Saturday Show & Hels... Alcohol Ink Drip Technique...

...aha, today is the very first Saturday Show & Hels... I know, I know... my play on words idea is getting worse lol. I learnt a plethora of techniques at Ranger U so I am going to be blogging a tutorial every so often to share all the goodness I learnt. Today I am focussing on using Alcohol Ink on metal, each step has a photo and I have taken the base technique and made it into a tag. Here's the finished tag...





The Ingredients:

Ranger Alcohol Ink - various colours
Ranger Metal tape stuck to cardstock
Sizzix Alterations Texture Fade
Blending Tool
Heat Gun
Black Archival Ink

STEP 1
Emboss your metal tape on card using a Texture Fade (or the like). Take the lids of several colours of Alcohol Ink in preparation. Gently drip the different colours onto your embossed metal card... try not to flood the area you are dripping the ink onto - if you drip too much, either dry with a heat gun or gently blow onto the ink. You will see the ink start to pool into the recessed parts of the design, you can add more ink/colours once the first drips have dried. I have found that bright colours work really well for this technique but there is nothing stopping you just using a couple of contrasting colours.

STEP 2
Pop a piece of felt onto your blending tool... using just the corners/edges of the tool, gently blend the colours together, this will give you a smoother finished look. Try not to pound the tool onto the colours as this will just mix them up and they could go muddy. You can now add extra little drips of ink onto the design, blow onto the new drips or use a heatgun to dry them so they don't start moving your base colours around too much.

STEP 3
This is entirely optional and depends on how you want the finished look to be... but I do like to add a little bit of black ink top just highlight the texture of the design. I have found the best applicator for the ink is my fingertip, you get a really good feel for the design and you will be less likely to overload the black. For this you will need to use an Archival ink pad because it is oil based. An inkpad like StaZon doesn't work with Alcohol Inks as it is solvent based and will just remove the ink on your metal. Once you are happy with your black ink, use a heat gun to dry the ink before sticking your design to you main project. (believe me, black smudges and fingerprints kind of ruin the over all look lol)



So... once you have done all of that you will have a lovely bright and textured piece that you can then add to a tag, card, ATC etc. I have turned mine into a tag, here's a very quick description how I made it: Drag Snowcap Dabber around the edges of the tag and dry. Use Black Soot Distress Ink to colour the tag. Over stamp the whole tag with a script stamp and Black Soot DI. Dry with heatgun. Use a damp paper towel/cloth to remove the ink from the white painted areas. Use Multi Medium to stick the embossed card to the tag. Tie jute/twine around the tag. Add embellishments - I die cut and embossed a metal flower and lightly inked it. Ta dah... there you go!


I hope you found this helpful and you understood my waffling. I would love your feedback... and if you try this technique, please do come and tell me... I would love to see what you make! Right... that's me for today... thanks for looking... TTFN!

Hels x