Alcohol inks?

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**Frozenthunderbolt**

I've seen some people use 'artists inks' especially through airbrush as a glaze and/or wash.
Are these alcohol inks?
I found some Tim Holtz Alcohol inks - 9x 14ml bottles for $50 nz
And since I pulled the trigger (so to speak) on a hobby compressor setup I was wondering if they are any use?

**Shadenuat**

People use acrylic inks. https://krasniykarandash.ru/upload/resize/386528/386528_500x471x70.jpg

what they're for, for many things. https://youtu.be/gB4MtYfOnbU

glazes, tints, increasing color saturation.

**queen_annes_revenge**

I've never heard of alcohol inks but imagine it's just a different suspension medium. You'd need to be careful with what you use to thin them.

**shmvo**

This can be a confusing area without some foundational knowlwedge...

On a basic level, paints constsis of pigment (the colour), binder (the 'glue' that makes the paint stick and dry hard), and solvent (something that makes the paint fluid and eveaporates when it dries). There are various other additives that change paint's properties, too. Inks are often very similar, particularly the coloured kind that you are likely refering to; the main difference is usually a much more finely ground and generally transparent pigment.

'Acrylic' refers to a type an acrylic polymer binder. Something that is water-based isn't necessarily acrylic, and something that isn't water based isn't necessarily not acrylic.

In miniature painting, water-based acrylic paints and inks are most common, but definitely not the only way to go. Tamiya, for example, is a very popular brand (particularly among scale modellers) that is an alcohol-based acrylic paint range. Since Tamiya paints aren't water-based, they aren't thinned with water, they are thinned with alcohol (usually isopropyl alcohol 'IPA', or Tamiya's own branded thinner).

I have not heard of anyone using alcohol-based inks for mini painting, but I don't see why they wouldn't work. They are popular amoung 'traditional' artists because alcohol inks can be re-activated: You can use alcohol to blend partially dry ink that you have already laid down very smoothly, which is not something you can do with acrylics. In mini painting, similar techniques are used with enamel paints (again, popular in the scale modelling community), where you can blend and fade out layers of paints you have already applied by adding solvent to the surface.

Can you use alcohol inks? Probably, almsot certainly, yes.

Should you use alcohol inks? Not unless you have a reason to. There are big disadvantages to pretty much anything that isn't water-based. The ease of use and cleanup is 1000% easier when you only have to use water rather than alchool or mineral spirits. Alcohol costs money, and it smells and is generally bad for you to breath in. ESPECIALLY when you are airbrushing, using an alcohol-based solvent can be pretty obnoxious and requires some serious ventilation gear if you care about your health. Water-based products are not harmful or unpleasant to anywhere near the same extent, though you should still obviously have ventilation. Certain techniques and ways of working make use of the specific properties of enamel and alcohol paints, but unless you are relying on those properties or have some personal preference, then you should just be using acrylic

TL;DR: Just get water-based acrylic inks, unless you have a specific use-case for another kind of ink.

**MDSW**

Great post, shmvo. I had always known paint as pigment (color), vehicle (enamel, acrylic, etc.) and carrier (water, mineral spirits, etc.), but your thinking is spot on.

Alcohol based inks are mainly used to give a swirling like color effect (maybe not swirling, but not totally consistent) to non-porous material, so great for glass, ceramic, etc.

However, what do I use alcohol based inks and tints for? Coloring the liquid resin for use in my 3D printer. These types of inks work so much better that the pigment type, IMHO. I can take white resin and make it just about any color i want with just a few basic colors.

**Frozenthunderbolt**

shmvo wrote:
This can be a confusing area without some foundational knowlwedge...

On a basic level, paints constsis of pigment (the colour), binder (the 'glue' that makes the paint stick and dry hard), and solvent (something that makes the paint fluid and eveaporates when it dries). There are various other additives that change paint's properties, too. Inks are often very similar, particularly the coloured kind that you are likely refering to; the main difference is usually a much more finely ground and generally transparent pigment.

'Acrylic' refers to a type an acrylic polymer binder. Something that is water-based isn't necessarily acrylic, and something that isn't water based isn't necessarily not acrylic.

In miniature painting, water-based acrylic paints and inks are most common, but definitely not the only way to go. Tamiya, for example, is a very popular brand (particularly among scale modellers) that is an alcohol-based acrylic paint range. Since Tamiya paints aren't water-based, they aren't thinned with water, they are thinned with alcohol (usually isopropyl alcohol 'IPA', or Tamiya's own branded thinner).

I have not heard of anyone using alcohol-based inks for mini painting, but I don't see why they wouldn't work. They are popular amoung 'traditional' artists because alcohol inks can be re-activated: You can use alcohol to blend partially dry ink that you have already laid down very smoothly, which is not something you can do with acrylics. In mini painting, similar techniques are used with enamel paints (again, popular in the scale modelling community), where you can blend and fade out layers of paints you have already applied by adding solvent to the surface.

Can you use alcohol inks? Probably, almsot certainly, yes.

Should you use alcohol inks? Not unless you have a reason to. There are big disadvantages to pretty much anything that isn't water-based. The ease of use and cleanup is 1000% easier when you only have to use water rather than alchool or mineral spirits. Alcohol costs money, and it smells and is generally bad for you to breath in. ESPECIALLY when you are airbrushing, using an alcohol-based solvent can be pretty obnoxious and requires some serious ventilation gear if you care about your health. Water-based products are not harmful or unpleasant to anywhere near the same extent, though you should still obviously have ventilation. Certain techniques and ways of working make use of the specific properties of enamel and alcohol paints, but unless you are relying on those properties or have some personal preference, then you should just be using acrylic

TL;DR: Just get water-based acrylic inks, unless you have a specific use-case for another kind of ink.

That is an exceptional answer. Thank you so much. I shall continue trying to find a set of water based inks that are not insane money.