Once
our stitching was over we started with a demo on
alcohol inks by Karen Biko, one of our talented artists in the group. Karen demonstrated on a
variety of surfaces, each having their own qualities for the outcome of the
project.
 |
| Karen at work. |
 |
| Karen - work in progress, |
Working
with alcohol inks, Karen Konjurs up some amazing and Kolourful Kreations. These
art pieces are rather serendipitous in nature and she often works on several at
a time moving between them to add layers of new colour and texture.
 |
| Karen Biko |
Another
of our talented artists, Terri Heinrich, also works in alcohol inks (and other
mediums), but her creations are more realistic. Visit her site to see her unique style.
 |
| Terri Heinrich |
These
are several of the many surfaces that we experimented with:
· Glazed Ceramic Tiles
·
Vellum Paper and Transparencies
·
Glossy Photo Paper
Yupo
was the favourite paper, retaining the bright colours that alcohol inks are
known for.
Terra
Skin, the stone paper, has an unusual feel to it – described as “buttery” the
inks seemed to melt into the paper and lost their intense colour.
 |
| Muted Colours on Terra Skin. |
The
Strathmore Palette paper retained the colour nicely and the finished product
would be a great surface to mono print on or to use as pages in a journal.
The
glazed ceramic tiles turned out great, maintaining the brilliant colours of the
alcohol inks. They would need to be sealed with a fixative so that they remain permanent on this surface.
 |
| Glazed Ceramic Tiles |
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| Glazed Ceramic Tiles |
The
Vellum paper took the inks nicely, providing a translucent background that you
could stamp and heat emboss onto. These would make nice additions to a greeting
card. The transparencies worked in a similar nature to the vellum and would be
great for layering over other surfaces.
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| Alcohol inks on patterned vellum paper with rubber stamped and heat embossed image. |
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| Alcohol inks on heavy weight vellum with rubber stamped and heat embossed images. |
Lastly, glossy photo paper is an inexpensive way to experiment with some of the
techniques we did on the other surfaces. Rubber stamped with an image, and die
cut or edge cut with a decorative punch, they would make great greeting cards
or additions to your journaling pages.
There
are three main brands of alcohol inks that we used:
- Adirondack Inks ™ by Tim Holtz
- Copic Inks ™ by Copic (their refills give the best value)
- Pinata Inks ™ by Jacquard
All
worked equally well, though Copic has the best colour range.
Each
brand also sells a blender solution that helps make the colour more
transparent, but most of us worked with rubbing alcohol
which worked as well as the blender solutions but has a much lower cost.
Other supplies that are useful:
·
a thin paint brush to draw fine lines to outline
areas in your piece
·
a straw to blow the drops of ink to create
interesting lines and edges
·
a spray bottle with 90 or 99% rubbing alcohol.
If
colour is something that brings joy to your day then give this technique a try.
You don’t need
to be an artist to do it. It will bring back all the “oohs and aahs” you remember from third grade
art class.
 |
Remember
when working with rubbing alcohol, work in a well ventilated room.
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