Tip Tuesday. Why you need Chalkology Ink in Your Craft Arsenal

So this quarantine is fast approaching the limits of my sanity. I may either get thrown in jail after I do some B&E at the TJ Maxx, or by murdering my family. Anway, this will be over soon. In the meantime, with summer coming and some special days ahead, I thought I’d provide some tips on using Chalk Couture Chalkology Ink to make some great gifts for Mom, Dad, the 4th of July 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.

1.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.

2.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.

3.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.

4. 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.

5.Dry with a heat tool first (hair dryer or heat gun). The ink HAS to be dry before you press and set the ink. If not, it will surely smudge when you press it.

6.Set with a heat press or iron  (330 for 30 seconds or an iron on cotton setting for 4 minutes), both inside and out with a parchment paper barrier.

Here’s my end result. Pretty nice.

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

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 Home. Stay Safe. Chalk on!

 

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