mothballed — using alcohol inks to color-code Ziploc bags

• Original project goal — Add some color tint to Ziploc bags, to allow me to do color coding to indicate the bag's contents.
• Other thoughts when starting this project — Alcohol inks are uniquely suited for non-porous surfaces, and they're very translucent.
• Why was the project mothballed? —
  • I feel like alcohol ink needs a good procedure for drying it, otherwise the ink ends up being a little splotchy. A travel hair dryer was often suggested. But heating a Ziploc bag feels very error-prone. This felt like it could be a rabbit hole.
  • Sharpie Pro markers ended working well enough, even if they weren't quite as good.
• Alternatives that might be tried in the future —
  • Alcohol markers might be an option that's more controllable and much easier to dry.
  • Acrylic paint markers will probably work on LDPE bags.

using alcohol inks to dye plastic, especially ziploc bags [LDPE]

Alcohol inks are great coloring plastic, because they're a transparent dye that works well on non-porous surfaces. [1] [2]

To dilute alcohol ink, you can just use isopropyl alcohol alone. However, alcohol ink blending solution can be much better.

• You can make your own alcohol blending solution [2] by blending glycerin with isopropyl alcohol.
• Glycerin can be bought locally at a number of different places. However, it has a bunch of different uses, and could be found in several different aisles. I've had more luck online.

Random information about applying alcohol inks to plastic bags:

• information about printing onto plastic film in an industrial setting

Advice for use of alcohol inks in general: [1] [2] [3]

• advice on drying [1]

Of course, there are many types of plastics, and specific types that seem to work well include:

• acrylic
• polypropylene (the commonly-used "yupo paper" is made out of polypropylene)

And some non-plastics:

• leather