Things To Know Before Learning How To Use Alcohol Ink

By Daniel Allen


Everyone the world over have a creative streak running through them. Whether this streak lasts for a lifetime or it is there intermittently, people use different mediums to express themselves. You reading right now may be thinking of how to use alcohol ink to express your own artistic interests. Before you do start out in using this medium, it may be good to know a thing or two about it may be good to know a thing or two about it in this article.

This kind of ink is a dye based ink. This basically means that whatever colorant is used to give specific tints and colors is fully dissolved in the liquid. It just basically means that due to the even distribution of colorant, you can use the ink right away without any need for shaking it first. This is with exception of inks with metallic or pearl essence, where you need to shake it first to get the settled particles remixed Into the solution.

Since the main suspension base is alcohol based it will mean one thing. This will dry up very quickly depending on the color, anywhere from a very few seconds to almost a minute, once that it touches whatever that you are using for your creative project.

These inks basically work best on non porous surfaces, as you can get the most effect from it. They are usually not used on porous surfaces such as paper or wood, but sturdier and thicker surfaces like ceramic, glass and plastic. In essence it needs to be able to glide across the surface and not seep into it.

They come in general three groups of colors, being light pastel colors, standard regular colors or jewels, or earthy dark colors. The lighter colors will tend to spread out more than darker ones as they contain more alcohol. The darker colors, which contain more dye, will tend not to spread either. In essence the lighter colors will dry up faster than the darker ones due to the higher content.

As you are just starting out, do not go full blast and buy every shade of colors for this kind of medium.in fact there are quite a number of starter packs available in the market with starter colors. Also just buy one half ounce bottles if you can for they still do last quite a long time. Buying darker colors will also save you more money for you can just mix it with alcohol to get the lighter variants.

As you begin to play around with this medium, you will notice that these are inks that do not mix well. In fact they will push each other apart and leave distinct edges with each other. One can compare the effect to that of a stained glass painting so one should keep this characteristic in mind when thinking of an overall design.

It is also very important to remember that once your artwork dries it becomes resilient and waterproof. However it is not bullet proof. Thus if it comes in anyway with alcohol again, or alcohol based liquids, the inks will be reactivated. Once reactivated the inks become wet and will move around and destroy the original image.




About the Author: