Dye more than just your Duds!!

The Art of dyeing has been around for thousands of years, it is the rainbow of colors that set any mood and transform all forms of our art ,from the Saris of India to the plastics we use, in a 3D printer.

With the intensity of color, received from such a small amount you can create endless mediums. Alcohol inks are very interesting to work with and quite affordable to make.

I use dye for lots of textile projects, so it just make sense to use it for other things.

I will show just how easy Alcohol Ink is to make and show you, two cool art projects that are transformed with the Ink.

Lets get to it.

Step 1: Supplies

You will need a safe place to make a mess! (Yep, can be a mess, but oh so worth it.)

Plastic sheet ( to cover your work area )

Plastic gloves

Procion Dye or Rit Dye ( I use Dharma's Fiber reactive procion dye

Plastic spoons or popsicle sticks and cups

91% isopropyl alcohol

Plastic squeeze bottle w/ lid

Hair dryer

Paper towels

Water

Eyedropper or pipettes

Tooth brush

Paint brush

Krylon triple thick spray gloss

Black acrylic paint

Glazed white ceramic tile

Life casting ( my particular art piece )

Step 2: Making the Ink

Make sure your area is well protected, dye dust tends to get on things you least expect.

The bottles used are 1oz., first take and put 1/2 oz. water in plastic cup then add 1 tsp. of dye. You can make the ink more intense if you like, by adding more dye.

Mix well then add 1/2 oz. of 91% isopropyl alcohol. Blend well. Put mixture into 1 oz. squeeze bottles or use pipettes or eyedroppers to put on your projects.

You have now created Alcohol ink. Some dyes will have particles at the bottom, you can strain them or not. I like the look of texture so I leave it.

Step 3: Glazed Ceramic Tile Project.

Place stickers on tile to block out areas or just cover the whole tile. Drop small amounts of plain alcohol onto the tile, then start adding drops of Ink , till you get the desired look. If you don't like it wipe it off or bleed it out with more alcohol.

The pictures show 2 different tiles. Let the ink dry, peal off lettering and then spray with gloss. do several lite coats. Tiles can be backed with felt, backs painted , framed or put on an easel.

Step 4: Life Casting W/ Dye Ink Glaze Look.

I love life casting and sometimes I want the look of fired glaze without using clay and a kiln. So this Ink gives me that look. Sure you could use paint or water colors but I'm using something different that I have and so can you.

I simply took plaster cloth and formed my cast. After the plaster dried white flat spray-paint was applied.

Let dry well.

Then drop on plain alcohol ,start dropping on color, I even splatter with tooth brush, syringe, etc. The idea is to dry it a little between coloring so it doesn't get muddy. but sometimes mud is cool. I cracked the edges and some areas of the cast to create more texture. Let it dry and spry with gloss, do as many coats as you want.

You can get a Raku pottery look by adding some metallic powders on top.

That's it. Hope you like this Instructable.

Thank you! The Juliart