3T Tuesday : Water Color Wash

~ photo heavy post ~

Howdy, and welcome to my little piece of blog-land.  Today is Tuesday! And on Tuesdays, I share a segment I call: Triple T Tuesday.  The triple T = tips, tricks, and techniques.  These little tutorials currently are for paper crafting, eventually, I will share some baking tips. {smile}

Todays tutorial is on water coloring.  It's called water color wash.  It's a way to add some color that looks random, and artsy.

One of the most important pieces of information on this tutorial, is the paper you need.  You can NOT use typical card stock.  You MUST  use a 'sealed' card stock.  White Shimmer card stock by Stampin' Up! is the perfect card stock for this technique.  Not only will this card stock allow you to watercolor with saturating the paper, but it also adds a wonderful bit of shimmer {smile}.

The other important piece is the ink you use.  You MUST use a water-proof ink: archival,  or solvent. You can always heat emboss your sentiment or image using embossing powder.  This will work, too, and allow you to use a wider range of colors and metallics.

The supplies for this technique are minimal.  

1. sealed card stock (white shimmer card stock)  

2. a fine-mist water bottle

3. an aqua painter

4. liquid re-inkers

(so saffron, crisp cantaloupe, and pool party)

5. paper towel(s)

1.  stamp, heat emboss, or print your sentiment or image onto shimmer white card stock.

*my sentiment was printed onto the shimmer card stock with my home printer

2.  spray the card stock with water until the card stock is wet.

3.  dip the wet brush tip into the liquid re-inker

* always start with a little amount of color.  You can add more, but it is very difficult to remove.

4.  keep adding colors

the wet color will move/blend where there is water.

Once you are satisfied with the final 'coloring' set piece aside to dry.  Or you can use a heat tool to speed up the drying time.  Once dry, add this beautiful watercolored piece to any project!

This technique can also be used with water-color paper.  You would simply 'color' you paper with water, using your wet paint brush.  

I hope you found some useful information today, and you create something beautiful and unique!