Homemade Alcohol Inks
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- Опубликовано: 22 май 2013
- Video #385: How to make alcohol ink for using with your polymer clay and other mixed media projects. By Cindy Lietz, Polymer Clay Tutor: www.beadsandbeading.com/blog/?...
Topics Covered In This Video:
- Commercial alcohol inks such as the Adirondack line from Ranger, have been used with polymer clay for a long time.
- Here are links to a couple of examples of my previous PcT tutorials that use the Adirondack Inks...
(1) Glow in the Dark Jelly Roll Cane (the earrings I show in the video)... www.beadsandbeading.com/blog/j...
(2) Red Clover Flower Beads, but there are many more... www.beadsandbeading.com/blog/r...
- Some people find commercial alcohol inks to be expensive and want to learn to make their own.
- Homemade alcohol ink is very cheap when you look at the amount you can make with each box of dye.
- Homemade Alcohol Ink Recipe:
1 part Rit Dye (powdered or liquid. I used 1/2 teaspoon for my 1 part)
6 parts 99% Isopropyl Alcohol (Rubbing Alcohol)
2 parts Water (for liquid dye only)
- Stir until mixed (the powdered dye will still have salts in the bottom and the liquid dye will still have some clumps of unmixed dye.)
- Use a clean unused coffee filter to filter out solids if desired.
- Use your homemade alcohol inks like you would use any other commercially made alcohol inks.
- Homemade alcohol inks aren't as concentrated as commercial brands.
- Colors are not as vibrant in/on polymer clay as they are on paper.
- Color is stable when baked in polymer clay.
- Although the homemade version is much cheaper by volume, it will cost you about the same on a per color basis if you only use small quantities.
- I prefer the commercial brands of alcohol inks such as Ranger's Adirondack Alcohol Ink, because... the colors are more concentrated and vibrant on polymer clay... there are more colors... making homemade inks yourself, is a messy job... and since the bottles last "forever," I don't mind if they are a little more expensive than the homemade version.
- The homemade alcohol ink may be a good choice for schools or guilds because the price is much cheaper by volume.
- One of the most shared articles from our blog onto Pinterest, is an old article called, Alcohol Ink Techniques and Recipes for Polymer Clay Artists. It contains lots of information about making alcohol inks using fabric dyes... www.beadsandbeading.com/blog/a...
- If you enjoyed this video, please do click the LIKE button. Subscribe too... for lots more entertaining and educational videos every week! 
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![36] ALCOHOL INK : Getting Started - INFO - DEMOS - How to Use Alcohol Inks for Beginners](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3gfjq1sTCf4/mqdefault.jpg)
I use acrylic paint and rubbing alcohol. In my paint palette, I just squeeze a small dot of acrylic, then I use a dropper to drop alcohol into it. Or...I paint the surface with a light coat of acrylic, let it dry then give a thin coat of alcohol. So many ways...also food coloring mixed with alcohol has been really wonderful for me. Just thought I'd pass it on. Being on a fixed income, I cannot afford to buy those wonderful inks. So Ive had to make my own. :)
Thank you Barbara! I'm on a fixed income too and your technique is terrific and affordable. Can't wait to get started!
Thanks for this tip! I too have a very limited craft budget lol I'll have to give this a try! I wonder how chalk pastels would work as pigment for an alcohol ink? I'll have to test that lol
tanks for sharing this wonderful trick!
Gel food colouring? :)
Seaglass Barbara, how much do you use of the paint and alcohol do you use?
Haha I just saw this. Considering Tim’s inks are 90% pigment, I’m not surprised you weren’t happy with the results. I do powdered Rit dye, 99% alcohol to the same volume as the dye, and add a drop of dish soap to help emulsify the dye and the alcohol. I get incredibly vivid pigments this way.
Thanks for the soap tip! I will have to try that!
Loved your video! I make my inks using alcohol and markers from the dollar store. I take the markets apart, take out the ink filters, drop them into the alcohol and let them soak for a couple of days and they work great!
The liquid dye didn't work because it's not water soluble. To turn it into a thinner dye ink you would have to use oil solvents like mineral spirits, or mineral oil (like baby oil), or even naphtha. It's just like oil paints won't mix with water and you need a oil solvent to clean the brushes because water doesn't mix with oil. Another example is nail polish it doesn't mix with water because it's not water soluble so you would need a nail polish/ lacquer thinner or acetone in order to make it soluble, thin, or just clean you brushes. I hope this was helpful. Thank you!
Hi.....I´ve been looking your homemade Alcohol Inks video. I don´t have the particular brand you use for the "recipie", so I can´t be sure if this will work for your materials.
I would like to suggest to mix the liquid dye with 2 parts of water first, when the dye is already mix with the water, then you may add 6 parts of Isopropyl Alcohol; but instead of 99% alcohol; maybe you can use 70% or 75% alcohol.
The liquid dye is not soluble in alcohol so they don´t mix. The dye is water soluble, then you can dilute it in water. Once the dye is in a water solution, if you add alcohol it becames soluble in alcohol because alcohol and water are easy to mix. The difference between 99% and 70% Alcohol is the amount of water mixed with the alcohol. 99% alcohol means 99 part of alcohol+1part of water (and other stuffs). If you use 70% alcohol you will have more water and the dye will dilute quickly.
I apologize for my English. I hope this will work.
Dont know if anyone has mentioned this tip but I actually have made alcohol ink with left over printer cartridge ink. it separates as it sits but you just shake it up and it mixes right back together. it is very nice and you can make it as vibrant or as " watered down" as you would like and I made mine in a spray bottle. I do use it on my clay and also, keep in mind that the printer colors are primary colors and you can make any color you like. I love your videos and tips :-)
+crystal brigman Cool idea! I'll have to try that!
Crystal, what a great idea! Are you able to recycle the printer ink cartridges afterwards, or do you throw them away?
Catherine S. Todd I did recycle the empty cartridges. There is a place that refills them and resells them really cheaply.
I know this comment was about a year ago sorry, but I was curious about how you got the ink out of the cartridge?
PanicLedisko i am assuming you buy the bottles of refill liquid ink and use those, not a cartridge.
I know that I'm watching this video several years later than filmed, but thought someone might watch it late as I am. I use alcohol inks, but cannot afford to purchase the Ranger brand, so I make my own. I use Sharpie markers, not dye, for the reasons you showed. There are videos demonstrating using markers. They are not my videos, but easily found on RUclips.
I've been looking into making my own alcohol inks/sprays to use in paper crafts and this was the first video/tutorial I've seen that mentions using the fabric dyes such as Rit...which is really quite a brilliant idea! I think for use on paper, this would give me much better results than the other tutorials I've seen which just look like watered down paint...but I'm sure each variety serves it's purpose. So...all that to say...thank you for a different perspective and a great video explaining the process and applications of these. And interesting from a non-polymer clay artists perspective :)
I am so very happy that I watched your video today. For me making my own is out! Your examples were very helpful. Thank you for taking the time to do this video.
have to use HOT water, really hot, it melts the sludge and then it mixes with the water and alcohol
Thanks for the info Kat, that is very helpful!
Hi Yamamoto Tsunetomo, you should be able to use it on wood, but I would do some test swatches first. You may need to use a wood conditioner first, to get the ink on evenly. Google that to learn more.
what about in synthetic hair. I have rit dye right fabric dye for synthetic. I have a blonde synthetic wig and I want it blue. I wondered if the color would be better if I used alcohol ink. My boyfriend already went through alot of trouble to get me the fabric dye so I don't wanna ask him to return it and get something else so i was wondering if I should use fabric dye or if I should make this alcohol ink with the rit dye.
i have pure pigment liquid in the primary colours,u mix it with a medium to turn it into fabric ink for screenprinting,it is water based.i dont have much money so do u think these will work?
Would like to try making my own alcohol ink - thanks for showing the process! 😊
Thanks for letting me know... Your videos are always so helpful!!!
Very informative and cool! Thank you! I will buy the commercial brand. However, I am also curious to create my own! So both!!
Thanks for the video - I tried it and it really works as you showed. I have a question about making "shades" of colour - like the "mushroom" colour Adirondack Inks has - can we DIY shades of brown for example? What might be the ratio if it can be done?
whats your opinion on using sharpies to make alcohol ink for polymer clay?
have you ever tryed it?
Hi Miina87, distress ink doesn't work on non-porous items like polymer clay is when it is baked. I haven't yet tried it with raw clay though, that might work. Try it and let me know how it goes!
After making the alcoholic ink, i wanna put it in a EMPTY marker, so, what percentage of ink and what makes it alil bit thicker? Do you know ?...I want it to be very pigmented and stay the same colors of it.
So going to try using my vast Procion and Acid Dye lots from Dharma Trading. Hint on using dye powder. You can use Urea (Sheeps urine in ball form) to mix your powder into a liquid paste. The urea desolves removing powder for tie dye or fabric dying, so you don't have bursts of powder while dying. It should work for this technique as well. I would add a bit more dye, so you don't loose your intensity.
Am going to try making some. I am going to use it for leather designs. Excited to try it. I just got some Adirondaks so we will how they work! Thanks
Thank you for the tip Cindy!! Can this type of ink be applied on wood?? If so, how do I prepare the wood ??
Hi! Can you use Jacquard Acid dye powder to make alcohol inks?
thanks
Hi 👋🏻! Love the video. I was wondering if you knew how to make white alcohol ink for use in resin jewelry? Thank you!
I had great luck making my own alcohol inks using food coloring allow continence of each color of food coloring to air dry then after add alcohol works great and got great intense color and its very cheep I can find four colors in a pack at the dollar store
Hollie, had no idea to try to buy food coloring at the $ store. Terrific idea!
Hi there, I'm a art student and I use the commercial inks, I do need something with more bulk, so I'm going to try this "recipe" out. How would it work with gesso?
if the colors aren't vibrant enough can I make it more intense by using 2 parts ritz to 5 parts alcohol?
I am just starting to learn about alcohol Inks, and have found a lot of tutes on gloss paper and tiles, and they speak of blending fluid, I suspect that it is Isopropyl and I think I picked up somewhere that it has glycerin in it. Would you know, and if this is correct and how much glycerin. Many thanks. I work with PC, but have found very few tutes using alcohol ink.
Using homemade inks v bought inks: would the homemade have the same lightfastness as bought product? In the long-term, would the intensity of colour last as long in the homemade variety? Just curious!!
Hi, did you try making alcohol inks with coaches or acrylics??? I mean the paste colours not the dry ones or the blocks.
Wow Cindy this is awesome! I am going to have to try to make primary colors, I do a lot of polymer clay stuff but I was thinking of doing mixed media canvas which is why I bought alcohol ink to begin with, at least I know this method of making my own. I will definately try this when I run out of the stuff I bought. Thanks again for all your help.
Hi Cindy. I am new to polymer clay ink. I have loved watching your channel. I take your advice seriously. Shades of Clay has been my store of choice in Canada. We live in Thunder Bay, Ontario. I was wondering if you can mix in colic markers and even use the refill ink as you would the adirondack ink on raw polymer. It is an alcohol based ink so I thought maybe it would work. I own a pile of Copic ink and markers. I take your advice so serious that I only use Premo Clay and will try some soufflé. I have stocked up on rubbing alcohol and a bunch of other things you recommend. Thanks for your great videos. It is great that your whole family seems involved in your channel, that is wonderful. Good videography Doug! Take care.
can i use the ink to put in blank markers to make my own colors?
Being water soluble, would it mix better adding the water and mixing first?? Just curious.
Yes I have been tempted to try and make my own alcohol inks for some time. But after watching your video, I am going to spare myself of the trouble and just buy beautiful colors from Adirondack Alcohol Ink.
- Thank you so much :)
Hi Dianna Brooks, I have no idea whether your other dyes will work or what the amounts would be, since I have not tried either brand you mentioned before. That is something that you are going to have to test for yourself. Let us know how it goes!
Hi madam i really appreciate ur efforts ! Can I use acrylic inks with alcohol to create alcohol inks ? Do they give the same fading and results ? Unfortunately they dont sale alcohol inks where I live 😢 thank u !!
This is great and helpful thanks!
Hi. Can you use food colourant instead of fabric dye?. I have seen a few video tutorials that show how to make spray ink using a gel food colourant and water but, not alcohol.
I would think the food coloring would fade to ugly brown as it is a vegetable dye. I have used food coloring full strength with my pen and ink drawings and it always fades.
plan on making my own but with markers and alcohol. found your use with polymer clay interesting...like the earrings.
I was wondering, did you try it with DyeMore RIT? That is for snyetic materials. The things you were using is for natural fabric. Let me know what you think
hi sweetie, have you ever tested copic alcohol inks? I use them for resin and the result is pretty awesome
Fantastic channel. Well done! We truly liked it.
Thanks from a fellow Canadian that dreams of lots of travel in the future! (I checked out your channel and just had to subscribe! Couldn't resist the urge to travel along with you guys!) :)
Hi Cindy! Can you use Jacquard Acid Powder Dye and the Rubbing Alcohol?
Hi Nantrónica - You are welcome. Glad to hear you are enjoying the tutorials. Now in regards to your voice training comment... I'm not exactly sure what you mean. Please elaborate :-)
Have you tried mixing the powder or the liquid with hot water instead? Maybe it would dissolve the dyes so you wouldn't have as much sludge in the mixture. Let me know if you think that might help. I was wanting to try this but have not yet.
I am new to inks and doing a search and saw this, I am surely going to try this, any other ideas for beginners
hi again :) i am wondering what the best way to colour a white polymer clay (particularly sculpey iii) or if it is better to paint on colours after baking?
thanks claire
Hi Claire Paul I just like to use colored clays, but there are tons of ways you can color white polymer clay. Alcohol inks, acrylic paints in small amounts, oil paints in small amounts, powdered pigments, chalks, bits of other colored clays, etc. Or you can paint your pieces with acrylics after it has been baked. Play around with different mediums and see which one you like best. Good luck!
hello what caint of markers at use.alcohol markers or with water
Thank you for responding!
on raw clay it seems it doesn't work :(
do you know a good internet shop i can order ink from?
I will be buying the commercial inks. Great info in this video..thanks.
Thank you for sharing this. I must give it a go.
Thank you for illustrating a possible problem with liquid RIT dye. I have seen the dye process used with hot water to dilute or blend the dye, so now I will use your adding alcohol after melted.
I have Breast Cancer, easy to find free blonde wigs... Brown wigs not so much🤔 So here's to you for sharing your experience ❤😘
Have a blessed creative day😊
Very interesting, thanks Cindy :)
I’ve taken your advice by looking at your video and I enjoy your post about alcohol inks.
I’m old fashioned and I love making diy stuff. Thanks for the tips in making alcohol inks!
I’m working with the liquid rit and it’s wonderful 🤗
I’ve checked out the name brand inks and they’re so expensive 💸💸💸💸💸💸💸💸
I’m glad you made this video 🤗
Thanks again!
Boiling water could work but it would have to be in a very tiny amount since we are trying to make a concentrated alcohol ink and not a fabric dye. It would be worth testing though. Thanks for the suggestion!
does the alcohol ink make you feel woozy/headachy at all?
Thanks for making this video, this was very helpful. Explained very well. I prefer to try both, like to save make my own, but if i cant mix any better than you did, I would prefer store bought. But being expensive I couldn't buy many at one time. Thanks for the tutorial.
I have some left-over powdered Proceon Fabric Dye from another class can I use these instead of Ritt Dye. What would be the mesurements please for this? Thank you
if you look on the side of the Ranger bottles, you will see that they contain ethanol, propylene glycol and isopropyl alcohol in them. Ethanol is the same as denatured alcohol. I sent for the ppg, but have not figured out the proportions yet. I have procion dyes which are much more concentrated than the Rit dye is. If you get too much ppg, which I sent for thru Amazon, it makes it greasy, so it must not take very much. I think it's a binder.
Thanks for the tip Lilmeemers! My guess is that there is a little water in the weaker strength of Alcohol, which would make sense for why it works. Thanks for sharing!
I tried making the alcohol ink using professional Procion MX dyes. I think it would be worth your while to order the sample kit I mentioned in my previous comment and giving it a try. I used less than one quarter of a quarter teaspoon... an amount that is really hard to measure. I put the dry granules into about 1 1/2 ounces of alcohol. The mix was instantly a vibrant turquoise. There was a little residue in the bottom of the bottle (maybe the salt you mention... though I don't think it's actual salt). The color was a beautiful turquoise on paper. I did not have any white polymer clay to try it out on (and I don't do much polymer clay anymore so I probably won't be using it for that) but it was a good enough test to believe that anyone who does polymer (or wants alcohol ink for any other reason) might want to give this a try. I don't buy those samplers I mentioned anymore but I buy turquoise, fuchsia and yellow with which I can make any other colors. For less than the price of 6 bottles of the Adirondack alcohol ink you could be set to make - at a guess - gallons of alcohol ink of many many colors.
Thanks for coming back and letting us know your results bunnidotcom ! That is very interesting!
Thanks for the tip!
Where can I get this dye from?
I love Tim Holtz products! I may try to make my own inks one day, but right now I buy the Adirondack inks with a coupon at either Hobby Lobby or Michaels. So easy to use!
can i use this ink to refill marker pen?
Very instructive,thank you.i prefer to learn how to make my own,but I can use the commercial paints for now. Thanks for sharing.!!💡😁
hello Cindy I think I might like to make my own only BC iam going to be useing them on paper or tags so that paper too not clay thank you so much please let me know when you have other videos ..thnak you MaryR,
Should other brands of fabric dyes work for this techniques?
So glad I found your channel! :-)
Curious the difference in quality over time . Certainly making it is straight forward from your explaination . Also curious is watercolor ink vs alcohol ink just using water in place of rubbing alcohol. Or is it not same thing/quality for some reason?
If you made these for paper use only would it be color fast or would it come off on your project after it dried?
I was interested in trying to make my own..with the exact products ... I am so very thankful that i watched this first as i would not be satisfied with the results just as you were not... I will stick with store bought brands. So glad i watched your video first!
Thank you so much for this video.
I am a newbie to polymer clay. Have only ever worked with PMC so I have much to learn and am so thankful for your tutorials.
Kindest Regards,
Cheryl
Will powder dyes work too? Ty!
I don't think it would be worth making your own this way... glad your did the tutorial so I wouldn't waste my time or effort doing it
Homemade, can it be made from Acrylic paint and water and alcohol?
You did a great tutorial. Thanks.
Would using food coloring instead of dye work? If so how would you go about figuring out the portions.
After watching your tutorial on RUclips I would skip the hassle and buy the commercial inks. I love all your tutorials, I am completely new to this and watching you is the only way I have been able to learn not only how to make things but also what I needed to get started so I didn't go out and spend a ton of money until I knew if I would like this medium! And so far I'm enjoying shaping the clay and painting it and putting all your great tips and ideas to use. I used to take ceramic classes years ago when my kid's were young but that was in the eighties and nineties. Now you can't find anyone who does classes anymore and since I made many things and loved painting the ceramics, I thought polymer clay might be something similar I would enjoy and on the plus side I can do it anytime in my own home w/ just an oven instead of relying on someone having a kiln in there basement to fire my creations! Lol Wow times have changed but for the good. I actually love the polymer clay a 100% better than the old ceramics. Keep doing the tutorials for beginner's, it's like having my own private teacher right at home and you do an Awesome job on all your tutorials!!!!!!! Thanks again, Maureen Q.
Thank you Maureen for your lovely comments! You should make sure to check out our blog at www.polymerclaytutor.com There is lots more information there and you can sign up for the newsletter. Polymer clay is a fabulous medium to work with. Glad you have come along for the ride!
can i use rit to make watercolor ink???
great idea,i will try this..will be cheaper then buying my inks at hobby lobby.I love the earrings,do you have a tutorial on those> if not can you do one>?
Have you ever mixed food dye in with alcohol to make the paint
I just found some old (but liquidy-vibrant) Peintex Fabric dye in the bottom of my craft box. Can I use these? And what would be the measurements please. Thanks
Thanks I've been looking for some good ink brands.
Dissolve with water first, then add your alcohol.. ;) I really enjoyed your video... Thank you ;)
Is this for fountain pens ? Or jewelry? Gerber baby spoon ?
How would you make white alcohol ink?
Hi lambanmartyr, that's a good question! I don't the answer to that, maybe someone else here does? I don't have time right now to test it myself, but I will put it on the list and see if I get to it. Thanks for commenting!
Would you please leave thhhe name. Of those paint I enjoyed this very one seems to say the items name you can’t understand what they are saying
hi ya, just curious, why do you not just put the dye to the poly clay............ but thank you that was a lovely tutorial barb UK.............defo want to try my own, just bought and paid £2.35 or approx $3.50 per bottle.........way too expensive as it doesn't go too far unless you are doing a small project..................thanks for tips barb UK
I wonder if it would mess up the chemical balance of the resin and not cause it to set. Definitely worth testing. If you try it, let us know if it works!
Yeah me too, Ella.
Have you used the homemade ink on baked pieces? Is the color more vibrant then as opposed to mixing it in the raw clay first?
Hi mamamonster yeah it's not really more vibrant on baked piece either. The best alcohol ink for vibrancy is the commercially made ones, I'm afraid.
Maybe? Haven't tried it yet. A high concentrated food coloring would be needed though, or the color would be too weak. Why don't you give it a try and let us know how it goes?
Hi shersmelley, Food color might work for making alcohol ink, though you probably would need to use the more concentrated gels rather than the liquid you get at the grocery store, otherwise I think the color would be too weak. It wouldn't hurt to try it though if you have the supplies around your home. As far as amounts, always start with small amounts of each supply and add a little of whatever you think you need more of. Making up recipes is always trial and error. But that's the fun part!
Great video, I have been watching a few on making your own but none with the powder. Thank you
I will definitely make my own and use it only on paper. Thanks
where in canada can i get adaronack inks
Michaels, Amazon, and shadesofclay.com/2-new-sets-adirondack-alcohol-inks/
Nice to know, will try it.
That die is supposed to be used with WATER? Like in the washing machine.... that is what I used when I used these dies with fabric... please correct me if I'm wrong... ;)