alcohol inking

I have done alcohol inking, but I don't know if it's what your talking about. You use glossy paper, cut it to the size you want for your card or whatever, I just used cotton balls, get alcohol on it, don't saturate it, just dampen it. Use metallic reinkers for a more vivid affect with your regular reinkers, put a few dots of the metallic on the cotton ball in different spots, not too many it will overpower your other colors. Place a few dots of other colors that go good together. Dab it all over your glossy paper until they are blended in together not too much, or it will mix all the colors, and the metallics won't really show up. Just enough to cover the entire piece then let it dry completely, the metallic takes a little longer to dry than the others. You may want to play with your colors a little until you get the desired effect your looking for.

I just took an alcohol inking class. Ronni had introduced us to it at the Barn. I had bought some alcohol inks at that store that was going out of business in Indiana, but never opened them. The class was $20, so thought I'd go and play. Ronni would snicker at this, but I ended up showing the other 8 ladies more ideas of how to use the inks, because of what Ronni had shown us.

They really are very easy to use. Ronni expressed that one should get a good brand and I totally don't remember what brand she said was good. BUT the one I had bought she thought was OK not wonderful. Well, after playing with my own inks I see what she means mine are kind of sticky. The type I used at the class were like what Ronni had used. I may be getting new alcohol inks. I've been having fun making a kind of tye dye look to decorate my Halloween treat cards.

How to use them like Ronni the class used a handle with velcro on it. To the velcro a small rectangle of white felt is attached. On to the white felt the alcohol inks are squeezed. A few drops of a few different colors. Then pounce them on to glossy paper cut into sizes you want to use. After you are use to pouncing try other ideas like dragging or spinning and experimenting with designs and colors. Remember alcohol inks dry quickly. One can use a chemical to rewet them and get more use out of them. The colors lighten as you do this.

Basically, you get inks, get paper and just play. I've been having fun experimenting.

Lynne

I have a question for you also, Have you ever used the metalics by Tim Holtz? I bought them and tried using it with the other alcohol inks but i find that the metalics don't stick to the glossy paper, glass, metal, etc. like they should. I followed the instructions to a T but you can actually wipe your finger across it and it will all wipe off. Did I just get a bad batch or am I missing some step?? Any one else have this problem? Thanks a bunch for any help

Debbie

I have not picked them up yet. I was waiting until I take a class at the LSS as I get a 10% discount that night (every bit helps). But I did pick up the book 'Ink Essentials - Exciting Techniques for Embossing * Pearlizing * Dyeing * Stamping * Coloring * Glossing * Glitzing'. It has directions for alcohol inks for several different projects. The metalics in the book are used mostly for enhancing the other colors of alcohol inks (daubing together to blend the inks), but it says in the directions that they can be used alone on the glossy paper. It also says in the book that the metalics don't take long to dry. One thing I didn't know was that in the book they suggest you clean off tilez and other items that you are going to ink with the 'Blending Solution' before inking on them to remove any coating on the item. Sandy