Fun With Watercolor Paints

Since, until last week, I had not used watercolor paints for more years than I will admit, I set out to play a bit Labor Day weekend. I did not use my CTMH Watercolor Paper (Z3146) for my initial testing because I want to save it for special projects.

I used an inexpensive watercolor paper that my mom had picked up at a chain store. I knew the quality was not the same as soon as I looked at it; this watercolor paper is a little rougher (I think you will be able to see it in some of the photos). In addition, while the description does not state this, the CTMH Watercolor Paper feels like it may have a light coating to aid with the paper not absorbing too much water (update: I recently, on 9/13/2015, read the specs for the CTMH Watercolor Paper and it says "Watercolor paper: 220 lb. (hot press, no coating)"; so my guess about the light coating was wrong - it must be the hot press technique that makes the paper feel that way). I thought even with different watercolor paper I still might get a feel for how watercolors work when the paper is wet (or not) and how wet my brush needs to be to try to achieve the look I am hoping for.

While surfing for watercolor tips and tricks, I saw where people heat embossed an image before using watercolors so I tried heat embossing before and after watercoloring. In addition, I used both clear and white pigment ink and clear and white embossing powders. Here are some of my samples:

The two samples in the photo below were dusted with an anti-static bag, then stamped with Ranger™ Archival Ink - Jet Black followed by VersaMark™ Ink Pad, then Ranger™ White Super Fine Embossing Powder was applied then heated.

As you can see, the black ink attracted some of the white embossing powder. I did not know what to expect when overlapping the embossing ink and white embossing powder over the black ink. It did a good job making the embossing appear to be in the foreground.

In the heat embossed sample below, I dusted with an anti-static bag and used White Daisy Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad and Ranger™ Clear Super Fine Embossing Powder.

If this sample, the black ink shows through the white ink and clear embossing power almost appearing as if the black was stamped last. I think both ways look nice; which you choose may depend on the project you are creating. For all of the samples that I heat embossed first, I used a paper towel to try to pick up as much watercolor paint as I could from the embossed images.

For these samples I watercolored the paper and set it aside to dry. I dusted with an anti-static bag and used VersaMark™ Ink Pad and Ranger™ White Super Fine Embossing Powder.

Personally I prefer the look of embossing after watercoloring, but there may be times I will want a more subtle embossed look on my projects.

• My Acrylix™ National Stamping Month Hello, Life!—Scrapbooking Stamp Set (CC1040)
• My Acrylix™ National Stamping Month Hello, Life!—Cardmaking Stamp Set (CC1041)
• Zoe Scrapbooking Workshop On The Go Stamp Set (D1674)
• White Daisy Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad (Z2163)
• VersaMark™ Ink Pad (Z891)
• Ranger™ Clear Super Fine Embossing Powder (Z2088)
• Ranger™ White Super Fine Embossing Powder (Z2068)
• Watercolor Paints (Z3132)
• Paintbrush Set (Z3188)
• Supplies not from Close To My Heart: Ranger™ Archival Ink - Jet Black, anti-static bag (brand unknown), watercolor paper (brand unknown)

I hope these samples give you some ideas for using the watercolor paints. I have created some cards with these samples. Please stop back in a few days to see how they turned out. I also created some samples using the CTMH Watercolor Paper which I also will be making into cards (or something) and sharing over the next week or so.

Thank you for stopping by.