Crafting with Alcohol Inks: Creative Projects for Colorful Art, Furniture, Fashion, Gifts & Holiday Decor

By Allison Murray

CREATIVE DESIGNS FOR ONE-OF-A-KIND, COLORFUL PROJECTS USING VERSATILE AND AFFORDABLE ALCOHOL INKS

With alcohol inks, you can add a dazzling design to just about anything. Packed with step-by-step photos, Crafting with Alcohol Inks shows how to add your personal decorative touch to everything from home decor to heart-felt gifts, including:

• Etched-Top Wooden Jewelry Box
• Monogram Pallet Art
• Paper-Textured Table Drawers
• Independence Day Suncatchers
• Embossed Metal
• Christmas Ornaments
• Tile Coaster Set
• Galaxy Ombre Sneakers
• And many more!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Nov 17, 2016
• ISBN: 9781612436548

Book preview

Introduction

I come from a family of makers. On any given weekend I’d sit on the storm cellar door and paint birdhouses bright colors that I made with my Poppa. I might then go inside and grab a hook and some yarn while my Mimmie would continue teaching me what would wind up being one of my favorite crafts, crochet. I’d go back home to my parents on Sunday, where I might watch my mother plan the next craft project for our little Busy Bee craft club. Then in the evening I’d watch my dad build any number of things on the dining room table. With so much creativity coming from the ones who loved me and raised me it was inevitable I’d become a maker myself.

As a young adult, I got a degree in graphic design, which led to a 9 to 5 job that soon included a daunting amount of overtime. One day I got laid off. With few offers on the table, I made the best investment of my life and started my craft blog, dreamalittlebigger.com.

It took quite some time for me to discover alcohol ink. The only reason I ever purchased a set of these little bottles was because I remembered a project from childhood where I blew paint or something around with a straw. As I remembered it, that was dang fun. A little bit of research led me to lots and lots of videos of people crafting with alcohol ink, blowing it around with—you guessed it—a lot of lung power and some plastic straws. My very first project had me hooked. A lover of bright colors, I transformed a clear acrylic tray into something amazingly unique and ridiculously cheerful.

Now I adore crafting with alcohol inks. These diminutive bottles filled with all of the colors of the rainbow may seem limited in their craft range, but I promise you they are anything but. I’m so very excited that today you’re going to learn how to fancy up your life and home with creative projects for art, furniture, fashion, gifts, and decor. I hope you enjoy diving into these projects so that you, too, can live a colorful maker’s life!

WHAT ARE ALCOHOL INKS?

Alcohol ink comes in small bottles, often in sets of three colors that complement each other well. This is especially convenient for achieving amazing color in your projects, especially if pairing colors doesn’t come naturally to you.

The bottles seem tiny, especially in relation to the price, but each one packs a punch of highly saturated, deeply vibrant color, and each little bottle goes a very, very long way. For example, to make all of the projects in this book, I used approximately 14 bottles of ink, and that includes my failed attempts with lackluster results that didn’t make the cut, and huge items like an updated chair!

Alcohol ink is a dye solution, giving it a very liquid, free-flowing consistency. They are acid-free and dry quite quickly, making tackling a quick little project totally doable in a short amount of time.

WHAT CAN I USE ALCOHOL INKS ON?

Alcohol inks are intended for and work very well on nonporous surfaces. These items are often called substrates and often include glass, glossy paper, plastic, metal, ceramics, and acrylic, such as plexiglass.

As I tend to do with all craft supplies, I like to push the envelope and try things that aren’t necessarily intended, which means expanding our use of alcohol inks onto porous surfaces. In this book you’ll find projects using the ink on fabric, such as shoes, and using spray primer coating to make for porous surfaces the ink can easily absorb into, because I’m a rebel like that.

In my experience there is a very visible difference in using a nonporous surface, like glass, versus a porous surface, like watercolor paper, with alcohol inks. The ink will rest on top of nonporous surfaces, drying into bright and vibrant colors. When used on something porous, the inks will seep into and dry within the material, making more muted, sometimes pastel colors. In my opinion, both methods and results have their place.

When you increase the number of things that you use alcohol inks on, you increase their use and therefore their value considerably. Suddenly these little bottles sold in the scrapbooking section can be used to not just scrapbook, but also to update your wardrobe, decorate your home, create beautifully unique gifts, and make the decor for your holiday festivities packed with color.

HOW DO I PROTECT MY WORK SURFACE?

Due to their highly pigmented nature, once they dry, alcohol inks are difficult to remove with water. It is pretty much impossible to remove alcohol inks from porous surfaces, such as wood. It is advisable to always cover your work surface to prevent permanent damage. Paper is good for working directly on, but as it is also porous, the ink will eventually seep through to your tabletop or work surface below. Acrylic sheets, a material made from plastic and acrylic acid and often sold at craft stores, will prevent any alcohol ink from reaching the surface below, so long as it covers the entire area you are working with. Because my projects are often of a larger scope, I tend to use one or two pieces of glossy poster board or plexiglass underneath butcher paper, with great results. If any large pools of ink occur, be safe and check that it isn’t quickly seeping through to your work surface.

Again, since alcohol inks are difficult to clean with water, any clothing item that receives a splash of color will often keep that color for all time. Because tie dye can only work for so much of your wardrobe, I’d highly suggest not wearing your Sunday best when working with alcohol inks. Wear older clothes or protect your outfit with an apron.

The inks will also deeply stain your skin. In some of the photos in this book you’ll notice that