Friday, May 9, 2008

Alcohol Inks - Have You Tried them???

HI! I'm Linda Beeson (you might know me better as lbpost!) and I get to bring your some COLOR today!
There are so many mediums available to the crafter to "color in" an image but Alcohol Inks by Ranger provide a great set of products that allow you to create a wonderful, colorful piece of paper that can then become the foundation of a project. When you are done you now have a background for your work of art or you can use portions of what you have created, like punching out a circle, etc.

For this card, I stamped a vine background stamp by Cornish Heritage Farms on a piece of white, glossy paper. That was embossed with white embossing powder. My paper was now ready to start "creating" my background.
Let's get started!
First gather your supplies. The Aidorondack Alcohol Inks come in a variety of colors and you are going to want to work with at least three, plus one of the metallic inks. These inks will work alone, but the point of this process is to use the Alcohol Blender Solution with the inks. A coated paper or glossy paper is your best foundation but uncoated papers will also work. The inks won't "float" around as well on an uncoated paper so you won't get the same effect but you can still get some interesting backgrounds. The main process that you are going to work with is drops of the inks along with the blending solution on a glossy paper. If you are one who loves to play and loves unusual outcomes then you are going to have fun!

Take a piece of glossy paper. Starting out with one that is larger then what you are going to need for your intended project is good because you will have working room and you might have some great "leftovers". It works best to give the paper a thin coating of the Blending Solution. I like to drop a few drops around the paper and then use my finger to move that around to coat the paper. Now drop a couple drops of each color into the Blending Solution.

The photo is showing the paper coated with the Blending Solution and I have just dropped three colors onto this surface. You can see that the inks instantly start spreading. You can start with just one or two colors and then add as you go along. The inks come with a "dropper" top to them so you can gently get just one drop at a time. You really don't want to use much of any of the products because they are going to move and blend and cover your paper. The inks in themselves would dry very quickly but it is the Blending Solution allows you to play and to continue to blend. The inks can even dry and you can come back with more Blending Solution and change the look of your project. Now drop a few more drops of the Blending Solution over the colored drops. All of the colors will keep moving and "blending". Add in another color at this point or a couple drops of one of the Metallic colors. A splash of silver or gold ends up being stunning.

What is really fun about using these inks and the Blending Solution is you can just keep playing and blending or you can stop. If you stop and it is drying and your aren't happy, play again. Add a new color, add more Blending Solution. It just changes with everything you do and I haven't ever had a piece that is "ruined".

Here is the finished project using the colors that I have shown above.

This makes a wonderful surface to then add a stamped image too. For this card I also added a few rub-on words. I have used both Stazon ink and Versafine ink to do my stamping.

Thanks for visiting Pursuit of CraftYness blog today!
Linda

Materials:
Cardstock
Glossy cardstock
Fete Days/Calendar stamp – Art Declassified
Black stamp pad – Versafine/Tsukineko, Inc.
Adirondack Alcohol Inks – Ranger
Adirondack Alcohol Blending Solution - Ranger
Rub-on words – LUXE
Rhinestone swirls – Prima

22 comments:

Miki said...

Linda, these cards are STUNNING! Man, you ladies are going to make me go broke because now I want these too! I love the mix of colors and then the blending solution... beautiful results!

Nicole said...

Wow!! That is fabulous! Thanks for the info about the inks! Might have to try them now!!

Cyndi said...

Beautiful cards, Linda! I need to go play with my alcohol inks.

Kimmie said...

awesome job Linda....i love your cards

arlsmom aka Lynda said...

Beautiful cards Linda!!!

Melissa said...

So amazing Linda--I am in awe---pure beauty!
Melis

Melanie said...

Awesome creations, Linda. Love the step by step. I have all of those items and never pull them out. Shame on me. Thanks for the inspiration!

Anabelle O'Malley said...

These are absolutely stunning, Linda! I need to go get mine out now. :) Great tutorial!!!

wendy vecchi said...

Love it!!
I'm inspired to go & PLAY!
wendy

Anonymous said...

oh, wow! so stunning! I really love it. thanks so much for the inspiration. I own every color of alcohol inks, yet sadly they still sit in the package. I have been too intimidated to give them a try. thanks!!!

Sonda T said...

Linda, you did great! I love those colors you chose too. WOW! I think I will have to pull my alch. inks out today and give this a try! Thanks!

dstandard said...

Linda you make these look like so much fun - have never tried them but plan to now!

Unknown said...

Well, these cards are just wonderful and I have never used or knew about the alcohol inks, and I just may have to try them out, thanks for the great tutorial........

marcibun said...

Beautiful cards Linda! The tutorial is fabulous. I can't wait to try this myself.

DebW said...

Great stuff!! I love alcohol inks too! Thanks for the great tutorial! I'm putting a link in my blog for all to see.

Jenn said...

They're just perfect samples, Linda!

Sue said...

Absolutely beautiful samples, Linda!!!

DeeDee said...

OMGoodness Linda, these cards are gorgeous....thanks for the details on making them....Lovely!

Stacey S said...

These are absolutely BEAUTIFUL, Linda!!! Love the way you used these. I def. have these sitting around and they're now calling my name.

Fiona Carter said...

Fabulous samples Linda, love the effects you created with the alcohol inks.

I AM A Scrapaholic said...

Love the color combinations!
These are beautiful!

Unknown said...

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