How I Tame the Chaos of Alcohol Ink: A Peek into My Process

It is Absolute Chaos

Alcohol inks are bananas.

If you look up “what is alcohol ink,” you’ll find out it’s a suspension of pigment dye in alcohol.

Yeah. That’s what they want you to believe.

In fact, they’re the liquid equivalent of cats. Yes, I know, cats are a liquid. Work with me here.

Alcohol inks are much more flowy—flowier?—than watercolors, and they do what they want to do.

Why I Love the Chaos

For starters, I don’t like doing what everyone else is doing, so I love the unpredictability of alcohol ink.

I also don’t like being told what to do, so I love the “you’re not the boss of me” attitude of the inks.

Also, I love the challenge of taking what the inks give me and turning it into something amazing.

I definitely have to work every creative muscle I have to make art out of the liquid demons that are alcohol inks.

My Process: Turning Chaos into Art

I start by deciding what size my painting should be. To be honest, this is the only real decision I make for some projects.

Then I choose colors. This is where I pretend I have a plan. It’s less about consciously choosing a color palette and more about pulling out several colors and going, in the end, with what feels right. As long as I choose colors that don’t clash, and hopefully play well together, it will be fine. After all, they’re going to do what they do anyway.

Before I actually start pouring ink, I prep my workspace, which basically means covering anything I don’t want ink on or in—from my table surface to my eyes.

My personal secret weapon is freezer paper from the grocery store. Laid shiny side down, it protects my table and the other side soaks up extra ink.

I also use metric tons of paper towels and frequent changes of nitrile gloves.

When I’m in the middle of a painting session, my workspace looks like a crime scene where all the victims are art supplies.

When I’m finally ready, I pour.

Well, first I pour alcohol over my surface, then I squirt a few drops of my first color.

Some people like to work light to dark.

I usually start with blue, because I always include some sort of blue.

While the surface alcohol is super wet, I squirt a few drops of blue and tilt the paper in every direction.

As I add new colors, I blow the ink with various tools, including a squeeze bulb, a straw, an airbrush, and a hair dryer.

I’m a bit of a mad scientist, choosing the tool that seems right in the moment.

Learning to Embrace the Unexpected

The first thing I learned about working with alcohol inks is that you can’t expect anything.

Well, you can, but you’re going to be disappointed.

You know a little about color mixing, right? Red and yellow make orange, and so on.

That’s exactly how alcohol inks work, and they all play well together well and do exactly what you expect.

Just kidding. Sometimes they blend like you’d expect, sometimes a lighter color pushes a darker color out of the way, and sometimes they just don’t do anything like I think they should.

Fortunately, alcohol inks can be reworked even after they have dried.

If what I get isn’t what I want, I squirt on more ink, or squirt, dab, or spray more alcohol, and use my tools to manipulate the inks until I have something I think I can accept.

Tools of the Trade

My toolkit changes from time to time, but here’s what I currently use:

Alcohol: I use 91 percent isopropyl alcohol. I keep a squirt bottle and a squeeze bottle full, and have alcohol in a cup for dipping cotton balls and cotton swabs.

Alcohol Ink: I use Ranger inks, but there are other good brands. Just avoid the cheap ones in a big box for 20 bucks, because they’re generally not very flowy and just aren’t worth the money.

Air Tools: I use a reusable plastic straw, an air bulb, a hair dryer, and an airbrush to blow ink around.

Other Tools: For pushing ink around I like a straw, coffee stirrers, cotton balls and swabs, and a Catalyst wedge.

Safety and Protection: I protect my work surface with freezer paper, my clothes with an apron, and my person with nitrile gloves, goggles, and a respiratory mask, so I look like an alien.

Surfaces: I like Yupo and mineral paper, but I usually use photo paper because it’s relatively inexpensive and it’s very reliable.

These are what I use, but I know other people add or subtract things to build their perfect toolkit. Mine looks a lot like a beauty salon exploded.

The Drying Stage: The Waiting Game

You know what they say about waiting for paint to dry, right?

Waiting for alcohol ink is a lot like that. Actually, it’s like waiting for bread to bake, but with more existential dread.

Most of the time, alcohol inks darken as they dry. This is especially true for darker colors.

Most of the time, they don’t change a lot after the first few seconds.

None of this matters if you love a work in progress. It absolutely won’t turn out as planned.

Reflection and Naming the Piece

Once a piece dries, the fun part is over.

I hate naming pieces, but I do it because “Untitled #674” doesn’t have much of a ring to it.

What I do is sit and stare at a piece until something comes to me.

One thing I’ve done in the past with jewelry is to give each piece a Victorian woman’s name, which is way easier than coming up with something original.

Encouragement for You, Reader

If you want to try painting with alcohol inks, be warned that it will take all your money and time.

Will it be worth it? Absolutely.

Keep in mind that alcohol inks are stubborn and unpredictable.

You can’t do anything wrong.

Experiment and have fun.