Love Graphic Art Alcohol Ink Tutorial

The word LOVE is one that I come back to over and over in my art, it's so simple, yet so meaninful, all in 4 simple letters. I hope to share many more of my "Love" pieces as I get more into the revitalization of this blog. So here is the "How To" on this piece.

First off, here is the YouTube Video tutorial if you are a visual learner. 

Supplies:

• Kilz2 Primer - I get this at Home Depot
• Framed Wall Art to repuprose Unfinished Wood Art Panel - From Michaels 
• Heat Gun
• Oracal 651 Vinyl
• Transfer Tape
• Silicone Tool
• 91-99% Isopropyl Alcohol - This is dirt cheap at Walmart or any drug store
• Krylon Kamar Varnish
• Krylon UV Spray
• Ranger Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink
• Pinata Brass

This piece started it's life as an innocent framed wall art for a child's room. I found it on clearance for under $2.50, so I decided to repurpose it. 

I taped off the frame and covered the picture with Kilz2 Primer. This took several coats and it was pretty time consuming. But I figure it was a trade off between time/money to get a low cost framed wall art "canvas". I put canvas in quotes because this is not a canvas, it's a wood board. I have tried using alcohol ink on an actual canvas quite a bit. Even when it is primed or gesso'ed, it doesn't not work well, The ink immediately soaks into the material. It especially doesn't work well if your are trying to use a stencil to mask off any area. The ink will just seep under that stencil. Alcohol ink does have a fun affect on canvas if you are just looking to color the canvas, but this project will not work on a canvas. See my last post if you need an alternate "canvas" to work with.

Next, I went to the computer and made the Love cutout. If you don't want to make your own, feel free to right click on the image above and save it. 

 I used a square and changed the settings to the size of my canvas. Then I used a text layer with the font Postino for the word love. I sized it to fit on the canvas nicely, centered it, selected both layers and sliced the Love out of the rectangle layer. I cut this on my Cricut using Oracal 651 vinyl. This is the best vinyl to use for stenciling to mask alcohol ink, I have tried several different and come to the conclusion that this is the best vinyl to get this job done.

Once the vinyl was cut out I weeded the letters out to work with the negative space vinyl. Using transfer tape I applied it to the canvas, making sure to press down around all of the edges. I hit all of the vinyl with a heat gun as well to make sure it's adhered really well.

This next step is the most important part! After the vinyl is applied, I go over all of it with a generous coat of Kilz2 Primer. I make sure to brush it towards the vinyl so that the primer will seep in under any tiny gaps that might allow the alcohol ink to seep through. I let that coat dry for 30 mins to an hour, depending on how patient I am. After that is dry you are ready to make some art!

I decided to work with red, pink and purples for this piece. I started from left to right, working each color separately, letting each color overlap and blend a bit with the color before. See the video for a look at how the ink application technique.

Once I worked all of the colors I let it dry for just a few minutes. Alcohol inks don't take too long to dry, so it's really just a matter of making sure none of the inks are still tacky. Once it's all dry, pull off the vinyl and reveal your artwork!

If any of the ink seeped under the vinyl use a q-tip with alcohol to carefully wipe away the alcohol. If that doesn't get up all of the ink you can do some touchups with the primer, some colors can be harder to cover up than others. That's why I always try to avoid having any seepage if I can!

 I then apply 3 light coats of Kamar Varnish and 3 light coats of UV protectant spray to seal the inks and make sure they won't fade over time. Lastly, I remove the tape from the frame an it's done! 

Here is the another variation of colors that I tried. This one ended up with a lot of seepage that I couldn't cover, so it ultimately got painted over and I tried again. As I said, I've tried several different vinyls before I came up with the right materials and techniques to get good results. This one was part of that trial and error. 

Comment if you have any questions! Feel free to subscribe to my YouTube or TikTok and follow along to see where my crafting takes me next!