If you are a crafting fanatic or even just a beginner one thing you should experiment with are spritzing inks! They are essentially a liquid paint which you can spray to create different effects. You can control the strength of the colour and the pattern. Spray far away with a few short squirts you will get a light splatter effect. Spray at close range heavily and you will get a fuller coverage.
One issue I have personally had is that I've struggled to find certain colours. Whenever I have come across them in store I have always found myself looking at the same limited colour range. I've had in mind the colours I have wanted for certain projects and I wondered if I could make them myself.
I decided to try and make my own spritzing ink with my acrylic paints. I have a reasonably wide range of colours in my acrylic paint collection and I thought I may be able to experiment with different colours and paint textures (e.g matt, pearlescent).
After trying a few different mixtures I finally found a way! If you want to find out how then keep reading!
Here's what you will need:
- A spray bottle, preferably 50ml/1.7 fl oz. (You can will be able to find these in one of your local highstreet shop/drugstores)
- A ball bearing. (Your local arts/crafts or hardware store should supply these)
- Surgical spirit or isopropyl alcohol if you are from the States. I wouldn't recommend using water as it takes an extremely long time to dry and it can warp the paper.
- Acrylic paint of your colour choice. Here is where you can experiment with different textures or colours. You could even mix some together to make your perfect colour.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Before you begin I strongly suggest to do this in a well ventilated area. Both the making of the spritzing ink and when you use it. There is a strong potent smell due to the surgical spirit. I would also advise when you have sprayed your ink onto a card - or whatever your intended purpose may be - you leave it outside to dry. The smell is still present once dried but does wear off eventually.
Method:
1. Pour 45ml/1.5 fl oz of the surgical spirit or isopropyl alcohol into your spray bottle.
2. Once you have chosen/mixed your perfect paint colour, add 3ml/0.1 fl oz to the bottle. I found this amount of paint gave me a nice colour pay off.
3. Put the ball bearing into the mixture and give it a shake. You will find when the liquid sits a while the paint will sink into the bottom. The ball bearing helps the liquid mix together properly when you shake it.
Now you are done!
I used a white piece of card stock and embossed it so I can show you the effect and compare it to a store bought one.
This is a store bought gold spritzing ink.
I used pink, purple, gold and white metallic paint to make theses ones. As you can see using the metallic paint gave a beautiful pearlescent effect.
A comparison of the original white card stock and the homemade white spritzing ink.
A comparison of the store bought and homemade spritzing ink. I've taken the pictures under different lighting to show to effect even more. I think the homemade one looks beautiful!
I also used a matt blue paint to show that you can still can still get an amazing effect.
Amazing! I love finding small hacks when it comes to crafting! And as I always say, you can experiment so much with this. The colour possibilities are endless. I will do a tutorial in the next few weeks using my homemade spritzing ink to show exactly what you can do.
I don't feel this is necessarily about keeping costs down - although if you already have most of the products it will save you a trip and an extra few pounds - but about making something that suits your needs. I now can make so many more things than I could with just to store bought ones.
If you have any questions please feel free to comment down below or if you make one yourself please tag me on all social media sites with the hashtag #sukilucrafts.
Happy crafting.
Susan x
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