Alcohol ink on tiles

really enjoyed working on these tiles.  These 4 inch square tiles from a hardware store make for a perfect and inexpensive small canvas. 

supplies: 4 inch square ceramic tiles, 91% isopropyl alcohol, Ranger Alcohol Inks (various colors), Q-tips, brushes, small spray bottle filled with some of the isopropyl alcohol, artist pallet tray to hold inks, gloves, paper towels.

The tiles were cleaned with 91% isopropyl alcohol and paper towels.  Then alcohol inks were poured, dripped, and brushed to mix together.    I gave a light spray of the alcohol to move the inks around.  It was fun to experiment.

This one is my favorite - just swirls of greens, blues and yellows.   

 

 

For this look I dropped ink and them blew through a straw to get most of the petals and leaves.  added dots in the center with ink and a q-tip.

 

 

For this tile I first applied a Peel-Off Sticker of a butterfly on the clean tile.  Peel-Off Stickers are very thin laser cut stickers ( I love the silver ones since you can alcohol ink them any color you want).  After the sticker was applied I carefully dabbed ink over the open areas of the butterfly and different colors for the background.  When it was dry I used a craft knife to pick up and remove the sticker revealing the butterfly outline.  

 

 

Had to try my hand at painting a scene.  still need some practice in this area but it was a fun experience.  The trunk of the tree was made my removing the ink with a brush dipped in the 91% isopropyl alcohol.  I used a fin brush to paint with the ink colors.

 

 

now I'm reading tons of blog posts on how to seal these tiles.  Lots of info out there and apparently lots of problems getting a good sealer on the tiles that won't make the inks run.  I'm not planning on using these are coasters so I won't need anything heavy duty. 

 

 

 

Alcohol Inks on Yupo paper

There is quite the buzz in the crafting world about Yupo paper.  I heard it is a fun medium to use with alcohol inks so I was really looking forward to working with it. 

Before I got the paper I kept thinking it must similar to glossy paper cardstock, but it isn't.  Yupo paper is a synthetic, machine-made paper of 100% polypropylene. It was made for the printing industry, not the art supply industry, but artists discovered it is a fun surface to work with.  The slick surface is a matt finish and alcohol inks play very well on this paper. 

The best point I can say about this paper is to experiment with it.  I haven't tried any other medium on it but heard that you get interesting results with other inks, colored pencils, water colors, and acrylics. I also haven't tired any masking fluid with any of the alcohol inks projects yet but I think that would be the next step to try.

supplies used:  kraft sheet, palette tray, alcohol ink blending solution, 91% isopropyl alcohol, brushes, variety of alcohol inks, gloves, Ranger White Yupo 5" x 7" paper.

I found an article on Ranger Industries website with step-by-step instruction on painting red poppies.  I found this very helpful in getting to work with this medium.  I did try the alcohol ink blending pen they mentioned but it just didn't work well for me and I ended up using a fine brush instead. Here's my attempt and a link to the website.  http://rangerink.com/?ranger_project=alcohol-ink-flower-painting-by-sharen-ak-harris

Another technique was pouring ink over the paper and spritzing with blending solution or 91% alcohol and letting the inks run and move over the paper.  When the inks were almost dry I gave a light mist of the 91% alcohol to give the dot effects.  I like the movement of this print.

 

Finally tried my hand at painting a scene.  Since you can't control the ink on the paper like you would, say acrylics on canvas, the inks could either drive you crazy or be very freeing (depending on your mood of the day).   I put drops of the ink colors in a palette and dipped brushes in 91% alcohol sol, then in the ink before applying to the paper.  A fine brush just dipped in alcohol was used to remove ink to provide the path, clouds, etc.  To make the leaves I loaded up the brush and dropped drops on the paper.  It was fun to experiment with this painting process.