Monday, January 18, 2010

Tutorial - How to use Alcohol Inks with Polymer Clay - Part II - Faux Ceramic


This is the 2nd part of my tutorial for using alcohol inks with polymer clay. Today we explore how to make "faux ceramic" pieces.

What you need:



• White polymer clay or light-colored scrap clay
• Something you can press into the clay to texture it (see step 2 below)
• Cookie cutter or craft knife
• Wax paper
• Alcohol inks
• Paintbrush
• Brayer or Roller
• Liquid Sculpey



1. Condition and roll out a piece of white clay.



2. Texture the clay with a texture sheet....or a rubber stamp....or a sea shell or a rock....or something you find around the house like jewelry or buttons with a pattern on it.

3. Cut out the size you want, with a cookie cutter (dedicated to clay only) or your craft knife.

Here is my heart, textured and cut out.


4. Bake the clay and let it cool.

5. While waiting for the clay to bake, squeeze out some Liquid Sculpey on a piece of waxed paper and drop a few drops of alcohol ink on it. You can make several little blops with different colors and let them sit a few minutes so the ink evaporates a bit. Mix each blop with a paintbrush.



6. Apply some of the ink and Liquid Sculpey with a paintbrush or your finger. You can make your piece all one color or put different colors on different sections of it...or apply ink and dab some off with a tissue. Experiment to see what you like best!



7. Bake again for 15 minutes.

8. Finish as you wish as a pin, pendant or magnet. I will coat mine with acrylic varnish and glue on a pinback.

Here are some other pieces where I used a variety of colors on different sections.



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For a completely different effect than starting with white clay, here is a moon pin I made from blue, black and violet scrap clay. I put some plum alcohol ink on part of it, and let the clay colors show through on other parts.




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Visit my shop to see more of my creations:

Artsy Clay on Etsy

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The instructions I followed came from here... Faux Ceramics Tutorial

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

I hope you have as much fun as I have!
Someone asked if you can use alcohol inks alone. No, you have to have a surface to put the inks on. Here's a good article explaining: https://www.pieceofmyart.in/post/a-beginners-guide-essential-things-you-should-know-about-alcohol-inks-before-you-begin#:~:text=What%20are%20alcohol%20inks%20and,that%20are%20flowy%20and%20transparent.

9 comments:

Sycamore Moon Studios said...

Thanks so much for posting this! I am doing a lot with polymer lately, but it is hard to find easy to understand, well written tutorials. Well done!!

livingglassart said...

This looks like so much fun! Maybe I could get the husband to get into this. Thanks so much for sharing and for stopping by my blog.

Jenni Price said...

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today! I love to play with polymer clay so I'll be marking your blog!

Blessings,

Jenni

Rosebud Collection said...

What a wonderful lesson and you did well showing how to..
I am back with the Fingerprint Friday..Lord, have been having a time..You know you are the Fingerprint this week..yep, just sharing your God given talents..
xoxoRosebud

Deeka's Lair said...

This is a really cool technique. I love seeing what other people make and how they make it. I'm leaning towards air dry clay after working with polymer for years. Have you ever tried inks on the air dry clays? ..thanks for sharing!

Unknown said...

Lovely Polymer Clay creations. So talented :)

Claudia said...

Hola, estaba pensando si se puede utilizar los plumones Sharpie y cubrirlos con resina? Gracias por publicar

artsyclay said...

Dear Claudia, I don't know the answer to your question.

I refer you to The Blue Bottle Tree which tells the best type of markers to use on clay:

https://thebluebottletree.com/pens-to-use-on-polymer-clay/

Anonymous said...

Is it possible to use alcohol inks alone