| Tips & Techniques |
| Watercolouring with Pencils I have found the most effective way to watercolour your designs is to wet your paintbrush, (a No. 3 is my personal favourite), wipe most of the water off onto the side of the cup, the 'paint' the tip of your pencil. This method allows you more control of the colour build up, & stops that overcoloured look. Next, apply the paint to your design, starting around the edges & in the shadows. Apply a little more water, more paint & keep colouring your desing. Keep a tissue handy, because if you accidentally apply too much colour, simply dabbing it with a tissue removes most of the colour. If that doesn't work, apply a little bit of water to the overcoloured area with the tip of your paintbrush & try dabbing with a tissue again. I find it is best to blend a few colours over each other to get a more 'finished' look. Start with the lightest colour as a base, then add darker colours over, working into the shaded areas, such as shadows & under arms. When looking for shadows, try to picture the design in real life & imagine where the shadows would fall. |
| This technique works well with both Embossing & stamping with Archival pads. The beauty of the Archival pad, is that it is waterproof, & none of the outlines bleen when eater is applied. I find it really effective if I am looking for the soft, true watercolourd look. l When using this look, it is often effective to ignore the lines in the design & deliberately go outside them. Quite often, to finish off a card with this method, I'll tear around the design, & apply brown to the torn edge, giving it an ancient look. Then I glue it onto a bi-fold card front. Try it, you'll be pleased with the results. The most versatile colours in the Archival range are: Coffee - a dark brown, Sepia - a light brown & Plum - a purply/grey colour. |
| Embossing & Watercolour So, you think you've tried every type of embossing technique there is? You've probably been colouring your embossed images with coloured pencils or textas. Well, try this fun idea, for a really soft watercolour look. This effect works best with larger, simple, line-drawing designs. Firstly, you will need to get hold of some watercolour paper - available from your local art shop. Emboss your design onto this paper as usual, then hold it under a running cold water tap & wet the surface thoroughly. Lay flat & allow to dry off a little - you can dab away excess water with a cloth. Next, prepare watercolour paint by diluting with water to a thin milky consistency. You can also use your pigment ink refill inks watered down. Using a small paintbrush, dip into the paint & lightly dot the colour into areas of the embossed image. The colours will flow softly from the brush tip onto the wet surface. The embossed lines will act as a resist, keeping the colours within each area. |
| Using White Embossing Powder as a Resist Here is another watercolour technique you can easily achieve using white embossing powder. For this technique, you will need some watercolour paper, as with the above technique. This works best with solid design stamps. Firstly, emboss designs close to the centre of the watercolour paper with white embossing powder. Let paper cool, completely cover with water, then lay flat. Add watercolours as with the above technique. Add more darker colour directly around embossed images to make them stand out. |
| Pop-Ups Here is a simple little cutting technique to make place cards or gift cards. Take a piece of card & rule a line down the centre in pencil, to mark your fold line. Stamp your design over this line, so that some of the design is above & some below. Finish off the rest of the card by stamping your design again below the first one, ruling a border, stamping other designs or words you have, or whatever takes your fancy. If it is a place card, remember to leave enough room to include a name. Next you need to carefully cut around the area of the design that is above the line with a craft knife. Score along the ruled line not covered by the design. Erase all pencil marks, colour your designs & fold the card, popping up the design. If it is a gift card, you might like to take an extra piece of paper to write your message on & glue it into the card, to cover up the hole. Only apply glue along the fold of one half of the paper. |
| Cleaning Your Stamps For all your water-based (pigment & dye) inks, you only need water to clean your stamps. You will need a sponge, a plastic plate & a facewasher or tea towel. Wet your sponge & ring it out mostly, then place it onto your plastic plate. As soon as you have stamped you image, rub your stamp gently onto the sponge, then dab onto the dry facewasher or tea towel. For your waterproof, or archival inks, all you need to do is spray your wet sponge with some windex & use as before. If your stamps get a little grotty because you aren't cleaning them immediately after use, or there is simply a build-up of inks in between the lines, this is what you need to do: 1. Put some warm water & dish washing detergent into your sink. 2. Dip youur toothbrush into the water & gently rub your stamp. 3. Apply a little soap-free water to your stamp to rinse off. 4. Dab stamp on a tea towel to dry. Don't worry about the fact that archival inks & dark colours stain your rubber stamp surface. As long as you clean them correctly, the stain won't affect your design or transfer onto your next project. You may like to buy a Stamp Cleaning Pad to use instead of a sponge. The directions for use are the same as for the sponge above. The advantage the Pad has over a sponge, is that its surface is covered in tiny bristles, which clean the stamp more thoroughly first time around. |