First Impressions: Using Spectrum Noir Markers as Alcohol Inks


A while ago, our local Tuesday Morning closed it's doors, but during the closing sales, I was able to pick up some Brea Reese Alcohol Inks (which I tested in an earlier post) and some Spectrum Noir alcohol based art markers. Most of the alcohol based markers that people are familiar with are just "permanent" markers like Sharpies. I haven't had the pleasure of using any alcohol based markers designed for art, so I was excited to try them out.


The first set I  picked up was a Spectrum Noir Classique (Bright) markers set which, as the name suggests, are their classic set. It comes with twelve colors--all bright colors (no gray, black, brown, etc...).  To see if these could be used like alcohol ink, I got out some 4 inch glazed ceramic tiles (which are cheap at the hardware store and can be washed off with isopropyl/rubbing alcohol and be reused which makes them great for experimenting). I laid down a craft mat and got out some rubbing alcohol and a bulb blower.


I grabbed a fun looking color and shaded a section of the tile with the marker. Then I added a couple drops of rubbing alcohol and used a hand bulb blower to move the ink around. The ink moved around well and thinned easily, but it was very pastel in color.


I thought it might just be the pink that comes off as pastel (as it often does), so I tried the other colors in the set. Most of them came out very pastel. There were a few darker colors in the set, like this red, that were more saturated.


After I colored the markers onto the tile, then I used a little needle tip bottle filled with isopropyl alcohol to drop some alcohol onto the ink.


Then I spread the colors out with the hand blower. I continued this process until the tile was full of inks and I had a chance to test most of the colors.


I also picked up a set of Spectrum Noir TriBlend (Exotic) markers. These are markers with three shades of the colors built into the marker for shading (they pull apart in three sections). The nice part about these markers for using them as alcohol ink was that I could immediately choose the darker shade of the color.


So, I repeated the same process of coloring the tile and then dropping a little rubbing alcohol on the ink.


Then I'd blow the ink around the tile. I'd love to say the darker shades worked better, but only slightly. This set ended up working and looking very similar to the first set.


On the upside, it works way better than Sharpies (which you can make work, sort of), but this brand of markers is quite pastel in this application. I'm curious to see what they look like on other surfaces, but when used like alcohol ink on a very glossy surface, they aren't as saturated as I, personally, like. However, if you're looking for something pastel, they work great!

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