Technique Tutorial-Archival inks on Fabric

I really loved playing with my Archival Inks this week on my SOCC Week 4 Challenge Fabric Page.

Archival Inks are one of my staple products when working on fabric as they are permanent once heat set. However, up until now, I have only been using them for stamping. So for this challenge I wanted to see how else I could use them and I loved the results.

I was surprised to discover that although Archival Inks are oil based they will still react with water before they dry on fabric. They don't have the same reaction as Distress Inks but they do wick and slightly deepen in colour. Because of the absorbency of fabric you will have a little more open time to play with Archival Inks before they dry. Once they are dry and heat set they are permanent on fabric and will no longer react with water.

In my sample the colour on the left is Archival Ink "Deep Purple" sponged onto the fabric. The colour on the right is the same colour but it has been spritzed with water before drying.

You can see the colour has wicked out and is more saturated and intense on the right after it has been spritzed with water.

 To apply the inks, lay the fabric on a fabric board and sponge them on with a sponge dauber. The colours are quite light before I spritz with water. After spritzing with water, iron (wool setting, no steam) on the right side. I sponged on more ink where I wanted more colour.

I created "rain" by making marks with my ink pad tilted on its side.

I created some shadow to add depth by applying the ink with a cotton tip around the outline of my design.

This is my finished background waiting for my applique shapes.

Rubbing alcohol is to Archival Inks what water is to Distress Inks. To create my rain drops, I simply placed some rubbing alcohol on a cotton tip and touched it to my fabric where I wanted rain drops. It removed most of the colour in that spot creating a highlighted area even after heat setting. I then just drew droplet shapes around them.

Archival Inks give a beautiful intense colour to fabric and are also permanent. I will definitely be exploring with them again soon.