By EcoCraft Contributor Amy from the blog The EcoCrafter
Seashells are one of nature’s beautiful gifts. They look great as home decor and hold magic as a keepsake for a child. This craft adds an extra layer of mermaid whimsy to seashells by adding color and texture to them using alcohol inks.
Making whimsical alcohol ink seashells is super easy to do even for young kids yet still engaging for adults to enjoy. Alcohol inks are a medium that look great when used by beginners yet also offer the opportunity to learn to work with them to make even more incredible works of art.
This is a great family craft but it can be messy. Alcohol inks are essentially watery permanent markers so they do stain. Protect your working surface, wear gloves, and dress everybody in play clothes.
Materials:
- Seashells
- Alcohol inks. I am using Tim Holtz three pack Farmers Market Colors
- Rubbing alcohol
- Spray bottle
- Tissues and/or cotton balls
- Gloves and tray
Instructions:
Put on your gloves and arrange the shells in a tray to catch any drips.
Color your shells with alcohol inks. There is no right or wrong way to use alcohol inks so play and experiment with the colors. It’s that easy!
Alcohol inks are a versatile and fun medium to work with. The colours flow and mix making unique patterns and textures. Rubbing alcohol can be used to dilute the color and help them flow or leave patterns in the ink. The inks are transparent so colours can be layered. The possibilities are endless but here are some basic techniques to get you started.
Drip the inks directly onto the shells for a bold drippy look.
Rub on the alcohol inks with a cotton ball or tissue for a soft uniform color.
Spray with rubbing alcohol while the ink is still wet to help the colours mix together, flow along crevices in the shell, and soften their intensity.
Let the ink become almost dry and very sparingly spray with alcohol. Wherever a small droplet of rubbing alcohol lands the ink will lighten creating interesting patterns on the shell. Be careful not to use too much alcohol or the ink will wash away. You can do this technique repeatedly layering colors and perfecting the pattern.
