Supplies:

Alcohol Inks (the best known ones are Tim Holtz' from Ranger and Jacquard's Pinata Inks)
Alcohol Ink Applicator, basically a wooden handled "old" stamp holder with velcro instead of rubber
Felt for the Applicator
Non-stick craft sheet
Glossy Paper or other non-porous surface like acetate, glass or metal

Optional and recommended: Blending Solution and Metal Mixatives



Instructions:

1. Spread out the Non-stick craft sheet on your work surface and decide which alcohol inks you would like to use for your project. Uncap the inks and have them ready to use.
2. Apply felt to the velcro on the applicator and dot one color of the alcohol inks in the center and squeeze for about 2 seconds. You should see a spot about the size in the next picture.



3. Ranger sells their alcohol inks in packages of 3 or individually. All of the colors complement each other, so you really can't lose as far as picking colors. I used 3 different colors for this example which can be seen in the next photo. The colors do not contaminate each other and are made to blend and layer.



4. Start to apply color to the glossy paper by pouncing up and down on the paper with the Applicator Tool, felt side down. Try not to drag the tool as it will muddy the colors and possibly give an undesirable result.


5. As you pounce, rotate the tool in your fingers so that the colors are randomly placed beside each other giving more interest to your developing pattern.



6. You'll notice that the colors are see-through and rather transparent. Keep moving the tool around on the paper. If you find that the felt is leaving fuzz on the paper surface, reapply the ink to the felt to refresh and moisten it. If you're covering a large surface as I did in this sample, you'll need to reapply the ink about 3-4 times. You should not need to replace the felt unless it really starts leaving a ton of fuzz on the paper's surface. Cover the surface with as much ink as looks good to you, leaving white space is also ok.



7. You're done!

EXTRA! To blend the colors even more without adding MORE color, use Blending Solution which is basically non-colored alcohol ink! Apply a smaller than dime size dot of it to the used felt pad and pounce more over the paper's surface. This will blend the colors even more. If you need to remove color, change the felt and add fresh Blending Solution to the center then pounce in the area where you would like to remove color. Blending Solution can also be used to clean your Non-stick Craft Sheet of stray alcohol ink pouncing.



Here is the result after using some Blending Solution on my current project sheet.



EXTRA EXTRA! To add metallic veins to your artwork, add Metal Mixatives to the felt with the inks, before or after using Blending Solution. A small drop goes a long way. Remember that it is much easier to add more than to remove it. Pounce in the areas where you would like to see veining and the metal will blend with the color for a terrific look. I added gold to my project sheet which can be seen in the next picture.



After adding these extras, your background sheet is now ready to go! It can be used as a background for a card or many other things. I especially love die cutting letters or frames from it! Please see the gallery for an ATC series featuring the background I made in this project and a couple cards made with other alcohol ink backgrounds using other color combinations. Thanks for reading!