The Spotted Sparrow

You may have noticed that I use alcohol ink a lot. That's because there are so many different ways to use it to create different looks. Plus, it's made to use on non-porous surfaces like metal, glass and acrylic, which means you can transform so many different types of things. Seriously, the possibilities are endless. Today, I'll show you how I like to play with alcohol ink on glazed ceramic tiles.

You can find alcohol ink in most craft stores. It usually come in packs of 2-3 colors, and is also available in metallic shades. Along with your alcohol ink, you'll need an applicator and blending solution. These should also be sold in most craft stores. If you don't have any old tiles, you can do this on glossy cardstock, metal, glass, acrylic, or any other non-porous surface.

First, make sure you have a craft mat or lots of scrap paper on your work surface. These babies stain anything and everything.

If you're using a store-bought applicator, it should come with a few pieces of felt that you attach with Velcro. If you don't have an applicator or are using a different tool, you'll want to attach a piece of felt or a cotton ball. If you're feeling really adventurous, you can just use a cotton ball by itself, but know that you'll have some very colorful fingers when you're done.

Pick your first color of ink, place the nozzle onto the felt and squeeze for 1-2 seconds. Repeat this as many times as you want, with as many colors as you want. The only thing you don't want to do is place different colors on top of each other.

Start randomly stamping the applicator onto your tile. Keep stamping until your surface is as covered as you want it to be. Some people like to leave a lot of white showing, while others like to cover the entire surface. If your ink starts drying before you're done, just add a little more to your applicator and continue stamping.


Here's the beauty of alcohol ink: if you don't like how your tile turned out, you can fix it! The blending solution thins the alcohol ink and reworks the design. You can squeeze a few drops onto your applicator and stamp over your tile, or you can squeeze drops directly onto the tile itself. You'll see the ink start moving around, change colors a bit, and rework itself. Keep doing that until you get a design that you like, and you're done. It's that easy!

I don't know about you, but I get bored easily and like to use some variations on the typical alcohol ink application. Instead of stamping the ink onto your surface, you can drag the applicator to create lines. The dryer the ink is on your applicator, the thinner your lines will be.


Sometimes, I like to create lines and then apply more ink on top of them, using the normal stamping method.


You can also squeeze drops of alcohol ink directly onto your tile. You can layer the drops to form circles within circles. The longer you let the first drop dry, the more definition there will be between the different drops.


Another variation is to apply the ink in a circular pattern with your applicator. I set the applicator on the tile, then twist it in a clockwise motion, repeating that until the surface is covered.
What other variations do you use when applying alcohol ink?