A while back I was totally inspired by some tiles that Aimee from Artsyville had painted. I knew these were going to be one of my 52 projects as soon as I saw them. The color on the tiles is actually produced by alcohol ink which is designed to be used on non-porous materials. I went to Michael's and purchased a three pack of Adirondack Inks in Nature (Wild Plum, Butterscotch and Stream). Along with the inks you need the blending solution. As luck would have it, there was a Home Depot right next door to Michael's where I purchased 15 plain white tiles for 16 cents a piece.
The process is so simple. The inks are very messy though so be sure to put down some paper towels or newspapers under the tiles. You start with a white tile and wipe it down to get any dust or little particles off of it. Next you add a thin layer of the blending solution all over the tile and start dropping colors on to it. The blending solution acts as a thinning agent. It's amazing to watch all the beautiful patterns begin to form. You'll get different results by blending the colors together while they're still wet or by letting each color dry before adding more color. The inks dry very quickly so you need to work fast. I played around with texture effects. Just look how many colors only 3 inks produced! The possibilities are really endless and the inks come in so many different colors. Here's the good part: if you don't like the result, you simply wipe the tile down with the blending solution and start all over again. The last step is to seal them. I tried several different things. Modge Podge does NOT work; as soon as I brushed it on, the ink started to lift. I ended up spraying several coats of Polyurethane and that seemed to do the trick.
I'm not sure how I'll use these tiles yet. I was thinking about building a frame for a mirror with these. I was also thinking that these tiles would make great coasters or even look good cut in to mosaic pieces for a table top. Did I mention that these inks work on glass and metal too? Imagine the "stained glass" you could make.
What did you do this week?
