Watercoloring can be lots
of fun to use in cardmaking, but it can be challenging to figure out what
Stampin’ Up products to use! This post will
give you some idea of what products you can start with.
The Stampin’ Blend Markers
are an alcohol based ink, which means they color nice and smooth, and you can
blend two tints of the same color, or even two different hues together, plus they
dry quickly.
On the other hand, Stampin’ Write Markers are a water based ink.
They have both a super-fine tip and brush tip (as with the Stampin’ Up blend
markers), so they work wonderfully for coloring small areas, but for larger
areas, they leave somewhat of a striped look. Because they are water based, they
are best used for watercolor techniques (versus coloring in) and the amount of
water used will make a difference in saturation on the paper, as well as affect
the drying time. Better to start with a little bit of water, and let it dry a
bit, then add more water if desired before it completely dries. Once they completely dry, trying to make
changes will be challenging, and will result in a totally different effect. You can try “blotting” some of the water with
an absorbent item (paper towel, etc.) if you add too much. I do find that the write markers are “darker,”
in that they seem to lay down more color than the blend markers, so you want to
use a light touch, or it can even make your paper soggy and sometimes shred.
The best paper for any
watercoloring technique is Watercolor paper as it is a little thicker and “bumpier”
and made to be used with water based markers…It absorbs
water to keep paper flat for a high-quality finished look. I have found
that regular cardstock just doesn’t hold up to much water. Using the watercolor
paper, you just add just a little bit of water to each colored shape
which makes the ink move around all on its own, giving you areas that are light
and dark. As with any watercoloring, water
is somewhat unpredictable, so you have to be okay with letting the ink get out of your complete control, but that is
the beauty of watercolor; each painting will be different and never the same.
An aqua painter brush is
also very good for a watercolor effect/technique, as you can control the flow
of the water more significantly. Another
option for watercoloring with Stampin’ Up products are the watercoloring
pencils.
These are high-quality, smooth color pencils and
perfect for watercoloring stamped images and used with Aqua Painters, Blender
Pens, or alone. Pencils will give you the cleanest effect and you can stay “in
the lines” for sharp non-blurry edges.
Several other Stampin’ Up
papers you can use for watercoloring besides the Watercolor paper, are the
Shimmery white cardstock, Vellum paper, and Very thick cardstock. There are several other
Stampin’ Up products that can be used for other watercoloring effects, but this
is just a short article to get you started with this technique. If you check YouTube,
you can find many explanations, descriptions, samples, and tutorials for each of
these 4 watercoloring techniques.
Purchase and see more about these products in my online store
at: Mary Noble; online Stampin’ Up
store: http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/marynoble/ (listed under “Ink” products, “Paper,” and “Coloring
tools”)
References:
http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/marynoble
www.frenchiestamps.com - Coloring with markers and tip to use
the Stampin'Up! writing markers
to stamp and color
