Alcohol inks are permanent ink that works on non-porous surfaces and glossy paper. They produce some interesting effects that make great backgrounds for many rubber stamping products. The inks are easy to use and offer a great deal of variety, as you will see here.

Before you begin make sure you have everything you need:

1. Glossy paper, metal, or glass. You can use CD’s, Dominos, tin cans such as Altoids, etc.

2. Two or three coordinated color inks. Adirondack Inks by Ranger offer a wide range of colors and is probably the easiest to find in stores, but you could even use a solvent based reinkers such as Staz On.

3. Applicators. Ranger Inks makes an applicator with a wood handle that is easy to use, but you can work with cotton balls. (If you are using a hands on technique like this be sure to wear gloves. The ink stains!) Cotton balls will also use more ink than the applicator, so while you are saving money not purchasing an applicator, you are using more ink with each use.

4. Mixative or metallic ink. Adirondack Mixatives are made specifically for alcohol inks. Other metallic inks should work, but results will vary.

5. Blending solution (again, Adirondack makes one), or rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle.

Now the fun begins…

Apply two or three colors of ink to your pad or cotton ball. Mix up the colors so that they are not all on one side of the pad. The colors can touch each other, but try not to let them overlap. Experiment with big dots or little dots to see the different effects.

Quickly stamp the pad or cotton ball over the surface that you are covering. Try to stamp your piece with random angles so that you avoid creating a pattern. Spread the dots over approximately 80% of the surface, leaving a small amount of uncolored surface to work with in between all of the color. The inks will dry very fast, so you must work fast.

You can now drop a drop or two of mixative or metallic ink on your used applicator or cotton ball and then dab your surface with it.

Finally, you can using the blending solution to lighten the color. Be sure not to use too much, because you can actually remove all of your color. So, as usual, some experimentation is needed to get just the right look. If you don’t have blending solution you can use rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle and it will help the color spread a little. Keep your eye on your results and spray accordingly.

A few extra tips about alcohol inks:

If you are inking a surface that will get a lot of wear and tear you may want to seal it. You can use a spray sealer for a large surface area, or you can paint a smaller surface area. Gloss or matte finish is a matter of personal preference.

Tim Holtz calls the Adirondack blending solution “magic in a bottle”. It can be used to remove adhesive from many surfaces, such as your scissors or work surface. It can even remove the ink from your hands!