Friday, January 15, 2010

Tutorial - How to use Alcohol Inks with Polymer Clay - Part I

I've been having so much fun with alcohol inks and polymer clay for the past year or so. It's a great combination to experiment with!

The first instructions I followed are from the book Polymer Clay Surface Design Recipes by Ellen Marshall.

Here's what you need:
• I bought alcohol inks by Adirondack at Michael's Craft Store in the rubber stamping section. Each set has 3 colors.




Next you need:
• A piece of fabric with texture. I used a kitchen dish rag.
• Wax paper.
• Rubbing alcohol in a spritzer bottle.
• A brayer (roller of some type). You can buy one at the craft store in the polymer clay section, or use a piece of PVC pipe.


1. Condition and roll out a piece of clay.



2. Lay the fabric on the wax paper and spritz it lightly with alcohol.



3. Drop ink onto the fabric. You can use just one color or more - side by side or one on top of the other. First I used blue, then green.



4. Pick up the fabric and wax paper together and place the fabric down on a piece of clay. Or put the fabric on the clay and put a small piece of wax paper on top of it.



5. Roll the brayer over the wax paper, applying pressure to transfer both the ink and the fabric texture.

MESSY ALTERNATE METHOD to 4 and 5: If you don't mind getting ink on your fingers, pick up just the fabric and press it into the clay with your fingers. :)



6. Cut the clay into desired shape with a cookie cutter or craft knife. Add additional texture if you choose. I pressed a texture sheet (purchased at Michael's) into the clay. Bake and finish as you wish. I will coat mine with acrylic varnish, either matte or glossy, then add a pinback.





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Visit my shop to see my creations:

Artsy Clay on Etsy
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You can find more ideas for using alcohol inks here:

Craft Gossip
Crafty Goat
Beads and Beading
Mossy Owls' Ten Ways to Use Alcohol Inks


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Come back tomorrow for Part II - how to make Faux Ceramic pieces.

5 comments:

Confections said...

Thanks for the great tutorial on the use of alcohol inks--totally new to me.

PolymerClayTutor said...

Love your dish rag texture. Looks cool! Thank you for the link to my Beads and Beading blog. I really appreciate that! ~Cindy Lietz

Diane said...

Thank you for sharing. I love the subtle pastel effects of the inks.
I can't wait to try this project.
Hope you and enjoying the snow and staying warm!

Diane

Silvia said...

Thak you very much for this tutorial. It is fantastic.
Kisses.

Burtine said...

Thank you for this information. I love to try new things and this is something that appeals.