Ink Art - Part 1

Hi!

Hope you´re well. Helen here today.

I believe you have seen all kinds of Ink Art already but I will show you today what I use, and if I help just one of you I´ll be happy.

When I saw this on Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest I was like:

what kind of paper do they use?

what kind of alcohol do they use?

I´ve tried different papers. I´ve heard that some use photo paper. The one I tried didn´t work, let me tell you that. The colour just burnt into the paper. I´ve tried different synthetic papers.

The first one was a Swedish brand, cheaper, a little harder to lift the ink from the paper to move the ink.

The other one is LanaVanguard Yupo Paper. And my impression was that the ink was easier to move, even if it had dried.

You don´t have to use papers. You can apply it on most hard surfaces such as glass, porcelain, tiles, plastic, metal etc.

The alcohol I use is called IpaClean IPA1000 (Luxorparts). What you shall look for is a liquid with at least 92% alcohol in it. To clean my markers I use Transotype Cleaner. It works as well with this technique but here in Sweden it´s really expensive so I wouldn´t use it for this.

You really don´t need special tools to try this.

What you need is just some paper, ink and alcohol and you´ll go far with that.

But I will show you what I use.

Some smaller, handy bottles for alcohol. You could also use them if you mix your own colours.

Different types of brushes.

A pipette. Some feel they get mor controll with that.

An alcohol ink distress tool with pads. Wet it with ink and apply to the paper.

Plastic lids. I save the lids for my creme fraiche and use them to pour ink on to mix or to pick the ink up with a different tool or to make patterns with.

Plastic cups. To hold ink or alcohol in, but also to make patterns with. Search for different sizes and shapes and save them.

Air blower. This one comes from Ranger and Tim Holtz brand. I just love this one. Don´t go for anything smaller. The amount of air it can hold is better than a small one. It´s easy to squeeze and you get different effects if you squeeze loose or hard.

Hairdryer. You dry the ink and you move the alcohol and ink with it. A more powerful blower is harder to handle, so go for one with lower power.

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I haven´t tried it and I will not do so: don´t try your heat gun for this! Both ink and alcohol are very flammable!

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Straws. Blow your ink and alcohol. This is a cheap way to just try if the technique is anything for you.

Be aware that you may inhale fumes.

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Papercloths. To absorb liquid.

Toothbrush. Could be used to apply dots of ink on the paper or for cleaning other tools.

Of course you could add as many tools as you wish, but this is what I most often use.

And for the ink... of course it will be Copic and I use my Various Ink.

I find Copic as soft, dull and not so vibrant and more transparent than some other alcohol ink.

And as they are so transparent I find the lighter tints too light or pale so I use the darker tints.

But it all depends on what result you want in the end. Try for yourself and play with the colours.

Tomorrow I´ll show you some pieces I made.

Love

Helen