Craft Project: Alcohol Ink Tiles Part 4: Sealing and Protecting Tiles

We have now reached my least favorite part of this project: sealing the tiles. This is the tedious portion of the process. You have to do many layers and wait...wait...wait.

I found this process in the comments section of Aimee's "Fun with Alcohol" post. It was shared with her by someone else. And I asked Aimee if it was okay if I posted it again, she said no problem!

Here is what you will need:

---Krylon Workable Fixatif
---Krylon Matte Finish (though I wonder why you couldn't use Gloss...I may try that next time)
---Pledge Vinyl & Tile Floor Finish with Future Shine
---a foam brush
---a well-ventilated area


I had a bit of a tough time finding all of these products easily. You can get the Fixatif and Matte Finish in the spray paint section at Michael's. But I had to go to two different Michael's before I found it (and I started off looking at Home Depot and Walmart before I got to Michael's). I got the Pledge Floor Finish at Walmart only AFTER I made the mistake of buying Pledge WOOD Floor Finish. I bought the first bottle on Amazon because I have Amazon Prime and I was sick of driving all over looking for supplies so I thought it would be easier to just order it and have it show up at my door. I didn't realize I had ordered the wood floor variety (I was in too big of a hurry to notice).

Step One: Spray a light mist of the Fixatif over your tiles. I held the can about a foot away. If you hold the can too closely or put too much on, you will notice some speckling in the ink on your tile (this could actually be a good effect if you want it). Let this dry 45 minutes to an hour.

Step Two: Spray a light mist of the Matte Finish over your tiles. Wait 15-30 minutes and repeat. I added four layers total of Matte Finish. And let the final layer dry for a couple hours before doing the next step.

Step Three: Using a foam brush, apply a layer of the Pledge Vinyl & Tile Floor Finish to each tile. The floor finish is VERY thin. So you do not need much to cover the tile. You will also notice some tiny bubbles when you first apply. These actually disappear when the tile dries. I waited 8 hours or so between applications and I did three or four coats (I can't remember now) total.

Your tile will have a matte finish in the end. This is where I'm wondering if you use the Gloss Finish instead of Matte in "Step Two" if the tile will end up shinier. But they look great! And I've been using one for a day already and it hasn't scratched or anything so hopefully the seal will last for awhile and not scratch the ink off with use.

Some things I learned:
--I did use the wood floor finish on one set of tiles before I realized I had the wrong kind of floor finish. And the wood finish made the alcohol ink really run. So some of our taped tiles where we had white left were no longer white and the colors mixed together more. BUT, I was able to salvage this by using a Q-tip to scrap away on the white lines and start the sealing process over again. I used the correct floor finish and these tiles seemed to seal properly after this.

--It is important to wait for all steps to dry properly. If not, the inks may lift up or spread or mix together when you add the Floor Finish. I probably waited longer than I needed to, but I wanted to make extra sure the ink was going to stay.

--Press lightly with the foam brush, even though you can let everything dry properly, I still discovered that the warmer ink colors (Watermelon and Wild Plum) were particularly susceptible to spreading and lifting up onto the foam brush. The tiles that I sealed properly from the beginning did not have as much of this issue as the ones I did wrong. But, the Wild Plum ink still came up a tiny bit.

(EDITED TO ADD 6/8/12)--My mom used her coasters with a glass with cold liquid in warm weather. The glass sweat and made the ink rub off. :-( She was so disappointed! So I guess this method only seals against mugs with warm liquid in them and regular glasses with room temperature liquid in them. I will have to continue to play with finding a more permanent seal.)


I've also heard of people using Mod Podge to seal their tiles. I would be VERY curious if anyone else has found another solid way to seal them (maybe one that is less time consuming). But this process does seem to work pretty well. Not sure I would put any of this through a dishwasher or anything like that. I wonder how long these tiles will last with this seal. Maybe I'll come back to add that in after using my tile for awhile.

Finally, we added foam pads in each corner of the tiles and I had the girls sign and date their work. Now, it's ready to be wrapped up for Mother's Day!

Overall, the girls and I LOVED this project and already have plans for more projects with the alcohol inks.