Monday, June 29, 2015

Distress Ink Water color fun


My mojo got a little jump start after I watched this video from Kristina Werner.  The video was a review on those popular new Zig Clean Color Real Brush water markers & the new release from Mama Elephant.  No, I don't have the markers, I don't think I need them and honestly I'm good with not having them, especially when I have spent a considerable amount of money on Copics.  But hey if anyone wants to send me some to test I wouldn't say no.  (hahaha!)  After watching the video I was inspired to try my hand at more Distress ink water coloring.  (I was also inspired by Eva's blog, she's been doing a lot with those adorable Mama Elephant stamps and water coloring with Distress Inks.)  A few weeks ago I purchased a stencil made by Hero Arts called large lotus pattern.  An idea popped into my head and I decided to run with it before it disappeared.

I cut down some Canson water color paper into 4 x 5 3/8 so that I could easily adhere them to A2 card bases.  Grabbed some washi tape, the stencil and some Distress Inks.  Since I had the turtles from Sister Stamps on the table I reached for those guys too.


As you can see I adhere the water paper to my board with some washi tape.  I made sure to tape over the edges to get a nice white border all the way around.  I stamped two of the turtles using Versafine Vintage Sepia, then I created masks of each.  In Kristina's video she mentioned Versafine was perfect for use on water color paper because it doesn't run.  A great tip to know!


Next thing to get washi-taped down was the stencil.  The stencil is much bigger than the paper, but it was ok because I had the edge of the paper covered with the washi tape.  No worries that I wouldn't get the effect I was hoping for.  Using the sponge tool I added color going from dark to light with the DI.  Here I used Peeled Paint, Mermaid Lagoon, Evergreen Bough & Tumbled Glass.  Once the colors were put down to my satisfaction I removed the stencil and because of the masks the turtles were saved!  (Yay!)


I used the lightest color, Tumbled Glass, and lightly went over the whole picture with it.  Next I used a few other DI colors to ink up the turtles.  I washed out the colors a little bit by spraying some water on a small paint brush and going over the whole picture with it.  Last I stamped the cute sentiment from Jillibean Soup (Item #jb0198) with Black Versafine ink and wet embossed it with clear embossing powder.  Once I removed the washi tape I was done!


I haven't mounted this one yet, I was thinking of maybe making it into a postcard instead.  They are sturdy enough and flat so they would definitely mail easily.  Something to think about.  I loved this technique, in fact, I loved it so much I ended up coloring 11 more backgrounds using different colored DI!  I have so many colors and with that awesome stencil I figured I could create a bunch more.  They make nice Aloha print backdrops, all I need to add are colored images and a sentiment.
Luckily I have a bunch of colored images handy (left over from the first 30 day coloring challenge) and can't wait to pair them up with a sentiment.  I'll be sharing those over the next few days.  Yay!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Happy Monday!!

8 comments:

Lynn said...

Wow! This is spectacular! Thank you for explaining the technique you used to achieve this beautiful effect. I KNOW that I will be trying to get a similar background...perfect for ocean scenes. Crafty hugs to you!

eva said...

this is so cute! i love how you used the stencil! might have to try that too!

Rachel Parys said...

These turtles kill me with cuteness!!! Love the patterned watercolors, it looks gorgeous!!!

Denice said...

What a great job you did using the DI, gives a nice soft look to the panel! Sweet turtles!

Heidi Brawley said...

AWE this is soooo Adorable!!!!!

Cely said...

ahhhh!!!! this is so adorable!!!!! love it so much!

Jenny said...

AWESOME!!

Colleen said...

What you made is awesome! Thanks for sharing the tutorial. I will have to try the technique one day.