When was the last time you coloured something in? Many of us enjoyed colouring as children and some of us never grew out of it. With hand coloured imaged being increasingly popular on homemade cards now could be a great time to reach for those crayons and get colouring again!
Water colouring your stamped images is a great place to start. You can get an infinite number of colours and shades, mixing colours is easy and everyone can get great results really quickly.
There are a huge number of water colouring products available to suit all budgets, each give subtly different effects and everyone will be able to find their favourites. The ten top tips I am going to share with you below can be applied to any of them
When you stamp your image use a waterproof ink such as Stazon Ink. This will ensure your image stays nice and crisp once it has been coloured and that your lines do not bleed into your colouring. Some people like to heat emboss the image they are going to colour and this can really help keep the colours inside the lines
Choose your card stock carefully. Either use a special water colour card stock is great for this technique, but you will also be able to get great results with any cardstock with practice. Also don't limit yourself to plain white card, try creams and even neutrals such as kraft for some great effects.
Don't over wet the aqua brush or paint brush you are using, especially if you not using specialist water colour paper
Think about your shading. Apply less colour where your image would be in the light. I find it easiest to start colouring where the image is darkest and then to let the water pull the colour to the paler areas. Just picking up a little colour at a time and then adding more helps you control how much colour you get over all. To give the impression of depth add more colour to the areas that would be furthest away from you
Mix your colours on some acetate, the lid of an ink pad, an old plate or on one of the boxes your stamps come in. You can get any shade of any colour you like this way and just wipe your mixing pallet clean afterwards.
Colour along the lines of the image. For example when colouring flowers start at the inside of the petal and move towards the outside.
Allow neighbouring colours to dry before adding the next colour. This will stop your colours bleeding into each other.
Keep a tissue or some kitchen towel to hand so you can mop up any excess water
Use a heat gun if you want to dry your work quickly
And most importantly
10. Enjoy playing and finding your favourite way with Water Colouring!