Technique Tuesday - Embossing With Wet Watercolor

This is a technique I use often, as I love the soft, muted look of the watercolor with the embossed images. Unlike detailed watercoloring, this wet watercolor technique is fast, and very freeing. It calls for a very relaxed approach.  The thing is, this technique is very addictive.  Once you make one, you will want to paint all of your images this way.  It works especially well on large images, as you will see by the cards below. Here's how it is done:   (CLICK ON IMAGES TO VIEW LARGER)                                                           

• Emboss the image on watercolor paper, or good quality cardstock.  I usually use white, so the colors will be true.
• Use a waterbrush (a tool that has a barrel that holds water, with a brush on the end), or a watercolor brush. Dip the brush in water, and "paint" the image with clear water first. Your brush should be wet, but not dripping. Practice this for a while to get a feel for how much water to use.
• Dab your damp brush into the first color of watercolor paint. Rub the brush around in the color until the brush has plenty of pigment on it. Bring this loaded brush to a palette and roll the brush around, depositing the color onto the palette.  Add water with the brush, a little at a time.  I usually add water, then bring some of the mixture to        another spot on the palette, and dilute this area even more. 
• With the most diluted puddle that you just made, paint the first color onto your image. Because you have prepared your surface, the color should just feather out when you brush it on. The embossing acts as a block to keep the color inside the image.
• Using a stronger part of the mixture you made, add more color to parts of the areas you just painted. When you add this stronger, or darker, hue, it will fade softly into the lighter hue that you previously painted, creating an automatic shading.
• Repeat with the other colors you will use in your image.

That's it!  It really is that easy, but it may take a few practice runs.  I especially like this technique with white embossing, as in the poinsettia card. The embossing just pops out of the watercolor when you are finished. If any color stays on the embossing, just dab with a paper towel.
Tips:  *If you put too much color and want to lighten it, just dab with a paper towel.  *Don't overwork with the brush, as eventually the paper will "pill" and/or warp.  *After the image is dry, place under something heavy to straighten it if it is warped.  *If you are cutting out the image to mount onto another background (as in the butterfly card), be sure to cut just outside the embossing, so the embossed edge does not chip. *Practice, practice, practice - you will get it. *No need to invest in expensive, professional watercolors - a mid-quality palette of 12 to 24 colors will be fine. *You will get best results with watercolor paper. Some of the watercolor papers have a semi-smooth nap, so your images will emboss nicely. *Keep relaxed, and don't overthink or overwork your painting. Let the colors flow and blend into each other.
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May you enjoy the blessings of family and friends this Thanksgiving, and may you be mindful of the many riches we enjoy each day.

Joyfully,
lynda

A Stamped Knitting Journal

My Article on HubPages about my foray into the knitting world

It was a busy, busy weekend.  We had our granddaughter, Keeley, since Thursday and just brought her back to Buffalo today, Sunday.  Hence, no postings since Wednesday.  It's late, and I'm tired, but just wanted to share this journal I made for my knitting obsession hobby.  I use it to log my completed projects (with pictures of course), details about yarns I have on hand, needles and sizes, and thoughts and ideas on knitting.

This first picture is the front cover.  I stamped knitting images (all stamps from Magenta) all over the green and lavender paper.  I wrapped the paper onto an 8 1/2 x 8 1/2 cardboard piece, and added the purple strip where they joined.  I added a piece of lavender cardstock to the backside of the front cover to hide the raw edges of the tucked under paper from the front.  I then stamped the sheep stamp onto natural cardstock and layered it, then foam mounted it to the top section.  The three images in the bottom section were stamped onto natural cardstock squares, then "painted" in with a waterbrush.  To do this, I just touched the brush to the outline of the image, and pulled the color in from the outline.  You can do this with dye inks or markers.  I used markers to "ink" the stamps, then stamped them and immediately used the waterbrush to pull in the color.  This is how I was able to get green and lavendar inks on the images.  Then I cut them out, layered them up, and finished up with some fabulous yarn around the cover and through the punched holes along the left edge.

This next picture is the back of the journal.  I stamped  phrase and quote stamps from Penny Black randomly along the back pieces. 

I added several pieces of natural cardstock to the inside before tying the journal together with yarn and ribbon.
That's it!  It's fast, it's easy, and mostly, it will be fun to use.  I can't wait to make more.  Hmmm, one for my doodles, maybe one for books I've read.  A quote journal would be fun, and how about one for the holidays.  I made one a while back for a friend who has tea parties every year, so she could journal and record her tea party pictures and ideas.


Here's a link to my story on HubPages about my journey into the world of yarn and knitting:
http://hubpages.com/_quhng16s2trb/hub/Yarn--Knitting-Needles--and-Socks--Oh-My
Now it's getting late, and I'm off to catch some zzzz's before work tomorrow.  Hope you liked this little project.
Blessings!
     lynda