Alcohol Markers – Tips and Techniques

Hello atry-crafty friends!

DT Daksha on the blog! I am sharing tips and techniques of alcohol markers today.  In my DT kit I got 9 colored AC Moore alcohol markers and a colorless blender. I will show you how to use those in different ways. You can get these AC Moore markers at Itsy Bitsy stores and online.

AC Moore alcohol design markers :

•These are dual tip alcohol markers

• Quick drying, dye based alcohol markers

• non-toxic

• one broad nib for thick strokes and one fine tip nib for detailed work

• Perfect for card making, scrapbooking, DIY crafts, school projects, and other paper crafting

• Comes in a wide range of colors

These dual tip alcohol markers work smoothly with no unsightly streaking! Colors can be blended and overlaid to create depth and tone. These markers are also permanent on most surfaces including paper, metal, wood, and fabric. This allows the crafters to alter and customize the supplies they use. I have seen ribbons colored with alcohol markers as well as clear gems, buttons, chipboard, plastic, metal and canvas embellishments.

Stamping inks:

For best results either heat set  or allow to dry before coloring. The following three brands of inks are widely used with alcohol markers.

 • Ranger Adirondack Dye Ink pads

• Tsukineko Memento Inks

• Hero Arts Rubber Stamping Dye Ink

Colorless Blender:

This can be used to erase mistakes by pushing the ink back into the coloured areas. It can be used to lighten areas and create highlights. We can use it to create different effects like dots, plaids or create texture.

Cardstock:

Specific paper brands and weight that are widely recognized to work well with alcohol markers.

Here are few sample swatches I tried on different papers from my stash.

The best papers for alcohol markers must be thick to prevent ink- bleeds..it’s always wise to opt for bleed proof papers.

I had papers which I used to use for alcohol inks…got some shiny plastic coating on that I tried few techniques with these alcohol markers and results were amazing. For normal image coloring I prefer Nina solar 110 pounds. papers I get locally also works well with alcohol markers though these do not have any brand names.

Image Coloring 

 

 

 

#1: After stamping the image with Memento black ink and heat setting it. I colored the image completely using the lightest shade .

#2. Next added medium dark color to the edges of the image for shadows and darker areas.

#3. While the ink is still damp go back with your lightest shade again and blend out medium color using a circular coloring pattern where the colors meet. You will notice the darker shade blend into the lighter one.

If you want even more contrast take the darkest shade and color the areas you want to be the darkest. Using the same technique as before, color with medium and the lightest shade marker to blend the colors.

Another way to add another shade of color is to scribble on to a craft sheet or a palette and pick up some of the color with a lighter shade marker. Don’t be afraid of contaminating the marker tip.  Scribble off on a sheet of scrap paper when you are done.

Background techniques:

 

#1- Marble technique:

                 

 

 • Glossy cardstock 4.5″×5.5″

• Rubbing alcohol or Ranger’s blending solution

• Plain cardstock in same size as glossy cs

• Ziploc plastic bag( cut from 3 sides and Ziploc part sealed).

Step 1 : After sandwiching plain paper inside the ziplock bag, apply marker colors as per your choice in random style covering the whole white part you see through the plastic with alcohol colors.

Step 2 : Spritz the bag with alcohol blending solution and you will see droplets of color visible on the top and edges of the colors will start to blend.

Step 3 : Place glossy cardstock, glossy side down onto the wet ink. Press the cardstock onto the ink for a few seconds and then lift to reveal your background. You can spray for the second time on the leftover color and get a second generation which will be a little lighter and that way you can utilize the colors completely.

#2-Felt technique with alcohol marker:

Here I have taken a piece of felt on a distressing tool and scribbled alcohol markers with thick side on the felt. Added few drops of of blending solution and then applied in zigzag movement on to a glossy CS. Here, every time we add colors or blending solution and blend we get different blending effect. Keep adding color and solution and blending till you are happy with the result.

#3 – Pointillism/ Stippling technique :

Choose color markers ( 3 to 5 ) and just make dots on the paper. In order to get round dots hold the marker straight. The longer you press the darker and larger the dot will be . Randomly bounce the marker on the paper rather than following any pattern. While doing this move on to darker colors and continue adding dots, add less dots with darker markers. ( Here is the purple flower I did on glossy cardstock) You can see it gives a beautiful effect…. specially on glossy paper.

#4- Color your embellishments : 

I’m sure all of us have come across a situation when we don’t have the perfect coloured embellishments for our projects. This is where alcohol markers come to your rescue. Try coloring buttons, bling, stickers, ribbon, twine, pearls, metal embellishments etc with alcohol markers. Even glitter can be colored to match your requirements.

#5- Coloring with colorless blender, rubbing alcohol or nail polish remover.

For this technique you can color an image with single color or can give more shadings after stamping and then taking a colorless blender give dots randomly you will see round white spots on your design which gives a unique effect on your image you can see that in the pictures below.

Using these backgrounds and images I have made few cards.

Card#1

 Card#2

Card#3

Card#4

Card#5

Card#6

Hope you are still with me….I know this post is quite long but there are so many things to cover for alcohol markers.  I tried my best to cover as much as possible in this post.

Alcohol markers are very easy and fun to use so if you are interested in them and don’t have them in your stash, you can initially start with a few markers and then gradually build up your collection. I must mention that the ongoing discounts offered by Itsy Bitsy allows you to buy these markers at the best price!

Thank you for stopping by

Love n hugs

Daksha

SUPPLIES USED:

https://www.itsybitsy.in/categories/papercraft-markers-alcohol-base-marker/cid-CU00360956.aspx

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