I had some creative time this weekend, and filled it with what may be my new obsession: making "Alcohol Ink" coasters. They aren't a new idea but I came across them on Pinterest last year and they were on my list to try so they were new to me. It's art and chemistry in one and I love that no two will be the same.
Supplies Needed:
- Hardware Store Ceramic Tiles ( mine were like $.16 each )
- Sharpie or Alcohol Ink Pens ( I used Sharpie, Prismacolor, and Spectrum Noir)
- Rubbing Alcohol
- Eye Dropper
- Sealant ( I used Rustoleum Clear Laquer Spray)
- Aluminum Tape (optional)
- Paper Towel or something to protect your work surface. I liked paper towel because of the absorbency.
Clean the tiles with a little of the alcohol just to get any residual dust etc. off of them. That's it on the prep! You'll want to use the "shiny" tiles...ones that are not porous.
The tiles are so cheap ( not inexpensive, these are downright CHEAP...16 cents each) and if you mess up guess what? Before you seal you can clean off the ink with more alcohol and start over!
Decide which colors you want to use and then scribble all over your tiles. You can cover as much or as little as you want depending on the effect you're going for. If you have alcohol inks in your stash you can use them too and just drip them directly onto the tiles.
For this one went all over just randomly covering with bright colors. This one is all Sharpie. Once you're happy , then grab your eye dropper and start dripping your alcohol randomly and watch the magic happen! (This is where I wish I had video'd the process because it's fascinating to watch the alcohol and inks interact)
Don't overdo it on the alcohol. It's a judgement call and in some cases you might want to add more where it doesn't spread. I also observed that as the alcohol dries, it continues to interact with the marker and continues to change until it's completely dry.
As I was doing these and lamenting that I didn't have some colors in my Sharpie collection, I wondered if other pens would work since all the ones I'd seen on Pinterest used Sharpies .
Guess what? They do! I grabbed some of my Prismacolor and Spectrum Noir pens since they're basically alcohol based and found that they interact equally as well with the alcohol and are a little more fluid than the Sharpies. I did some with just Sharpie, some with just the other pens, and some combining them all. This was truly just playing around to see what happened.
Once dry, you'll want to seal them. I used Rustoleum Clear Laquer and lightly sprayed about three coats. To finish, I had some aluminum tape ( I think this is from the electrics section at the HW store...I bought mine at an art fair but I think that's where the booth owner said it came from) and then put self adhesive felt dots on the bottoms.
This one's for me to keep and use for my iced mochas! It reminds me of the milk and foam from a coffee drink.
Mr. Chocolate called dibs on this one because it reminds him of the outdoors.
The rest are actually a birthday gift for my son's BFF who loves to host cocktail parties. I figured he could always use some additional coasters!
Never to early to start thinking about handmade holiday gifts! I am going to get some larger tiles and make some trivets as Hannukah and Christmas gifts!