Hello and happy Friday! When contemplating what to make for you today, I decided I wanted to do one of my all-time favorite coloring techniques, watercolor. I LOVE the painterly look and just sitting down to do it is so relaxing! Naturally I wanted to incorporate my Copics, for their well-known vivid array of colors!
You may remember a previous project tutorial I posted with a Copic Watercoloring technique here: Copic Watercoloring. Today’s technique is a little different, in that it incorporates heat embossing!
To begin, I stamped this gorgeous Hero Arts Cling-Stencil Flower with VersaMark ink onto Hero Arts Felt Finish Natural White Watercolor Paper and heat embossed with Ranger Clear Embossing Powder & Heat It Craft Tool. This paper is 100# beautiful cream color but if you prefer white, Ellen also carries Hero Arts' Bright White version and her own Essentials by Ellen "warm white color" 140# paper.
Next, I placed drops of my chosen Copic Various Ink Refills on a Plastic Paint Palette and used a Niji Waterbrush, filled with Copic Colorless Blender Solution, to pick up the colors and color the flowers. These are the colors I used:
Ranger/Tim Holtz also offers a few other fillable water brush options – a Detailer or Broad nib that Ellen carries.
To color the flowers, I used the lighter RV63 refill to quickly cover the entire flower:
leaving the center uncolored:
You can color right over the embossed lines – the embossing powder resists the ink, leaving all of your nicely defined lines!
Then I went back with the darker RV66 and defined some areas:
BV13 Various Ink Refill was used for the blue-violet flowers but I didn’t have a close lighter or darker color to shade with, so I just went over some areas a few more times to create more depth. G43 was used in the same manner for the background.
You can always use just your plain watercolor brush to wash away and thin out the color a little from some areas – that’s what I did with the green background and it let more of the pretty watercolor paper texture show through! YR31 fills the flower centers.
The pretty Everyday Sayings sentiment was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto more of the cream watercolor paper, cut into a banner shape, machine zig-zag stitched on the end, and X-Press It Double-Sided Foam Mounting Tape used to pop it up and adhere to the card. The Memory Box Blueberry Notecard used for the card base was a perfect match with the BV13 Copic color!
TIP: To clean up the plastic palette, just use cheap, plain household rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball instead of your more precious Colorless Blender Solution.
Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you have a fabulous weekend creating and I hope you’ll try watercoloring with your Copic Various Ink Refills … 358 colors to choose from sure makes it fun!
~ Sharon
Stamps: Hero Arts Cling-Stencil Flower & ClearDesign-Everyday Sayings;
Paper: Hero Arts Felt Finish Natural White Watercolor Paper; Memory Box Blueberry Notecard & Envelope
Ink: Tsukineko VersaMark & Memento Tuxedo Black;
Copic Various Ink Refills: BV13, G43, RV63, RV66, YR31; 0-Colorless Blender Solution;
Accessories: Ranger Clear Embossing Powder & Heat It Craft Tool; Niji Waterbrush; Darice Plastic Paint Palette; Copic X-Press It Double-Sided Foam Mounting Tape & High-Tack Tissue Tape; sewing machine + thread
