A Look at Alcohol Inks

I recently purchased several bags of acrylic flower beads. They are nice shapes but sadly uninspiring. The colors are matte, and generic. I was disappointed when I opened the package and saw that they did not live up to my dreams. I stuffed them in a drawer and forgot about them for awhile.

 Then one day I happened upon a video about someone coloring a mug with alcohol inks. I was fascinated. You can paint ceramics, and glass and wood and metal with these? 

Color me intrigued! 

So I ordered some and had my son bring them over in his suitcase from the US. When he arrived we met in the south of France to spend the first week of his visit down with the family. So here I was with this exciting new medium and no where near my studio and those pesky beads of mine. 

One day we went to the beach and as I walked along the shore with my son we picked up an assortment of seashells. I noticed that the most prevelant shells were a plain white shell. Not very interesting to look at but maybe, just maybe a perfect canvas?

  So we filled our pocket with maybe 2 dozen shells and came home with our treasure. The next evening we got out the inks and alcohol, plastic sheets and what not to play. Everyone joined in on the fun and we soon had a pile of pretty colored shells. 

 I deemed our experiment a success. I was smart enough to buy the sealant with the ink and sealed all the pieces and brought them home. I then sat down and wrapped them.

I was so happy with how they turned out that I had to pull out the inks again. This is a small pair of cabachons I inked. I am in love!