Here we are, playing in the studio...

..banging on the pots and pans!

No really- today I decided it was time to do some playing or as my daughter Kelsey would say-

"Mom, I think we need to experiment"

(of course she pronounced it esperiment and was only 5 and it was super cute)

And this is what I did. I have been going through my Pinterest pins and reorganizing some of them because I have so many I can't FIND anything! (I really thought this was just a filing cabinet issue turns out I am chaotically organized-or filing challenged - whatever)

So one of the pins I tried today was making my own alcohol ink. I ADORE Tim Holtz and all of his wonderful products - but I can't justify spending close to $10 on a three pack of his alcohol inks - each bottle is .5 fl oz.  I want to use them for a project I have my students doing and .5fl oz won't go very far when you have 16+ students using it. Plus I only have three colors because I bought the ink on clearance and got a really good price for it. But I digress- I wanted more ink and more colors. So I used this recipe I found on Brigit's Daily Bytes . I bought 10 bottles of liquid Rit Dye, 91% Isopropyl alcohol and some spill proof plastic containers with snap on lids.  Then I carefully measured the dye and the alcohol into the container, labeled the lid and put it on and shook it.

OK I lied- I only carefully measured the first two. After that I eyeballed dye to alcohol and called it good. But I DID label the lid and put it on and shook it.

Now I have 10 colors of alcohol ink. TEN! And I paid less than buying three packs of Tim's inks plus I can make TONS more ink. I can't wait for my students to get here so we can play with them.

I was on a roll today so I went back to my Pinterest board and  looked for something else to make- and I found this pin for making my own shimmer mist. I LOVE this stuff too but it's very pricey - it's $4.00 for a .5fl oz spritzer. And the spritzer nozzle clogs halfway through use. very annoying- but I got the upper hand and poured the remaining shimmer mist into an empty spritz bottle I had so no more problem - anyway- I again followed Brigit's recipe and made my own mist. I used Petal Pink Rit Dye and Flamingo Pink Pearl-Ex Powders.  I am very pleased with the results. Brigit suggested putting a small glass bead in the bottom of the bottle so you get better mixing- so I did- and that makes so much sense because the stuff wants to settle on the bottom of the expensive stuff all the time. I am now looking for other recipes for making my own art supplies to use in the studio- especially the stuff we use a lot of- like gel medium and Mod Podge.