Sarah Jane's Craft Blog

Q. What exactly is alcohol ink?  It's an alcohol based liquid ink similar to what's used in permanent markers (like Sharpies) and art pens (like Copics). Most Alcohol ink comes in small bottles with nozzles that can be used to drip the ink onto surfaces. Q. Where can I buy alcohol ink? Craft stores, art supply stores, and Amazon. Most craft stores carry some variety of alcohol ink these days. Michael's and JoAnne's carry Tim Holt's Ranger Alcohol Inks . Michael's carries Copic refills (which are just refills for the Copic markers, but the inks are pretty much just alcohol inks and come in a zillion colors--though they recently cut the size of the refills in half and started charging more because alcohol ink artists were using them). JoAnn's is also carrying Brea Rease inks (which I haven't had a chance to try, but I have heard that they are good). Your local art supply store may also have alcohol inks (Dick Blick does). There are also tons of different

Happy Valentine's Day, Crafters! Check out all of the Valentine's Day Craft Projects from over the years on Sarah Jane's Craft Blog .  

One of the inking methods I've been exploring in this past year has been using ink on laminating pouches . Back in December, I made some snowflake sun catchers . Well, at the same time, I made a sheet of red that I had planned on cutting out with some Christmas themed shapes. After hours looking for just the right patterns to cut out of the plastic, I gave up and decided to save it for Valentine's Day. I started by laying down a craft mat and grabbing a can of air and a hand bulb . I grabbed three true shades of red alcohol ink: Watermelon , Crimson , and Poppyfield . I dripped the ink onto the inside of the laminating pouch  and added a bit of rubbing alcohol to thin it out and then used the hand blower and air can to blow it around. Once I had one side of the pouch covered, I decided to add some metallic ink to break up the red a bit. I chose Pinata Rich Gold . I like Pinata's Gold and Brass better than Ranger's Gold, but they'd all do the trick for this partic

I've enjoyed trying new ways to use the plastic wrap application for alcohol ink . I found a candle plate from Dollar Tree in my craft stash and thought I'd have a go and using the plastic wrap method with it. I know from some previous experience that inking mirrors is tricky. Inking glass can have it's own issues, and then add in the reflection and it becomes a challenging project. I had some luck with last week's post using Pinata inks on a glass plate. They tend to be a bit more saturated in color, so they work pretty well on glass. So I thought I'd try them out with the plastic wrap method on this mirrored candle plate. I selected some shades of ink that I thought would work well together if they mixed--pinks, purples, and blues--and dripped them on a slightly scrunched up piece of plastic wrap.  Once an area roughly the size of my candle plate had been covered in ink, I set the mirror onto the ink. Then I wrapped the edges of the plastic up around the plate