Friday, October 26, 2012

Alcohol Ink Flowers

I own four or five bottles of Tim Holtz/Ranger Alcohol Inks. Originally purchased when I saw a tutorial on their use with metal, it seemed they might have other powerful uses.


On a recent trip to a second hand store, I came across a package of silk flower bodies. I think the intent was you actually make your own silk flower but I saw opportunity. They were very blue, not a color I was looking to use right now, but I figured a bit of alcohol ink and I'd be good to go. I also would think you could take old silk flowers apart and change them up to suit your needs with just a bit of dye.

This ink is very good at dying my hands, so figured it would work top notch on a flower!

Grabbed a plastic baggie and a very old cookie tin.

And smooshed them around in the ink a bit. I used three different colors here. I then lifted them carefully out of the baggie to dry. 

The end result was really metallic and cool. The blue is still there a bit under it, but actually helps I think to make the flower more interesting. 

And my final product? 

Here is a flower on a page I made for Shirley. I did these in straight silver and then cut the black mesh top part using my Tim Holtz tattered die. The button was originally white too, but I used some orange glitter to change that up as well. 


It's always a great feeling when you can get a product to do double duty and customize something just for your needs!

And the gold/reddish brown flower I dyed above? I'll show you that soon. I have it worked into a page! ;-)

Happy Friday!


7 comments:

  1. You are a life saver! I have a drawer filled with flowers that are putrid colors and now I can bring some dignity back to them. Your Halloween LO for Shirley is fantastic with your vintage flair!!

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  2. Wow, the end result is stunning!! well done on re-inventing these flowers for future use!!

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  3. Such a great tip! I have some silk flowers left over from a project that need a purpose. Never thought to 'ink' them a different color!

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  4. I spent a while looking for the gold reddish/brown flower on your card and then, lol....realized that you meant to use it on a LO!
    TFS the neat idea :)

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  5. Beautiful! I've never splashed out on alcohol dyes before - mainly because I can't think of enough ways to use them but I sure do like my mists!

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  6. Love how these turned out and such a great idea.

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