How to use watercolor pencils
Recently, a customer asked me if you needed to use water with watercolor pencils.
You could always use them without water for basic coloring, but to get the full blended effect, you need water.
Her question got me thinking about making a quick tutorial on how to use watercolor pencils.
So, I made this card using the Free as a Bird stamp set paired with water color pencils from Stampin’ Up!
Here’s How:
- Stamp image from Free as a Bird onto a piece of watercolor paper using Stazon ink. You could use regular card stock, but I find that watercolor paper is the best for, well, water coloring. Regular card stock tends to pill when it gets wet. You could also use another ink like Memento, but I find that it tends to run or bleed when water is added to it. Stazon is permanent ink and won’t run when it gets wet.
- Because I wanted the birds to look like red finches, the first color I used was the Real Red watercolor pencil. I colored the bird’s breasts and bodies using the red. Then, I added Early Espresso along the edges of the images. With an aqua painter, I then started blending the two colors together.
Tip: to keep the colors from getting muddy, be sure to clean your aqua painter often. To clean it, simply swipe it on your work paper.
- I then used the Old Olive watercolor pencil for the branch and leaves and a mix of Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, and Calypso Coral pencils for the flowers. Again, I used the aqua painter to blend the colors.
- For the small detail areas like the bird’s beaks, I picked up color from the tip of the Daffodil Delight watercolor pencil using the aqua painter.
For the background, I filled in the card front using the Bermuda Bay watercolor pencil, blending it with the aqua painter.- I stamped the greeting from Free as a Bird using Black Memento ink and the Stamparatus. At this point, the watercolor paper was dry, so I could use the Memento ink rather than the Stazon. I attached the card front to a Pacific Point mat, then to a Simply Marbelous DSP background. The Simply Marbelous DSP is one of the great Sale-A-Bration choices available through February 28. Then, I attached it to a Basic White card base to complete.
Watch my quick how to video tutorial Here:
The possibilities are endless!
