Alcohol Ink Vinyl Wall Art

I made some new art for my craft room, and I am SUPER excited about it! I love the color it adds to the room. It didn’t start out as wall art—I was actually just experimenting—but isn’t that how some of the best projects come about?!

I’ve been doing a lot of research on different surfaces that work well with alcohol inks, and it seems like the best options have very glossy surfaces. The inks just move a lot more on such surfaces. Since I haven’t gotten as far as actually trying to control the inks, I love to just see what they do.

One surface I hadn’t considered is glossy craft vinyl, like Oracal 651 or something similar. I’m very familiar with using it for other purposes, but as it turns out, it’s a great option for alcohol ink painting!

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Here are the supplies I used:

Glossy vinyl

Alcohol inks

Isopropyl alcohol (at least 90%)

Pipette 

Straw/canned air

Krylon Kamar varnish

Wood board

Paint 

Paint brush

I bought my vinyl in 12”x12” sheets, but the more economical option is to buy a roll of it and cut off what you want. I didn’t do that because I didn’t want to have to mess with flattening it out. Starting with a flat surface is definitely a plus when you’re trying to move the ink around. I decided to go with white this time, but now I’m wondering what black vinyl would look like.

After buying all of my alcohol ink in three-packs, I finally splurged on a big set, and this is definitely one of the craft supplies I am most excited about. ALL THE COLORS!!

I decided that I didn’t want to frame my art, so I bought a pack of three unfinished wood art panels. They are 12”x12”, and they are almost exactly the same size as the vinyl sheets.

Here’s what I did!

I started with the vinyl and the inks. I started with a drop of color and then squeezed a drop of isopropyl alcohol on top. I started out using the straw to move around the ink, but eventually I switched to the canned air. I’m with my kids; it IS more fun somehow. I just kept adding color and more alcohol to the ink, blowing on it, and letting the colors do what they wanted, until almost the entire sheet of vinyl was covered. The next time I do this I’d like to try to cover even more, but I think these three are pretty striking as they are.

After the ink had dried, I took the vinyl outside and sprayed each piece with three coats of Krylon Kamar varnish. (I actually had to wait several days until we finally had a non-rainy or humid day—hello midwest spring!) Anyway… I’ve talked about this stuff a lot because it works so well on vinyl. It will not disturb the ink at all.

I wasn’t sure if I needed to prepare the boards in any way, but I read a lot about needing to paint wood to help vinyl adhere better. I decided it was better to be safe, so I painted my boards with a coat of white. I was most careful on the edges and right around the edges of the top, and then a little less careful on the rest. The white paint was a good choice, because you can actually see the very edge of the board in a couple of places, but only if you look very closely. The white is a good match for the vinyl.

Once the paint dried, I was ready to put on the vinyl! I was nervous about this, but it turned out to be easy enough. I lined up the vinyl with the board to see where the excess vinyl would hang over so I could decide how to lay it out. I peeled the backing away from the top of the vinyl and carefully lined it up with the top of the board. I stuck down the very edge of It, and then started working my way down the vinyl, peeling away more of the backing as I went. I started out smoothing it with a ruler, because that’s what I had handy (a credit card or a tool actually made for this would probably be preferable), but I found I had an easier time just using my hands. But then I went over it all again to make sure it was good and stuck on to the board.

One issue I had at this point was that some of the metallic ink flaked off. Maybe I didn’t get good enough coverage with the varnish, or maybe it wouldn’t have made a difference, but in any case it’s something to beware of if you use metallic inks. They do look amazing, and honestly, I don’t think you can even tell where they were flaking off. Since I was hanging them on the wall and they shouldn’t be touched by anyone, I didn’t worry about it. If I were cutting up the vinyl sheets into stickers or to decorate something that will be handled, I’d be a little more cautious. I didn’t see any issues at all with any of the other colors I used.

I only had about 1/8 inch of vinyl hanging over on one side, so I flipped the whole thing over and used a craft knife to cut off the excess.

To hang my creations, I used Command strips. Of course. I use them on everything I possibly can. I love the packs that come with the little level. I have used that thing so many times. Unfortunately I dropped it behind the shelves as I was hanging the second one, so I decided to wing it with the third.

My craft room is coming along! It was already very colorful before I started hanging anything on the walls, but I love the personal touches that make it truly feel like mine.