Alphabet Inchies

I have been wanting to pull this together for some time....a full set of alphabet inches.



For this set I tried to relate the material or technique back to the letter.

A full set could be a year long project at school.

Or you could focus on names or a single word.

Or you can just do one letter to feature in another project like an art journal page.



Hint: if you keep a stash of extra painted inches you can crank out a letter in no time.




Now I'm not going to show you the "how to" for all 26.....that would probably put you to sleep, just some of my favourites.

One thing I have learned in the last 11 years of teaching art is always make extra of everything!

So when I cut inchies I cut lots.

The ones I used for the alphabet inchies are 2"x2".  Other good sizes are 3"x3" and even 4"x4".

The A is for alcohol (not for drinking) and assemblage.

Alcohol does cool things to paint.  It can be watercolour, tempera, or acrylic as long as it is still wet.

I use an eyedropper or pipette but you can also drop from a paintbrush. Just add a small drop here and there.

E is for eggshell.

Collect some eggshells.  Give them a wash, dry and store in an old egg carton.

At Easter time buy extra egg dye.  I keep my Pysanky dye all year round.  It is amazing on coffee filters, tissue paper, canvas, and regular paper.

Dye your eggshells and then using Mod Podge create a mosaic. (more details on how to do this HERE)

When dry cut out letter.

F is for foam.

This is my favourite way to use craft foam....to make a stamp.

Cut pieces out pieces of foam and stick to a piece of cardboard.  Remember whatever you stamp will be backwards.


Using paint or stamp pad print your stamp.  I like to do a test on a scrap piece of paper.  I also find that my 2nd print is usually the best.

G is for glue resist.

Draw a design with white school glue.  Let dry and then paint over.

K is for kraft paper.

Crumpled kraft paper has such great texture.  To highlight this I added some paint with a Kleenex (another K), just burnishing it on lightly.

S is for splatter.  Check out this post for my splatter technique.

X is for xylography.  OK I know this isn't a true xylograph which is usually a woodcut print but there are not too many X art techniques.

Using scratch foam or a foam plate or meat tray, etch in a design with a blunt pencil, coat with some paint and then make a print.

More details on this technique HERE.

I hope I have inspired you to give some alphabet inchies a try.


See you soon.