Alcoholic jewellery!

Knowing that alcohol ink works well on glass, I decided to see what I could do with the Be Creative alcohol ink markers and some glass domed cabochons, which I then made into pendants. They were very easy to make.

The method was the same for each one. I used the markers directly onto the back (flat surface) of the glass cabochon, dotting the colours around, and they spread quite naturally into each other on the glass. I found that less is more with this technique. If you put too much ink on, it spreads too much, leaving areas uncoloured, though of course that may be a perfectly good technique if you like the end result! I wanted a bit more colour, although not too dark, otherwise the stamping wouldn't show through. When I was happy with the colouring, I made sure it was completely dry before stamping (again on the back) with Brilliance ink, which I heat set. I then added a little extra colour to the butterflies. I found out when making my prototype that even heat set, the Brilliance ink tended to smudge a little if I used the markers over the top of it, so when it came to colouring the butterflies, I was VERY careful to keep inside the lines! I had tried stamping first before any colouring, but when I tried to colour over it, most of the stamping rubbed off.

Here are the individual pendants. The butterflies and cow parsley are by Crafty Individuals, the buzzard by Inkylicious.

I backed the pendants with white card to stop the inks wearing off and help the colours to show through. I adhered the card with Be Creative Wonder Tape. However, for the bails I used  the recommended E6000 glue, as I wasn't sure how well the Wonder Tape would work with metal, although I'd hazard a guess it would be just as effective. I'll maybe try it on another one and see. The final step was to coat the back of the card with Ranger Inkssentials Glue N Seal to protect it.

I probably should make some gift boxes next ......