Coloring crepe paper with alcohol-based ink.

Alcohol and ink are great for dyeing crepe paper. It penetrates deep into the fibers, completely changing the paper's color without altering its surface. It flows along the creases in the paper, creating a beautiful flowing effect.

So far, I've only used alcohol-based markers to add details to my paper flowers, especially on stamens. But after trying liquid ink, I must say it's simply indispensable if you want to create color-saturated and lifelike effects on your paper flowers.

In this post, I've tested the effect of a liquid alcohol-based ink, which is bought in small bottles. For this guide, I'm (incidentally) using ink from Tim Holtz - Ranger, and the reason I chose it is that they offer a wide selection of colors at my preferred online material supplier. However, a tiny bottle costs about 40 DKK, so it's not exactly cheap.

 

How does ink behave on crepe paper?

When you look at a piece of crepe paper, you'll see that the heaviest crepe paper (180g) has deeper creases/crepe than, for example, 90g crepe paper. The doublette paper from German Werola has almost no crepe because the paper is glued together from two different colors of crepe paper. It's worth keeping this in mind, as the ink will run along the creases in the paper when it hits the crepe paper.

 

180g crepe paper - 90g crepe paper - doublette crepe paper:

 

Dry or wet crepe paper?

If you wet your crepe paper before coloring it with liquid colors, the color will soak into the paper more evenly than with dry paper. When crepe paper is wet, it expands uniformly across the entire surface, allowing the color to flow into the paper more easily.

However, if I color a strip of dry crepe paper, the paper will only expand where it meets the color. This means you will have areas on your paper strip that are expanded and looser. Therefore, remember to stretch the dry paper before cutting it to make it flat.

Once you know how alcohol-based ink behaves on different types of crepe paper, you can now consider when it's best to use it. Each technique has its charm, and it entirely depends on which paper flower you want to create.

Here you can see the result of coloring with ink on different types of crepe paper. The first example shows how the ink behaves on dry paper.

The second example shows how the ink behaves when the paper is colored wet.

 

Dry crepe paper: 180g, 90g and doublette with alcohol ink:

  

Wet crepe paper: 180g, 90g and doublette with alcohol ink:

 

Remember, there are different ways to apply the ink:

• Apply directly from the bottle. The Tim Holtz bottle has a clever pointed nozzle that is easy to control. If you do this, you will see that the paper quickly absorbs the ink. If you hold the paper vertically while dripping, the ink will run down the crepe paper, creating beautiful vertical patterns.
• Paint with a brush. Drip a small amount of ink into a small bowl. This method is good if you want to create fine details with the ink on your paper flowers. You can paint veins on leaves, dots, or other designs. However, the ink will evaporate quickly due to its high alcohol content.
• Dip the paper into a glass with a few drops of ink. The color will travel up the creases in the paper, and the color will distribute evenly up the paper.

 

Good to know about alcohol-based ink for coloring crepe paper:

• It fully saturates the crepe paper – both front and back.
• Penetrates the fibers but does not alter the paper's surface once dry.
• Can be applied directly from the bottle, painted on with a brush, or dripped into a glass and mixed with other ink colors.
• The ink is available in many beautiful pre-mixed colors.
• Can be used alone for an intense and color-saturated effect, or dripped into another color mixture.
• It's a bit expensive. And if you color the crepe paper directly from the bottle, it won't last long.
• Cannot be mixed in a glass with water. The ink forms small clumps.

 

Here are examples of using alcohol-based ink for coloring poppy petals:

 

Would you like to try making similar poppies in crepe paper? You can buy my DIY kit with materials, assembly instructions, and templates.

 

What is your experience with coloring crepe paper with ink? Can you recommend a specific brand and when do you use ink on your paper flowers?

Please share your experiences in the comment section.