8/18/11

Playing with Alcohol Inks

I have mixed feelings about trying out new-to-me art supplies.  Of course, I love learning new things and seeing for myself what all the fuss is about.  On the other hand, I don't want to fall in love with another medium that requires expensive materials that take a lot of storage space! 

I recently invited myself over to my friend Sheena's house to try out Adirondack Alcohol Inks for the first time.  I've read a lot about them and have seen the results, but I wanted to try them out in person.  Secretly, I was hoping to hate them so that I wouldn't be tempted to buy some for myself!  Alas, no such luck.  They were pretty cool.

I brought along a bunch of different materials to try out, including buttons, charms, shrink plastic, metal and plastic tags, brads, ceramic tiles, acrylic shapes, vellum, lace, and ribbon.


I laid out everything on some cardboard and chose my inks. 


I decided not to try a bunch of different colors, as that wouldn't let me best compare how the inks worked on different materials.  Instead, I did one test with pink/orange/yellow and one with blues/greens. 


Here are some of my favorites.  I absolutely loved the way the inks worked on the unglazed tiles. 


Look how different the same exact ink looks on three different materials (from left to right: metal, acrylic, unglazed tile).  All different and yet each very pretty.


I think the star brads are my very favorite. 


Anyone else have Adirondack Alcohol Inks?  Do you love them?  What are your favorite ways to use them?  They're obviously super cool, but are they a must-have?

5 comments:

  1. I haven't tried them for the same reasons you mentioned :) I loveeeeeeeee how your projects turned out! Beautiful colors! :):):):)

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  2. Oooh, I like the star brads, too. Reading through the list of materials you brought made me think of a scavenger hunt - it's a pretty random list to someone who doesn't do as much crafting as you do!

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  3. I am so glad you came over to play!! As you know I think they are a "must have". The nice thing about them is that they aren't horribly expensive and they last a long time.

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  4. I like to play with them. I don't think for most people they would be on the "must have" list but for a few bucks, they sure are fun to have around! My Mom, Pat, taught a class once on using them. Her projects were cute!

    I love the brad idea - need to remember that myself when I am missing the "perfect" color. Sometimes I buy a little of everything - when I really could buy my stuff bulk in plain and just "color" it myself! Thanks for the reminder.

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  5. The star brads are my favs too and I have some alcohol ink that I don't really mess with too much. I bought some when they first came out but after a while I got disillusioned because they can be so messy!

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