Alcohol inks and four ways to use them

Alcohol inks can color most non-porous surfaces with ease. You can use them to change the color of metals, foils, acetate, glossy cardstock, plastics, and more! Once you have these inks, you may find surfaces to alter that you hadn’t considered altering before.

The basics

But how do you use these inks, I hear you ask. I have seen many people buy them and then not know what to do next. If that sounds like you, it’s time to get out the ink and see what they can do. As with many paper-making techniques, it’s easy to use alcohol inks once you know how.

Because they’re so good at staining surfaces, there’s a bit of caution with these inks: make sure you have a mat to work with to protect your furniture, and use something old when using them in case you accidentally smudge the color. clothes. The new color could be permanent! Once you have these precautions in place, you can start having fun.

The basic tools for using these inks include a wooden block with a handle, some Velcro, and some pieces of felt cut to fit the stamping surface of your block. Adhere the Velcro to the block of wood and glue a piece of felt to it.

You will also need some mixing solution. Choose one or more colors of alcohol inks and you are ready for the next step.

Using your alcohol inks

When you’re ready to add some color to your cardstock or other surface, place the item to be altered on its protective sheet. Turn the block of wood so that the felt pad is facing you. Now squeeze some ink onto your felt. A few drops will go a long way! Add more colors if you like, and if you are using metallic inks just add a drop or two of this as it will go even further than the other types of ink.

Now simply start stamping the colors onto your project with the wood block and handle, tapping, turning and twisting until you get the color set just the way you like it. Once you’ve applied enough color, turn the block of wood over and add a bit of mixing solution to the pad. Re-seal and watch the ink colors blend into amazing new patterns. Stop when you’re happy with the result, if you can!

This method produces stunning backgrounds for your handmade greeting card and scrapbook designs. Try stamping over the finished background with permanent ink, such as Stazon.

make overlays

You can use alcohol inks with acetate. I often use an overhead projector (OHP) sheet to do this. Start as before, with your acetate on the protective mat. Ink your woodblock tool and rub the ink onto the acetate, then add some blending solution to the felt and stamp the acetate to break up and blend the colors even more. You can create layers of color with this method, and since acetate is transparent, you’ll have a final result that allows light to pass through the layers. You can still stamp an image on top if you wish, using permanent ink.

As an example of another way to use acetate with alcohol ink, I removed some butterflies and cut them out of the acetate. I folded them in half and glued them to my card so their wings look like they are fluttering.

Imagine making flowers with the colored acetate and cutting the petals to fold them from the center. Consider using your paper punches to make some flower shapes if you’d like to try this.

InkedPlastic

As you can probably imagine, alcohol inks also color plastics very easily. If you’ve saved a plastic box of chocolates, try tinting the plastic from the inside or the outside, or both, for a nice effect.

inking foil

You can ink aluminum foil with alcohol inks. First adhere the aluminum foil to a firmer surface (like cardstock) so it won’t tear when you work with it. Then go ahead and tint the foil as desired using the same method as for paper, plastics, or acetate. You can get some even more interesting effects if you crumple the foil first.

Inked Bling

Did you know that you can change the color of your crystals, nails and alphas with alcohol inks? Use your applicator to smoothly apply the color onto the bling. Again, you can use more than one color. The shine from the bling will still be there after you’ve dyed it.

Modify the color of the smooth metal brads with alcohol inks as well.

There are many more surfaces waiting for you to try altering them with alcohol inks. I hope you give this medium a try and like the results!