5 Tips to Help You Start Painting with Alcohol Inks
So you want to work with alcohol ink
My journey started a few years ago when I saw these beautiful shimmery abstract art paintings on Pinterest. After some research it turned out to be alcohol inks. Now from there I had to figure out what the hell that was and how to try it out.
I've got some basic tips to help you get started, but to be honest the world of alcohol inks are just growing and getting better each year so in a year these tips might need to get updated:
Tips
- Buy supplies: ink, gloves, isopropyl alcohol 99%, something to blow the inks around ( I use a hair dryer), a mask for the fumes, some non-porous paper or surface, and a pipette.
- Set up all your tools in one easily accessible area. Unscrew your ink caps, get your alcohol into a cup and ready with your pipette as well as get that protective gear on.
- Pick a surface that you either don't mind getting messy, or put a trash bag down to catch any mess.
- Now you're ready to start! Put a few drops of your inks down and then with the pipette pour some of that on top of those ink drops. You can use as much or as little as you want.
- Move that ink around with the hair dryer and voila! Art!
Now you don't have to buy all of this if you just want to dabble. I've got a diy kit available for sale that will help you with some basic supplies before you go out and buy everything.
One other thing you need to remember is that Rome wasn't built overnight and you will not become a professional alcohol ink artist in one sitting. It takes practice, time and patience but I have faith that you can get there.
Hope this helps, and I'll chat with you soon.
All the best,
Olivia