What have you inked today?

With alcohol ink, that is. The usual applications of this versatile ink is for non-porous surfaces such as glossy paper, glass, metal, acetate or acrylic. However, here is a unique use for alcohol ink - changing the color of tiles in a bathroom!



I have been meaning to post a picture of this for ages, but who takes a camera with them into the bathroom? So, while prepping for classes after hours last night, I finally remembered to take this photo.

This is one of the bathrooms at Anthologies where I work. Nita hated the tiles in the bathroom but there were more pressing matters to deal with to get the store opened, so she decided to retile later. But those pink and gray tiles bugged us. So, I used alcohol inks on the two rows of pink tiles to tone it all down. This room is approximately 6' x 8' and I think there was about 16 linear feet of tiles. I combined Stream and Lettuce with a bit of blending solution and, amazingly, I still had ink left in the original two bottles when I finished! If you look closely on the left of the picture, you can see just a bit of the pink peeking through.

This worked really well, though I wouldn't suggest it for a permanent decorating job unless you seal it well. It was also difficult to keep the grout lines free of ink - if I ever do this again, I will definitely use something to mask the grout (maybe a liquid frisket mask?). Anyway, it makes for a fun story and whenever anyone wants to know about alcohol inks, we send them into the bathroom! You should see the looks we get when we tell them to check it out.