WOYWW #347: Playing with alcohol inks

Another Wednesday have come around (much too soon if you ask me), which can only mean one thing: WOYWW! Luckily, I remembered to snap this shot of my desk last night.

Oreo was keeping me company, watching me work on one of my LifeBook lessons and for once he didn't spill my water all over the table! That's my Play Journal in the foreground, which I used to smoosh the leftover paint on. I will be posting the completed page later this week.

Today, however, I'd like to share the results of my play session with alcohol inks. This is a technique that involves using alcohol inks with stencils on Yupo paper. It's very easy and doesn't require any artistic skills, as the inks tend to do their own thing. I used Ranger's Adirondack alcohol inks, the Nature Walk collection. I've tried to make my own using Brushos, but it didn't work.

The photo below shows the stencil in place on top of Yupo paper, which is a kind of smooth, synthetic paper made of plastic. You just drip the ink on top and allow it to seep under the stencil. You can facilitate the flow of the inks with some additional clear alcohol. (Ranger makes their own blending solution, but I'm pretty sure it's just plain alcohol.) This is what it looks like with the stencil in place:

It's best to wait until the alcohol has completely evaporated before removing the stencil, otherwise the inks might run into each other and obliterate the stencil patterns. Although in some cases that may be the look you're after! Here are some of my results on Yupo paper:

Be warned though, your stencils will be permanently stained with the alcohol inks. You can clean them with pure alcohol, but they will never be pristine white again. However, you can use the ink stained stencils to your advantage! I placed them on top of deli paper and reactivated the inks with alcohol. This produced something similar to a ghost print:  

I can use these pieces as collage material in my journals. Once the alcohol has evaporated, these inks are permanent. This is a definite plus for me, as I was getting increasingly frustrated with water-based spray inks, which lift as soon as you put any wet media on top of them. Alcohol inks, however, stay firmly in place! 

Thanks for visiting today! I hope you've found my post about alcohol inks informative and inspirational!