Friday 26 March 2010

Alcohol inks



I love anything that gets me messy and one of my favourite things to play with is alcohol ink. I think alcohol inks are an 'alterer's' best friend because all of those things with shiny finishes like metal, glass etc that won't take paint well and all those things that are an odd shape (and therefore difficult to cover with paper) can be coloured and altered using alcohol inks.

This little trinket box is one example. It started life as one of those very shiny white necklace gift boxes (knowing me I probably threw away the necklace and kept the box!).

I put a few drops of a variety of different shades of brown alcohol ink onto the Ranger felt applicator and then literally just dabbed it all over the box. I kept going until the entire box was covered. I love the way it made the box look almost like tortoiseshell.

To finish the box I made a buttondoll (made from craft wire, buttons, a bottle cap, some old german scrap wings and a vintage photo) - I glued her on top of the box and lined the inside of the box with felt.