Hey, Peeps. This is a picture intensive post, so stick with me! I also have an offer in the end.
So, it took me a while to get on the Alcohol Ink Bandwagon. I decided to play with some stencils, alcohol ink, and shrink plastic.
I'm probably going to turn these into fused glass, but that will be another blog post. Stay tuned.
Anyway, I just started with a square of shrink plastic. I punched a hole first (very important if you plan on putting it on a jump ring later).
I inked it with some red, orange, Snow Cap white, and Silver. I also used a little bit of blending solution so it would spread well.
I wanted to use a contrasting color so the stencil design would show up. This time, I did not use any blending solution, because I thought that would cause too much "roll under" with the stencil, and I wanted my design to be a little more defined.
I used my Swirled Clef tag stencil, which is available in my Etsy shop here. I dabbed through the stencil with the blue alcohol ink.
Now keep in mind that this technique is not for the crafter who wants a very crisp, defined image, because the alcohol ink is very fluid and can't be controlled as well as a thicker medium like paint. Here's the square before shrinking.
And here it is after it was shrunk.I wasn't real thrilled with the colors, and I had another idea.
Here's another square that I inked with alcohol ink, and then I stenciled the numbers "38" (my house number) through my Grunged Numbers tag stencil. I wanted it to stand out, so I used Snow Cap white and some silver.
I inked only on the corner of the felt, because I wanted to be able to dig into the stencil to ink the plastic well.
The 38 showed up, but not well enough, so I outlined it with the Scarlet Lime doodle pen. I swear, this pen will doodle in mud.
After I outlined the numbers, I added a small shrink art heart, and doodled a little bit more. I'm going to hang this from the spine of an altered book. *Excited*
Then I thought to stencil on plain, uncolored shrink plastic. So, I stenciled through my Stretched tag stencil with red.
I cut it up into a rectangle and two hearts.
Keep in mind that the alcohol ink intensifies in color once the plastic is shrunk.
This heart picked up a little color off of my mat, but I'm OK with that.
Here's the little one.
And here's the rectangle. Shrink plastic will shrink the way it wants to. You need to come to grips with that.
Then I thought, "Why not try two colors and patterns?" So, I started with my Rectangular Grid tag stencil, inking with some red.
Then, I turned the plastic over and inked some white through my Hearts Galore tag stencil.
I did the same thing as before, inking just the corner of the felt for good control.
Here's the panel.
I used my scallop punch to punch out this lovely shape.
I punched a hole into a rectangle to be able to add a jump ring.
And, because I wanted some of the hearts to stand out, I doodled with my Scarlet Lime pen before I shrunk it. Imagine doodling microscopic hearts after they were made teenie tiny.
I shrunk the shapes using my heat tool.
Again, they will shrink however their little hearts please. This is not an exact science.
And, here is the front of the shapes with the red grid.
And the back with the hearts.
Here's a close-up. I love the layered look, and I'll be doing this a lot more.
And, every craft room should have a puppy. Just sayin'.
And, during the month of March, I'm offering a free Scarlet Lime doodle pen for orders of $25 or more in stencils (excluding shipping costs) in my Etsy shop. Just mention that you saw this post, and I'll include it for free.
Thanks for reading!
Fondly, Tami
