fun with alcohol ink

I had another play date on Sunday with two friends.  We spent the day experimenting with Ranger Industries Alcohol ink - known as Adirondak ink. The pice above is is a transparency.

If you have never used them - they come in packages of three and are sold at places like Michaels.
I first learned about them when i took a class with Tim Holtz.  He showed us how to use the rubber stamp type handle to hold a piece of felt, how to apply the ink and "pounce" it on paper.

The blending solution is used to thin or help move the colour around.  They say plain old rubbing alcohol does the same thing - but honestly i have never tried it!

This piece was glossy photo paper.  Some paper is glossier than others - you can experiment to find what works best.  You essentially need something that does not absorb the ink right away - so you have time to work it to create the granite-y effects you are after.

This piece was stamped onto to clear matte sticker paper - so i can cut in into shapes and apply it like a sticker onto a project.

Here is another glossy photo paper - it sort of faded into a very muted effect.  But has some nice depth.

Here is some glossy paper with the addition of metallic paint - i used lumiere - but you could use paint pens or acrylic paint.

 And finally we have some actual THINGS made using this cool effect! The top three are dominoes - with alcohol ink as a background. The images all came from postage stamps.  As you can see they will be made into cool conversaion starting pendants!
The small squares are "style stones". They were a bit too absorbant - the ink was sucked into the stones - so they did not create the cool stone effects that you can get on dominoes. But i applied some birds and butterflies - and i'll make it into a bracelet.

Speaking of bracelets - here's one i made with 5 dominoes that came pre-drilled in a kit.  I applied ink in blues and greens and stamped a script stamp with Stazon ink.  I strung them together with elastic cord and beads and spacers.  I may or may not apply some collage elements.