Keeping Things Fresh: Alcohol Inks

As an artist, I find that experimenting with mediums that I had never tried before (or haven't used in a long time) is a great way to keep the creativity and inspiration flowing.

I have seen a lot of beautiful alcohol ink pieces floating around the internet... I think that they're quite popular right now. I got really excited because they are absolutely stunning to look at. They're just the type of abstraction that I love... atmospheric, beautiful, simple, zen. But when I looked a little closer, I realized that these pieces were quite small in scale.

So I very quickly dismissed alcohol inks.

Then I looked into them again. I actually spent the time delving into how they are used, why they are used, and what sort of potential they have as a medium, both on their own, and as something to combine with other mediums.

I was intrigued by the use of Yupo paper... which is a plastic-based "paper" (reminds me of RC papers we used in the darkroom) that does not absorb medium. It allows liquids to flow and move around on top. It is used for watercolour, inks, and acrylics. It's really beautiful and comes in translucent or solid options.

SO I thought I would give alcohol inks a chance. My mind is reeling with ideas for bringing it to a larger scale and seeing what can be done.

Today, though, was my first day just giving them a feel and seeing what I can produce. I bought an 11x14" pad of Yupo paper, and only 3 inks (green, brown, and gold) to play with. I cut a sheet of Yupo in half and gave it a shot.

SO it's nowhere near what I would like to be creating, but it was a great exercise in learning how the ink behaves and interacts with the Yupo. Here's what I used:

Yupo (by Legion paper), inks by Pinata, rubbing alcohol (for thinning), scissors, painter's tape, a hairdryer (for moving ink & drying it), and (not pictured) a plastic reusable straw.

The rubbing alcohol is important as it helps create cool effects, wets the surface, and helps the ink to move around. Ink manufacturers make a special 'extender' liquid for this purpose that is a bit better as it has the ink binder in it (it isn't just pure alcohol and helps to maintain the beautiful pigmented colour) but I wasn't quite willing to shell out the money for it until I decided to really go for it with this medium. So, for now, rubbing alcohol works. The one that I bought came with a spritz head, which I was glad about when I bought it, but I found that it was too strong and made a mess of my painting. I had better luck by just dripping the alcohol onto the painting.

This one was my first attempt. I was using the spritz head on the alcohol bottle, and it was just making a mess. I kept adding ink on top to try and rebuild the effects I wanted, but I just kept blasting them away and ended up with just a big ugly pile of ink.

Fair enough, I was expecting the first attempt to be a mess.

The second attempt came out a bit prettier. I dripped the alcohol instead of spraying it. I also used the hairdryer to spread inks and to dry inbetween layers:

I also found the gold ink to be exceptionally hard to work with. It doesn't flow as easily as the other inks, and dries really quickly. But, when I did get it to move the way I wanted it to, I really liked the result.

I still have a lot to learn about this medium, and am really excited to be playing with it.

Do you like to play with new mediums when inspiration is running low? I would love to hear about your adventures!

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