Create Vivid Colors Using Alcohol Inks with Trena Brannon!

Hello Beautiful!

Trena Brannon is here on the blog today, showing you a fun, colorful technique with alcohol inks. My favorite thing about stencils is that you can use them with ALL THE ART SUPPLIES. ☺️  Full disclosure: MaryBeth taught me this technique. Over the years, I have made it my own, using the inks with stencils in different ways.

Today, we are using the inks to design our own fabrics for our models.  This technique works well with all stencil designs, both with large and small openings. 

Important safety information first: 

1. The inks can sometimes have a strong smell. Work in a well-ventilated area when working with the inks - open a window or have a fan in the room. 
2. It's ok to put the rubbing alcohol into a spray bottle. Never put alcohol inks or alcohol binders into a spray bottle. The inks and their binders contain resin. When airborne, it can be harmful to your lungs.
3. If you have sensitive skin or don't want to stain your hands, use gloves or a protective cream.
4. The inks can stain clothes and surfaces. Be sure to protect your clothing and cover your work surface. 

Step one:

Tape the closet stencil to a piece of Yupo paper and lightly spritz rubbing alcohol over the stencil openings. 

Step two (the fun part!):

Drip alcohol inks in the openings of the stencil. Use colors that blend to create new hues, and balance light and dark to give your designs more visual interest. If needed, spritz a little more rubbing alcohol over the inks. The ink will spread underneath the openings - that's ok. As the inks dry, they will define the shapes of the openings. 

Allow the inks to dry completely. The drying time depends on how much ink you have used. If you have dripped a lot of ink, you may need to let it dry overnight. 

TIPS: 

Use a toothpick to move the color around inside the openings. 

• When you do this while the ink is wet, it will mingle and create a smooth finish.  
• When you do this, when the inks are almost dry, you will create texture and your own unique design patterns. 

Step three:

While your inks are drying, you can paint your models. Use a small sponge (or paintbrush) to apply acrylic paint through the open stencils. You can tape the stencil down while you paint, or hold it down with your other hand. 

TIP: When you want a sharp edge of your stencil, use a dry brush (or sponge) technique, which means use a minimum amount of paint so it does not seep under the stencil. 

Step four:

After the ink has dried completely, use scissors to fussy-cut out your garments.  This is when you see how pretty your drips look in clothes! The vivid pops of color show up wherever they mingle and dry. How the inks blend is unique to this medium, and it's why I love creating with alcohol inks. 

Step five:

Lay your outfits over your models to "try them on" - during this step, I got warm, fuzzy memories of playing with paper dolls when I was little. 🧍🏽‍♀️👗👙

Step six:

Choose which outfits you want your models to wear and adhere them to the page. Adhere the rest of your models' clothes on the page however you want. Since it's summertime, I put swimsuits on my models. 🩱

I made a time-lapse reel on YouTube to share the steps visually.

Other ideas for this technique:

• Use pencils, pens, and/or paint to add hair, facial features, and make-up to your models.
• Create greeting cards for your friends/family featuring their favorite color outfits.
• Create several outfits in different colors for one model.
• Add designs and patterns to your clothes with gold, silver, and black pens. You can test the pens you have on the scraps of your Yupo paper. Be sure the ink is completely dry before testing your pens. 

Here are the Supplies I used: 

• substrate/surface: Yupo white for the inks and my 9x12 inch mixed media journal
• stencils: Couture Models, Couture Closet #1 Small
• color: Ranger, Jacquard Pinata alcohol inks, acrylic paints in skin tone colors
• tools: scissors, sponge dauber. low tack tape, e.g. washi tape
• adhesive: Matt medium in a container with a tiny tip
• other: Isopropyl rubbing alcohol 99% in a spray bottle, paper towels

All my stencils are on sale for the from today through July 30th! Use code: JOY.

I hope you have fun creating!!

When you create with this technique, I would love to see it! Feel free to tag me on Instagram @trenabrannon and/or Facebook at TrenaBrannon Art & Design.

Take care and stay positive! 

Trena