Thursday, May 10, 2018

Jewelry Dishes with Alcohol Inks

Today I'm sharing a lovely little gift idea that I found on this blog through Pinterest.
You decorate small ceramic dishes with Alcohol Inks to look like flowers and to use as jewelry dishes on your bureau or bedside table.
Here are 12 that I made in a couple of hours time.
You'll find Patti's tutorial here.     
No two dishes ever come out alike - and the good thing is that you just have to rub over the dish with rubbing alcohol on a cloth to erase it all and start all over if you aren't happy!   
I have to say, as I was learning and figuring out how the Alcohol Ink blew around - I 'wiped clean' more than half of my dishes and started again!
Here are some photos of how I made them (slightly different than Patti):   
So you start with these little white ceramic sauce dishes -found at Amazon here.    You wipe off the dishes with Rubbing Alcohol.  I used these Rubbing Alcohol wipes that worked perfectly and are very convenient.  Patti used a canister of Canned Air to blow her Alcohol inks around but I just used this Distress Marker Spritzer from Tim Holtz 
(you squeeze the body and air puffs out of the nozzle.)
 I used a slightly different steps in applying my Alcohol Inks.  I added a drop to start the petal first. (she started with dropping ink on the center)
Then I tipped the bowl back a bit and pumped air on the ink with my tool to spread it up the side, trying for a petal-like shape. It dries pretty quickly so you want to work fast.  You can make any kind of petal shape that pleases you!
Then I went around the dish adding petals.
Then I took a second color of Alcohol Ink and added petals in between the first petals.  For this dish I used Patina and Citrus but you can use anything you have and colors that you favor!
Then I added a drop to the middle, it spreads pretty well, but you can also blow on it to move it and blowing will also stop it's spread.  Just practice to see how the inks move! You can add ink to fill in more petals or cover spots if you have them or wipe the whole thing off with rubbing alcohol and start over.
Here are close ups of a few of the ones shown above. 
 Sunshine Yellow and Ginger Alcohol Inks
Red Pepper and Poppyfield Alcohol Inks
Latte and Patina Alcohol Inks
Latte and Sepia Alcohol Inks
Sailboat Blue and Espresso Alcohol Inks
 You let the dishes dry for a day - then you spray them with a couple of coats of sealent.   
I packaged them up in clear square bottom bags that had a cupcake insert in them so they fit right into the hole on the insert.  I made labels using Tiny Tags stamps and dies from Papertrey Ink.

I had them at our Mother's Day sale at church and will sell them again at our church fair in October.
I think these would also make nice little gifts for friends!

8 comments:

Jo said...

So cool and generous of you. Bet they got lots of attention too.
Great idea, TFS xx

Redanne said...

This is such a clever idea Julia and they look so effective - I particularly love the sunflowers, they are amazing. I bet they will be very popular too! Hugs, Anne xx

Christine Alexander said...

Great idea Julia, such a fun and pretty thing to put in the kitchen and bathroom to hold your rings.

Words and Pictures said...

What a lot of fun that looks - and what fantastic results. The sunflower is spectacular, and I love the leafy ones too (Latte and Patina - very pretty). As you say, these would make great little gifts.
Alison x

nancy littrell said...

So clever and pretty little jewelry bowls, Julia. TFS the link too and all your photos. A fun way to use alcohol inks. Hugs..

Mac Mable said...

So unique and absolutely beautiful. Creative and such a fun idea....Thank you for the wonderful inspiration x

Bonnie said...

What a wonderful gift idea! Your dishes are gorgeous! Thanks for the tutorial and links. I think they'd make wonderful gifts for my craft group and a project for us to make too.

Loll said...

Your jewelry dishes are adorable Julia! What a great little gift. I have used alcohol inks to cover a white mug that I use to hold my paint brushes in my studio. It's so fun to play with them on ceramics! xx