Watercolor Techniques

When watercoloring, there are SO MANY THINGS YOU CAN DO. And as Bekah said, it's a RABBIT HOLE you can go down!! 

At Demo, Bekah focused on just a few techniques to help you get started!! 

First off, many people feel overwhelmed by all the choices of paper you can use!! 

You can use COLD PRESS (which is usually heavy-weight and has TEXTURE) 

Or you can use HOT PRESS (also heavy weight with a SMOOTH finish) 

To start,  Bekah used this Penny Black Daisy Stamp, Radiant. This stamp already looks like it should be watercolored, which makes it easier to make the "watercolor effect" when stamping this image. 

Bekah started by just inking the stamp with 2 colors of Distress Ink, Mustard Seed and Mowed Lawn. By just stamping with the 2 colors on the Penny Black stamp you are able to retain all the detail of the stamp in the 2 colors you ink your stamp with. 

Next, Bekah showed us this fun idea:

• She used the Tim Holtz Stamp Platform to stamp the image. She applied Distress Inks (Mustard Seed and Mowed Lawn) to her stamp and stamped the image.
• THEN  she "spritzed" the paper to move the inks. This activates the ink to make it spread out a little bit.
• Then, Bekah inked the stamp AGAIN and stamped the image a second time (when you use the Tim Holtz Stamp Platform it lands in the same spot!). She used a heat-gun and heat-set the image.
• Finally, Bekah stamped the image a third time, with  this time with clear Versamark Ink  and used Detail Clear embossing powder and heat-set the embossed image.

We also LOVE to use Tombow Markers to do Watercoloring!! 

You can color DIRECTLY onto your rubber stamp and then SPRITZ THE STAMP with water and stamp your image!! 

I love this technique because it just involves taking your time to color the image and then it looks like a PERFECT WATERCOLOR and requires very little effort for such a wonderful effect!! 

Along the same idea... you can color your rubber stamp with Tombow Markers AND THEN SPRITZ THE PAPER and stamp the image... though you want to use a SMALL AMOUNT OF WATER because the more water you use the more definition you lose of the image!! 

You can see here, Bekah went back in with the yellow Tombow Marker to add some lines of definition. 

Did you know you can also STAMP WITH COLORBURST?!?!!? This creates a GORGEOUS effect.. 

• Squeeze some ColorBurst particles onto your Craft Mat and spritz with water until the inks are activated
• Stamp your rubber stamp into the ink that is floating on the craft mat
• Stamp your image onto watercolor paper 

When it comes to ColorBurst, you can just squeeze some out on your Craft Mat and activate the inks. When you do a Mono-Print you get this really cool splatter effect!!! 

When you stamp INTO the activated inks, you get the color of the ink but you don't have as much control of WHERE the ink goes...

Here, Bekah stamped the Penny Black Stamp, Bunches for You and you can see how AMAZING this image turned out!! It looks just like Batik! 

Bekah was explaining that often when she watercolors "skin tones" that is is extremely difficult to match colors!!! 

Bekah showed us how she uses Watercolor Pencils and COLORS ON PAPER FIRST, adds a little bit of water to blend the colors on the paper, THEN PAINTS HER IMAGE using the palette that is on the paper!!! 

I thought that was SUCH A CLEVER IDEA because then she could create the skin tone that she actually wants.. .and once she achieves the color she can paint the skin tone correctly. 

Bekah said to acheive "white" skin tone she used HOT PINK and TAN colors blended together. I love this image she was working on... Berry Fairy by Penny Black!!  

THERE ARE SO MANY watercoloring ideas!!! Whether you are stamping and trying to achieve the Watercolor Look or trying to create an unusual color to watercolor with... there is always something new to learn!! 

If you have any questions, feel free to call us!!
​360-647-9663