfaces so take this into account with the work surface you are using. I have a Tonic Studios glass cutting mat and I decided to lay some baking parchment over the top to work on. This worked great as it is a slick surface that is non-porous. So my alcohol ink didn’t soak through and stain my glass mat.
You may want to find a straw to use when crafting. – you blow through this to move your ink on the paper. However, I would suggest working in a well ventilated room when using alcohol inks. In addition, you can purchase blending solution to help blend the inks. But also allows you to reactivate and move your inks round if you are not happy with the outcome.
You can buy any alcohol ink applicator tool that has felt pads on the end. This can create different effects on the paper, but your can create beautiful backgrounds without this. These cards were created without using this tool.
My biggest tip is to have a play and experiment. The best way to learn is to have a go!
Alcohol ink Card process overview
Start adding little drops of a colour to your Yupo paper and repeat with another colour. The closer the colours are to one another the more they will move and blending with each other.
After some time you will notice the ink will stop moving, but if you are not happy with the outcome you can always drop some more colour down. To help move the inks you can blow through a straw, moving the ink in the direction of your choice.
If you want some lighter patches, you can add some blending solution down. This creates water I feel like a tye dye look, but you can use your straw to help move it around and blend it too. It can create two different looks.
Set this to dry to one side, the length of drying will depend on the amount of ink on the paper. Areas where this a large build up of ink will take longer.
Alcohol ink Card pHotos
To create the cards below, I kept the cards quite simple to allow the backgrounds to shine. For the first card, I created a white card frame and foam mounted onto the background. I added simple white die cut heart contrasting against the bold background and used foiled die cut and a stamped sentiment. Lastly, I embellished with a few Tonic Nuvo Drops.
For this second card, I kept the card very simple to focus on the colours and movement of the background. I die cut a stitched rectangle from the piece and foam mounted onto a card base. Again I added a foil vellum die cut and a stamped sentiment, and embellished with some Tonic Nuvo Drops.
Did you like this project? Why not pin it and save for later? It will be there for when you need it!
links*:
Amazon
*THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. BY CLICKING ON THEM AND PURCHASING PRODUCTS THROUGH MY LINKS, I RECEIVE A SMALL COMMISSION FOR THE REFERRAL. THE ITEM WILL NOT COST YOU ANY MORE BY GOING THROUGH THIS LINK.
TO SEE ANOTHER project like this, CHECK OUT THIS POST HERE.
Feel free to leave me a comment below, I would love to hear what you think of the card!
If you enjoyed today’s post, why not sign up to the newsletter to find out when new posts are out? Just click on the link on the menu or fill out the form to the side. As always, you can also follow on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest! Or if you prefer, why not follow me on Google +!
Till next time,
*this post was NOT sponsored, requested, or paid for; I have written it because I wanted to. The information provided is based on my own personal experience. I’m not an expert and I don’t work for these companies.
