Thursday, July 10, 2008

5. Faux watercolour with markers (on patterned gesso cardstock)


Have you tried faux watercolouring with markers? The ever-inspiring Maria made this amazing tutorial and I was aching to try it, but I didn't have any watercolour paper, so I thought I'd try on gesso paper. It was a blast.

This particular card is made with a doodle that I doodled in pencil, but the marker faux-watercolour technique is fast-fantastic-fun with stamping & embossing.

In this post:

A) Doodle your own artsy papers
B)
Faux watercolour with markers (on gesso cardstock)
C)
A super-fast variation: Faux watercolour resist (with markers)
D) Original watercolour resist (no gesso needed)


Here's one watercolour effect you can get with markers:


I was after big splotches of wateriness,
but you can also achieve a more refined look. The doodling is in pencil on patterned gesso cardstock. You can't see the pattern too well in this scan, but I wanted to show you the marker texture. (Click the pic for a closer look.)

A) Wanna make your own doodles into artsy papers? It's simple; I just...

1 ...Drew a design in pencil (but waterproof marker would work too)

2 ...Went over the pencil with a Sakura clear glaze pen (so the pencil wouldn't smudge) & I like the slight shine from the glaze pen. The glaze pen also resists the watercolour markering, so you could get some really neat batik effects that way!

3 ...Then, the marker part was super fast. Here's how...



B) Faux-Watercolouring with markers
(on Gesso Cardstock):

1.
Make gesso cardstock (Just brush gesso on paper--you know you wanna! ;0) tutorials here for textured or patterned gesso c.s.)

2. Stamp or doodle an image/pattern

3. Colour with markers (no tricks--just don't drag your hand through it like I did, lol) ;0)

4. If you make a mistake, you can use a q-tip or a clean damp brush to erase it.

5. Lift the colour off in areas. An aqua painter or damp brush works great to move or remove colour. You can just daub a little to make quick work of it, OR you can keep cleaning your brush off to lift more colour away.

I like how quickly plain markering looks on gesso cardstock like it's water-colour painting with no fussin' about with paint/reinkers and no mess.


This cardstock has the Form & Function background stamped in Black Stazon & then gesso brushed on:


Markers used to faux-watercolour:
Stampin' Up!: Mellow Moss, Close to my Heart: Breeze & Twilight. The charm is from an old necklace.


C) Super-fast variation--
Faux Watercolour Resist with Markers:
(click pictures to see detail)



1.
Emboss a stamp or pattern on gesso cardstock.
[I used versamark & clear e.p. on gesso patterned paper & the I stamp used is a paisley large design from Above the Mark (56005 I)] The marker is Breeze from CTMH.






2.
Quickly cover surface in marker.
Applying the marker with its side laying almost flat against the paper saves tips from getting wrecked (I'm loving Close to my Heart markers immensely, SU markers work too. If you try another type I'd LOVE to hear about your results)





3.
Wash over it/daub with an aqua painter/wet brush.
No worries if it curls it will flatten later.








4. Add more marker & repeat water brushing until your happy. You can use multiple colours if you like.










The 1st example has only one colour
of CTMH marker (Breeze)





















on this 2nd example, I added another
marker colour (
Twilight) & blended:




D) Don't want to make gesso paper? You could try the original watercolour resist:

1. Emboss on watercolour paper (or what you have)
2. Scribble with watercolour wonder crayon/ watercolour pencil
3.
Wet it, blending the colour

it looks really neat on mulberry paper too! :0)


The Tab:
The look of this tab is nothing special, but this is (!): using gesso c.s. you can
emboss with in-colours, & erase stamping mistakes
:

I wanted the tab to 1) have embossed Blue Bayou ink & 2) have some finicky repeat stamping:

1. I stamped Blue Bayou ink onto gesso c.s. & embossed with clear e.p. [Yup! It embosses in-colours (dye inks) really well. Neat huh?]

2. For the tab, I needed to stamp more text on the left of "unique" for a balanced look (hard to line up) & I stamped it wrong 3 times, but you can just erase stamping mistakes off of gesso c.s. with a wet paper-towel! Since my first "unique" was embossed, I could just keep stamping until I got it right! Big cheater, huh? :0)


Other card details:
Main card Blue Bayou c.s. with black scalloped c.s. (done with corner rounder) dollar-store gems; "unique" from Define your Life. See card supplies at a glance on SCS here


Go to the Gesso Index (7 techniques)





P.S. You've gotta see Sue's amazing results with gesso & drier sheets & Inkssentials crackle medium. What a work of art!

P.P.S. Thank you all for your kind comments and encouragement with this gesso madness. Some subscribers are not happy with the shift in events (gone byebye at a new rate), so it's great to know that you can please some of the stampers some of the time. Your commenting & excitement means the world to me! :0)


21 comments:

Kim Etherington said...

Wow, very pretty card. Love that paper with the two CTMH inks on it too!

Risa said...

OMG....Mel I LOVE your card and your samples are "off the hook"! I can see why you love this technique the way you do and your flower drawing is amazing!!!

Anonymous said...

I'm gawgaa over you're hand drawn flower! (Was that yesterday?) I know I've seen it before but I'm continually in awe that you made that!!
I really like the Tweed and Breeze sample that might just be the tipping point to send me over the edge to get me some gesso! (I see my husband's eyes rolling...."Now what did you get???"
You're paisley stamp is so much prettier than mine though :-(
I'm having a SU party at my house on Sunday, and thanks to you I think I'll need to get Riots of Petals. It's all your fault!! You're totally the reason I bought Fabulous Flowers too. I didn't like it particularly until I saw the flower at the top of your blog and loved it!
Sorry to hear that readers are leaving, I'm always excited to see what you can do with... who knows what! I really appreciate all the time you must spend sharing the things you learn/ templates etc. I've taken to checking each day before I get out of bed (keep laptop handy by side of bed) hehehe Husband says "Scrapbooking again...internet pheeeenn" Good thing he leaves for work early!
Beth G

Anonymous said...

Awsome job like always. I was awakr last night thinking of what type of gesso designer paper I was going to make today. Thanks for the link.

ScrapMomOf2 said...

Wow! Who wouldn't be happy coming to this site to look at your gorgeous cards? Your color combinations alone inspire me! I never get tired of looking at your creations!!

Tonniece said...

Ok, I'm thinking Maybe I need all your stamps, your talent, your energy, your.....Oh heck I'll just keep comeing here every day till I get it right.
Another super beautiful card Mel, you totally amaze me.

Happy Thursday

P.S.
You're stuck with me now, I'm not going anywhere. (Wink)

Erin said...

Another inspiring post! I did paint me some gesso cardstocks last night I had to let them dry. I don't usually mess with techniques that have to dry overnight but these things you are making are too much to resist! So later today I will have the opportunity to play with some of your techniques! Wahoo!

Elena said...

What a beautiful card! Very elegant! Your blog is a treasure of inspiration and fabulous ideas!

Thank you very much for sharing your creativity!

And thank for stopping by at my blog and leaving a nice comment!


Elena

Erin said...

Mel! I did it:
http://erinkcreations.blogspot.com/2008/07/inspired-by-some-favorite-blogs.html

not as great as yours, but not a bad start either! :)

Deb Neerman said...

Gorgeous sample, Mel! And the tutorial is great; thanks for sharing!

Awww, 4 unsubscribe, 6 subscribe ... not to worry, it all balances out exactly even in the end. I think ... I hope ...

~Hugs!!

Patty Williams said...

This is so, so, so pretty!

Annapurna said...

Absolutely awesome card. If you can draw this well, why do you buy stamps again? Oh for the embossing stuff. LOL! Love the emboss resist you made too.

Even though it makes us feel good inside to see big numbers, at the end does it really matter? Do we make money off of the number of subscribers?

As long as you love the work you do, I say don't worry about the subscribers. Keep doing what you like doing. Hugs. Anna

Joani McDonald said...

Mel - your blog is amazing! I can not imagine how you do it! All of your tut's or links. I appreciate it all!!
Thanks for being awesome!
Hugs,
Joani

Janine said...

Mel you are amazing... Thanksfor all this information!! I know what you mean about the spammers.. I get the odd one and it is just a pain!! Have a great day!

Michelle Pearson said...

You should be DESIGNING STAMPS girl.....awesome drawing....awesome technique...I wanna be you when I grow up!!

Primitive Seasons said...

Mel you've been tagged. Check my blog for the details. I'm enjoying this series on the gesso. You are so talented I can't stand it! Lova ya!
Mary
www.primitiveseasons.blogspot.com

Maria said...

Hey Mel! Wow, I love your doodling! Who needs stamps? I love how you take a technique to another level and make it into art! Your card is beautiful and I love the elegant look to it. Such pretty colors too! Awesome, Mel!!

Maria

Maria said...

P.S.!! Thank you for the shout out on my tutorial! It was the basic of the basics but you turned it into something so much more!!!

I'm sorry of the finicky readers. . .don't worry about it, I get unsubscribers daily. Many state "irrelavant". . .I haven't changed anything about my blog since I started blogging! LOL!

I love your blog and I appreciate your hard work and unique artwork. It's refreshing to see someone doing something different and inspiring!!

Maria

kathleenh said...

Mel, you are an amazing artists. You try things with so many different mediums that I've never seen before on anyone else's blog. You have a truly unique and inspiring blog! Keep up the great ideas and projects!

Mari said...

I've been on a trip for a week, didn't really have much time to read all my updates - but WOW! I love, love, love the look you're getting here. I'm going to try my hand at a couple of these techniques - just beautiful!
(and just ignore the ones that unsub - they don't know what they're missing!) :D

Beth Norman-Roberts said...

What a wonderful tutorial. Personally, I love everything you post. I need to look outside of the box and into yours--LOL. I hear ya about unhappy readers. Listen to Maria's inspirational words, and don't worry about it. You should see me around this house when one, or more, unsubscribe in a day with "won't disclose." You'll never believe this, but I loose subscribers on days I post Odd Bird Planet cards, but I think I found a way around that one--LOL. Since I made a change that fits my readers tastes, I haven't lost readers. Anyways, I love ya, and that's all you need -- LOL.