Hello papercrafting friends! Sharon with you today in the CLASSroom -- Happy Friday! Today I wanted to share a bold watercolor rose background, to show you that watercolor doesn't always have to be soft and serene . . . it can also go bold and bright!
(Click on any photo for a larger view. Bold products are linked below in the supply section)
To get started, I arranged all of Altenew's Bamboo Rose stamps I wanted to use onto a 4" x 5.25" panel of watercolor cardstock, positioned in my Misti. This way, I could ink all the stamps with Versamark and stamp them all at once.
Then I heat embossed the images with black detail embossing powder:
As you can see above, the textured surface of watercolor paper can sometimes be a little tricky to get good solid ink coverage. I wasn't able to see until after I heat embossed the images, that the Versamark ink had not sunk into the deeper crevices of the watercolor paper. To correct this, I used a black Copic Multiliner to fill in the incomplete lines of the roses. The Multiliner is Copic and also water-proof and a quick and easy fix!
Next, I selected the colors of Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors (36-piece set) I wanted to use:
Using a waterbrush, I started with the lighter Dark Pink No. 34 (shown on the lower right rose), then did some shading with the darker Wine Red No. 36:
Next, I used Ocean Green No. 52 for the leaves. I colored one half of each leaf first, with the darkest shade of the watercolor as it came off my brush. Then I went back to the first leaf halves and just pulled a little of that color over to the other side of the leaf -- this results in a lighter shade = instant shading!
Next, I used Bright Yellow No. 42 around the edges of the panel, fading the color lighter towards the center of the panel:
Finally, I did a little highlighting with Silver No. 95. Not only does the silver provide a metallic "white" highlight, but also a beautiful pearly shimmer! Below, I have the panel tilted to the light, so you can see the shimmer well, but in person it is more subtle:
To finish the card, I splattered Black No. 20 watercolor over the background. Then I stamped the birthday sentiment from Altenew's Label Love with Versafine Onyx Black ink onto Neenah 110 Lb. Solar White cardstock. I trimmed the sentiment and popped it up on X-Press It Foam Tape onto a black hand-trimmed banner. Finally, the watercolored panel was adhered to a Bazzill Licorice Twist card base. To make sure the thick and heavy watercolor paper holds to the card base well, I like to use X-Press It Double-Sided High Tack Tape.
Thanks so much for joining me today! ~ Sharon
