Alright friend! I’m experimenting with making alcohol ink today.
I’ve seen a handful of Pinterest posts on this, and since I hate using dull sharpies, I thought I would clean out my sharpie pile and try some of this DIY alcohol ink.
I’ll warn you from my experience with this project it’s not for kids! It’s messy, and WOW, the chemical reaction from the sharpie ink and alcohol combo stink while you’re using them.
On a positive note, the DIY alcohol ink is very inexpensive to make, and I did end up with some fun, colorful new papers to add to some junk journals I’m making.
Would I make these alcohol inks again? Well, read on, and I’ll share my thoughts.
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MAKING THE ALCHOL INK
SUPPLIES
- Sharpie Markers – I recycled old ones.
- Hobby Knife
- Rubber Gloves. Your hands will appreciate this.
- 99% Isopropyl Alcohol
- Disposable cups – I used 2 oz portion cups.
- Storage Bottles – I used both spray and liquid bottles.
First things first, wear gloves! This project is a mess, and the ink will stain your hands.
Next, pour some 99% Isopropyl Alcohol into your disposable plastic containers. I filled containers half full with alcohol, about 2tbs each container.
Then I broke open the sharpies to remove the ink tubes.
Once the ink tubes were removed, I used my hobby knife to cut them into chunks and sliced them down the middle to expose the ink.
Lastly, I placed the ink chunks into the containers of 99% Isopropyl Alcohol.
I let the ink sit in the alcohol for about 6 hours. I’m not sure if you need to wait that long, but I got busy doing other things. Surprisingly this process didn’t have a strong odor. The chemical odor came once I had completed mixing all the colors, stored them and went to use them on my paper.
Speaking of storing your inks, once your ink and alcohol are mixed together, you’ll need to store them. I used both squeeze bottles and spray bottles.
WOULD I MAKE ALCOHOL INK FROM SHARPIES AGAIN?
On the positive, making alcohol inks with old sharpies is a great way to repurpose the ink from a dull Sharpie.
Plus, it’s not that difficult of a task, and I was able to turn some plain white paper into colorful paper very inexpensively for some junk journals.
My negative is the chemical odor. Once the ink was dry on the paper, it did not smell, but while using the inks and waiting for them to dry, YUCK! I would definitely advise to use these outdoors.
So, would I make these DIY alcohol inks from Sharpies again? Only if I was in a pinch. It’s the odor that kills me. I think I would rather splurge on some store-bought ones. (I’ll share a few with you below.)
I am glad I tried making them, it was a nifty experiment for the day, plus I have some new fun paper.
What do you think?
Will you try them?
Have you tried them?
Do I just have a sensitive nose?
XOXO
Emily
Alcohol Inks
Brea Reese Shimmer Alcohol Inks
Plaid Mod Podge Alcohol Ink Sets |
You can also price check these inks on Amazon but I shop Blick Art Materials for a lot of my art supplies!
You can find more crafty projects under the LETS DIY – ARTS & CRAFTS category on the blog, or if this is your first time on to SHE PAINTS FOR PONIES, start HERE.