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Mason's Puzzle

Support Autism Speaks by Purchasing one of our awesome Mason's Puzzle acrylic albums!
Swirlydoos Guest Designers
Ingvild Bolme
Nov, 2009



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Alcohol Ink Tutorial


  

A Photo Tutorial by: Rebecca Price March, 2009




 



This tutorial was designed using the Swirlydoos May - Alcohol Ink Technique Kit Available in our store while supplies last 

$38.50 


 
 


"Family is a masterpiece" 
product list:
From the Swirlydoos Alcohol Ink Technique Kit: Everything 
From the Swirlydoos Urban Grunge Main Kit (May, 2009): 
American Crafts cardstock "Straw" 
7 Gypsies rubz "Fortunes" 
Glitz Design Frosting arrows "Aqua" 
Hambly Transparency Graph 12x12 
Maya Road Mini chipboard gears 
American Crafts thickers 

From the Swirlydoos Decadence Flower Add On Kit (Feb. 2009): 
Prima flowers 

Non kit items: Clearsnap ink 
Q-tips 
Empty spray bottle (or Ranger Mini Misters) 


Using alcohol inks on acrylic:

 
 

Apply dots of various desired colors of ink onto the applicator (more than one color at a time is encouraged!) 



Apply a small amount of blending solution.


  

Press the applicator firmly onto the acrylic piece. The colors will begin to spread and mix together. Cover the entire piece, reinking the applicator if needed. Work with your piece until you get the desired depth of color and pattern. I strongly feel part of working with alcohol inks is giving up a little control. Allow the inks to meld and see where they go. 



Masking on acrylic with alcohol inks: 


 Choose any adhesive-backed item for this method. Stickers work well for this. I used American Crafts thickers for this with great results. Simply place your letters onto the acrylic piece. 



 Color your acrylic using the above "Using alcohol inks on acrylic" technique.


 

  

If using a raised alpha, like thickers, you will notice that you can't really get ink completely around the letters. To accomplish this, and add extra pizazz to your masking, simply squeeze drops of alcohol ink directly from the bottle around the letters. I used both "Raisin" and "Pearl mixative" for this step. It definitely makes the masking stand out. Allow your project to dry completely, which could be up to 30 minutes due to the pools of ink.


 

When the ink is completely dry, remove the thickers to reveal the masked image. You may see that some ink has spread under the thickers and you will need to clean up the image. To do this, simply squeeze a little of the blending solution onto a q-tip, and carefully clean off the unwanted ink to reveal a clean mask.



 Misting with alcohol inks:


  

This is fun to do, and can be used on anything. You will need either an empty plastic spray bottle that has been cleaned, or the Mini Misters from Ranger. Fill your bottle with as much water as you think you may need. Add drops of alcohol ink to the bottle, and shake it up. The more drops, the darker the color will be. Assemble the items you wish to spray on a piece of scrap paper or packaging and begin spritzing them until you get the desired effect. This is very effective for coloring chipboard, paper, and flowers.



 Give it a metallic edge:


 

 I find the metallic mixatives are wonderful for edging acrylic pieces, as they don't spread as easily on their own and therefore won't react with the inking that has already been done. Simply apply the mixative of choice to the alcohol ink applicator, and apply a border to the acrylic piece. I used copper, and love the elegant effect it yielded.



 Custom color your bling with alcohol inks: 



 Bling of all shapes and sizes, from any and all manufacturers, can be custom colored to match your project needs. Having an established collection of alcohol ink colors gives you the freedom to stock up on bling you may find deals on, even if you may not necessarily like the colors of them. Just apply alcohol ink to the alcohol ink applicator and press it onto your bling item of choice, and allow to dry. This opens up an entire new world of color choices for you!



 Now that your background and all of your embellishments have been "inkified" build your project! You can either use Rebecca's beautiful wall-hanging for your inspiration, or inspire US with your own piece of art! Here are some more close-ups of Rebecca's piece of home decor to give you a little better idea of how it was pieced together. Thank you so much Rebecca, for showing us all the awesome things we can do with Alcohol Inks!



 

 

 




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