Make A Holiday Towel with Chalk Couture Ink!

Chalkology Ink. Sometimes it comes off as the red headed stepchild of Chalkology Paste, but it really is quite versatile and fun to work with. Chalkology Ink is permanent color when heat set and is ideal for fabric, apparel, and other heat-safe surfaces. Read all use and care instructions for fabulous results, and test a small area on your surface before use. I recently made some fun new kitchen towels to prepare for the holidays. So fun and easy.

Here are some tips on using Chalk Couture Chalkology Ink to make some great gifts for friends and family or just for you; cos gosh darn it, you’re special too.

Using Chalkology Ink is basically the same as paste. Same squeegee. Pretty much same process, with a few important differences. Here are some tips for you to ensure your success with using Chalkology Ink.

Noooo bubbles at all in silkscreen.

You have to really be sure there are none. If you do ink over a bubble, it will bleed and make a mess of a shirt. And that would make baby Jesus cry. And nobody wants that.

Use an ink mat.

You may say, Nah, I’ll just stick some cardboard in there. Here’s what will happen. You will go to pull the ink with the squeegee and your shirt will slide all over and you will wish you were an octopus to hold all the sides of the shirt while you ink. If you had a Chalk Couture Ink Mat, it has a gripping property that will keep your shirt still so you can get the job done and have it be neat and turn out great.

Draw ink top down.

Start with ink a bit above the screen on the colored part and go top to bottom or bottom to top. Do not drag side to side. Why? If you DO have a bubble, it will be far more likely to bleed dragging side to side.

Make sure your hands are totally free of ink prior to peeling.

The most important thing to understand is that INK is PERMANENT. We get so used to designing, then cleaning up and starting over with paste. You can’t do that with ink. So if you have inky fingers and touch your shirt, you can expect to see stray marks or fingerprints on the shirt. Permanently. And that will also make baby Jesus cry.

Dry, dry dry.

Dry with a Chalk Couture Quick Dry Tool (or a hair dryer). The ink HAS to be dry before you press and set the ink. If not, it will surely smudge when you press it.

Set it or forget it.

I use the Cricut Easy Press, 330 for 30 seconds or an iron on cotton setting for 4 minutes, both inside and out with a parchment paper barrier. If you don’t do this, it won’t stay on the fabric and when you wash it, bye bye fun design.

Here’s my end result. Pretty nice.

I have some other recent videos of inking projects. Take a look here and here.

But, for the namesake of this post, here’s the most recent ink project – a Holiday Towel…enjoy!

I have several tools I used for this project that would be a useful part of any good crafting arsenal. Check out this page to see what my favorite tools are.

Stay Safe. Chalk on!

 

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