Stenciling over alcohol inks

Photo showing multiple works featuring alcohol inks with a variety of stencils and mediums.
Multiple mixed media artworks featuring alcohol inks and stenciling with a variety of mediums and stencils.

Can you believe we are almost halfway through November already? Where does the time go sometimes?

A couple of weeks ago, I took a fabulous class in our Wanderlust 2020 course with Jennifer Pipe from Self Esteem Through Art. It was my first time trying alcohol inks and I had an absolute blast. If you are fascinated by watching things take on a life of their own, then I definitely recommend giving alcohol inks a try. It’s such fascinating fun to watch the inks flow and morph together, sometimes producing colours that you didn’t even use! It’s so cool! All my examples shown used a medium weight yupo paper.

We TCW Design Team Members are super spoiled with TCW supplies, so I decided to have a play with lots of different stencils and mediums, and try different combinations to see how they look together. I ended up loving all of them!

The Crafter’s Workshop provided me with some product to create this project. The opinions I share are solely my own.

To begin, I played with Ranger alcohol inks on the yupo paper. Then I let them dry fully for a day before I began my stenciling experiments. I took lots of photos as I went, and have included quite a few here for you to see the outcomes. If you have any questions, please feel free to pop them in the comments below, and I’ll do my best to reply to you.

For this page, I used stencil TCW899 Striped Mandala with TCW9012 Shimmery Goodness which dries iridescent. It gave this piece a translucent effect to the point that my friends were asking me how I got the alcohol inks into the mandala design (I didn’t, I just stenciled it over the top of the alcohol inks with a palette knife!). Doesn’t it look fantastic? This is definitely one of my favourite combinations.

Yupo paper with blue, turquoise, and purple alcohol inks that has been stencilied over using shimmery goodness applied with a palette knife through the striped mandala stencil.
TCW899 Striped Mandala stencil with TCW9012 Shimmery Goodness applied with a palette knife.

My next experiment had me using the TCW924 Lush Petals stencil with the TCW9033 Marcasite Silver Modeling Paste applied with a palette knife. Once the modeling paste was dry (the next day), I applied some mica sprays and finishing wax in silver to really make the design pop! I love the richness, dimension, and depth of the finished piece.

I also decided to try the TCW9033 Marcasite Silver Modeling Paste through the TCW500 Nautilus stencil over some ocean coloured alcohol inks.

Marcasite silver modeling paste applied with a palette knife through the TCW500 Nautilus stencil on top of blue and green alcohol inks on yupo paper.
TCW9033 Marcasite Silver Modeling Paste applied with a palette knife through the TCW500 Nautilus stencil.

I’ve wanted to try the TCW865 Asian floral stencil for ages, but I’ve been waiting for the perfect opportunity. This was it! I applied TCW9009 Black Modeling Paste with a palette knife.

Black modeling paste applied with a palette knife through the Asian Floral stencil on top of yellow, gold, orange, and red alcohol inks on medium weight yupo paper.
TCW865 Asian floral stencil stenciled with TCW9009 Black Modeling Paste using a palette knife.

Next, I decided to use the TCW912 Wheat Stalks stencil with the TCW9037 Grecian Gold Modeling paste applied using a palette knife. To add a tiny bit of dimension, but not darkness to the wheat grains, I lightly applied some black stabilo all pencil to the edges of the stenciling. This helped the wheat stalks stand out from the background a little more. This is the perfect Thanksgiving combination and will make a beautiful greeting card.

For the last several pieces, rather than using a three dimensional modeling paste, I wanted to try tracing through stencils using Signo uni-ball pens. The names of the stencils are included in the captions below each photo.

Yupo paper with bleu, purple, and turquoise alcohol inks beneath the Celestial sun and Star shower stencils traced with black, white, and gold Signo uni-ball pens.
TCW923 Celestial Sun stencil and TCW5004 Star Shower stencil with white, black, and gold Signo uni-ball pens, and white paint.
Yupo paper with purple, green, and yellow alcohol inks beneath stenciled fern fronds with black and white Signo uni-ball pens.
TCW243 Ferns stencil with yellow acrylic paint over alcohol ink on yupo paper. Outlined in black and white Signo uni-ball pens.
Red, orange, and yellow alcohol inks on yupo paper with the striped mandala stencil outlined in black, gold, white, and silver Signo uni-ball pens. Black stabilio all pencil has been shaded around the outside of the stencil to give a shadow effect.
TCW899 Striped Mandala outlined in white, black, gold, and silver Signo uni-ball pens. Black Stabilo all pencil shadow.
TCW912 Wheat Stalks stencil with Raw Umber acrylic paint dabbed through with a cosmetic sponge.

To see more of these works and some of these in progress, hop on over and watch my quick fly-by video on my YouTube Channel.

If you decide to experiment with our stencils, modeling pastes, or more, we’d love to see what you create. Please post in the comments and show us your work! Don’t forget to tag us in your Instagram and Facebook posts too!

Until next time, happy experimenting and happy day!

Michaela Butterworth
The Crafter’s Workshop Design Team Member

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10 thoughts on “Stenciling over alcohol inks

  1. so timely for me! lovely work. My question is; you you have to use Yupo paper? Why/whynot? And is mix media paper ok? Or is this a “what if” question? Thank you very much, marie z

    1. Yupo paper is made specially for alcohol inks. It has a plastic emulsion on it which means it’s non-porous, so the inks will not sink into the paper, and can sit on top and be moved around 🙂 I hope this helped, sorry for the delay in answering, somehow I missed some of messages. Humble apologies. Michaela xxx

  2. The white space between the alcohol inks under the nautilus stencil make it look like a map! Love all of this.

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