Coloring Translucent Clay

Getting back to using alcohol ink as a colorant, the primary use for many polymer clayers, I thought we ought to touch on the proper way to color not just liquid polymer but translucent clay.

To get to the heart of the matter, the main thing you want to remember when using alcohol ink to mix into liquid or solid polymer is to let the alcohol evaporate before mixing it in. That’s the only real rule. Drop a bit of LPC on a ceramic tile, drip a bit of alcohol ink in your chosen color into the LPC, and then leave it be for at least 10 minutes. I’ll usually let it set a bit longer to be sure there’s nothing but the dye left before I start mixing. You do the same with solid polymer. Just drip and drop, wait and mix.

Ginger Davis Allman put together a great in-depth post on mixing the ink into translucent clay earlier this year, including tips, tricks, judging color, and cautions. If the primary goal is to create great, truly translucent colored clay so you can make pieces like this necklace of Ginger’s, then you really should read the post.

Hope you’ve found this week’s ideas about what you can do with your alcohol inks inspiring, and I hope you get some time in to play with your new ideas this weekend!

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