You all know that I love alcohol ink and applying it to mediums other than just paper. I have used it to make marble galaxy coasters, galaxy plates, and even used it to color Easter eggs. But today I am sharing how easy it is to use on leather to get an almost water colored marble look. Here’s how to make DIY Alcohol Ink Marbled Leather Coasters!

Some of my best ideas tend to be a result of throwing two mediums together to see if they work. Like these coasters for example. I have a bunch of leather coaster rounds laying around for an upcoming project, and yesterday morning was wondering if alcohol ink could be used on leather. So after a bit of experimenting, I discovered that yes it can and it produces the most amazing coasters ever! These DIY alcohol ink marbled leather coasters may just be my newest obsession and I am sure you will be tempted to try them yourself after you see how easy they are.

Are you smitten yet?!

Materials for DIY Alcohol Ink Marbled Leather Coasters:

–Alcohol based inks 
–Leather rounds (You can also cut these yourself from veg tanned leather pieces from the craft store)
-Rubbing alcohol
–DecoColor Gold Paint Pen
-Protected work surface (I used a piece of scrap coated paper from the back of sticky backed wall paper, but a tarp, plastic wrap, or even wax paper works)

Begin by coating one of your coasters with a layer of rubbing alcohol. You want to make sure that it is pooled up on the surface of the leather. You can see in the photo below the darker leather round is the one covered in rubbing alcohol. This preps the surface so that the inks flow smoothly over the leather and don’t absorb right away.

Working quickly and with one color at a time. Add a drop or two of ink to the alcohol covered leather. Then quickly but gently blow on the ink to spread it around the leather.

Once you have a pattern you like, tip the leather and let the excess ink run off onto your surface. Then add more rubbing alcohol and repeat with a second and third color if desired. Once you have finished with the ink and the coaster is the way you want, set it aside to let dry for an hour or two. As it dries the leather will lighten and the ink will become brighter looking.

Once dry, you can use a gold leaf pen to add a little gold detail around the edge of the coasters. Then the DIY alcohol ink marbled leather coasters are ready to gift or use. Since the inks aren’t water soluable and the leather is porous, there is no need to seal the coasters. So throw them out on your coffee table or tie a bow around them and gift them because they are ready to be admired!