Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Spraying Homemade Alcohol Ink onto Fabric

Polyester fabric remnants

I've been seeing a lot of Pins about making alcohol ink on Pinterest. I have several colors of Rit dye so I thought I'd try it with a twist. I didn't follow any actual recipes because I wanted to test the process for myself. I did run into a problem with the first spray bottle clogging up so I began mixing the ink and alcohol in a different bottle before transferring to a spray bottle.

I decided to test both polyester and cotton fabrics because alcohol ink should be permanent on both types of fabric. Both fabrics took the alcohol ink well but the colors were deeper and more intense on the cotton. I also tested paper towels and they looked awesome with the inks looking very bright.

I also decided to use white gesso on the fabrics because it acts like a resist when used with alcohol ink.

NOTE:
I ironed my fabrics once the alcohol ink was dry using a protective cloth behind and in front of the inked fabric. There was just the tiniest smudge of pink on one of the protective fabrics when I was done so I would recommend washing the fabrics if you're planning to use alcohol ink sprayed fabrics for anything other than craft use.

SUPPLIES
  1. White Cotton Fabric remnant from my stash
  2. Beige Polyester Fabric remnants from my stash
  3. Viva Paper Towels
  4. 91% alcohol from Walgreens
  5. Clear 3 oz Spray bottles from the Dollar Store
  6. Clear 3 oz bottles from the Dollar Store
  7. Disposable (10 pack) filter masks from the Dollar Store
  8. Disposable (100 pack) plastic gloves from the Dollar Store
  9. Liquid Rit Dyes (from my local Joann Fabric and Craft store)
  10. Reynolds Plastic Coated Freezer Paper from my local Walmart
  11. White Gesso from dickblick.com
  12. Hand-carved stamps (supplies from dickblick.com)
  13. Paint brush
  14. Paint Texture tool (used Martha Stewart)
  15. Large flat piece of cardboard or drop cloth
ALCOHOL INK STEPS
  1. Put on disposable plastic gloves (optional)
  2. Shake the liquid Rit dye bottle thoroughly
  3. Pour 1 oz Rit dye into a clear 3 oz bottle (not spray bottle)
  4. Add 2 oz of 91% alcohol into the bottle
  5. Shake thoroughly and allow to settle
  6. Pour settled mixture into a 3oz spray bottle leaving sediment behind
  7. Repeat steps for each color you want to mix.
FABRIC STEPS
  1. Place fabric remnants on a large piece of freezer paper or other protective surface.
  2. Stroke gesso in a thin layer on another sheet of freezer paper.
  3. Press hand-carved or commercial stamps into gesso and then stamp onto the fabric.
  4. Repeat the stamping until you're satisfied, adding more gesso to the freezer sheet as necessary.
  5. Run texture tool through gesso and stroke onto fabric until satisfied.
  6. Allow the gesso to fully dry on all fabric.
SPRAY STEPS
  1. Go outside or move to a well-ventilated place where you can spray without damaging furniture or carpeting.
  2. Place the freezer paper on the large piece of cardboard or drop cloth.
  3. Put on a couple of disposable spray masks because you do not want to breathe in the sprayed alcohol. It will irritate your nose and lungs.
  4. Spray the different colors of alcohol ink to your satisfaction. You should see the stamped gesso becoming visible as you do.
  5. Allow the fabric and paper towels to air dry
SOME RESULTS
Alcohol Inked Viva Paper Towel
Polyester remnant
Polyester remnant with carved eraser stamp
Polyester remnant with carved block stamp
Cotton fabric with carved block stamp
Polyester with Martha Stewart texture tool
Cotton remnant with deeper, more intense colors

8 comments:

Unknown said...

What RIT liquid dye colors did you use? I love them! Thank you.

Lovinglf_Designs said...

Thanks for looking Michele. I used the Scarlet and Aquamarine liquid dyes for this project.

Unknown said...

Your information is greatly appreciated. I'm experimenting for the first time on chiffon for a scarf. I'm using Jacquard lumiere, metallic paints with fabric medium and a metallic Faber Castell metallic pitt pen. Hoping this works. You have inspired me to try the alcohol inks nect time. Thank you for taking the time to post this information. Love an adventure! Blessings, Kathy Travis

Dodie said...

Clever idea, daunting experiment, beautiful results!! Look so good - love the different embossed designs you created. I might try this for a jacquard poly skirt that I plan to use for a wedding. Glad this post was still available almost 4 yrs later!

Bullygirl said...

Great experiments, I love the soft, natural blended colors. I would like to know how well the dyes stay? Have the colors faded or run when they got wet? :) thanks!

Unknown said...

This is awesome. Thank you so much for sharing. It was just what I was looking for.

Hiley said...

How do you seal the inks so the substrate remains flexible? Does Kamar dry flexible? I want to try these techniques on combat boots I would actually wear and expose to rain.

Lovinglf_Designs said...

Hiley I sealed some of the fabric I had printed with Gloss Mod Podge. I looked at it recently and it is still in great condition and is still flexible after many years. Keep in mind that alcohol inks are not water soluble so won't wash out in water. They can fade in the sun though. I have not tried Krylon Kamar Varnish on fabrics. If you have a question about how something will work, test it on two sample pieces. Leave one sample piece exposed to the sun and the other piece out of the sun for comparison purposes. It will give you a good idea of how the varnish and alcohol inks work when subject to UV rays.